For IIT Bombay graduate Kovid Kapoor, life before 2020 was as normal as could be. Until the pandemic hit and the co-founder of Bengaluru-based Holidify.com, a travel planner company, found himself becoming the subject of several memes. Thanks to his first name, Kovid (‘d’ pronounced as ‘d’ in darwaza), which is a homophone with the raging virus, Covid.
‘Since 1990, Kapoor has been Kovid positive’; ‘Kovid having Corona beer’...While social media has been having a field day, the 31-year-old has taken it sportingly. He grabbed the attention of netizens recently when he took to Twitter to explain the reason behind his name. His mother Nupur Kapoor named him Kovid, inspired by a line from the Hanuman Chalisa. Kapoor explains that ‘Kovid’ means scholar/vidwan where ‘vid’ comes from ‘Vidya’ in Hindi.
“Life has changed for me after 2020. My friends started sending me memes about the similarity between my name and the name of the virus. It’s funny as to how my name is now enjoying virality. I take the sensation in a light-hearted manner and I’ve started taking things more sportingly,” says Kapoor, who also celebrated his 30th birthday in 2021 with ‘Happy Covid-30’ written over the cake. “In fact, a spell check of my name always suggests ‘Covid,” he says with a chuckle.
On a visit to Starbucks, the person handing over his coffee pointed out his name to other visitors who then burst into laughter. He also received a call from a car rental customer care executive who admitted that he shared a hearty laugh with his colleagues over the name. His business partners also joke about how ‘Kovid’ has been responsible for the loss in the tourism sector.
Sometimes he has to pull out his government IDs to prove that he is really named ‘Kovid’. “One of my favourite memes include some of the references to dialogues like ‘Kovid’- Naam Tho Suna Hi Hoga,’ and ‘My Name is Kovid- and I am not a virus’. Some even messaged me, asking if I had a pet bat at home,” he says. Kapoor has also opened his DMs on social media to invite memes related to his name. Kapoor, who was infected with Covid last year, feels that his name is a good ‘ice breaker’. “Having this name can initiate good conversations,” says Kapoor.
Name game