Name: Katrina, Event: Hurricane !!

For the past few days i had been intrigued by a constantly recurring question... "Why would a devastating hurricane such as the recent one in New Orleans be so incongruously named 'Katrina'?"

The very utterance of the word conjures up sexy images of the Bollywood bombshell(with the suffix 'Kaif'), if not yet another American or Spanish babe!! The name oozes of sensuality and charm, which is in complete contrast with the event currently associated with it!

My moment of enlightenment occurred when one of my US-based cousins popped up on the messenger. I asked him "Hey, why do Americans come up with such fancy names as 'Katrina' for such a destructive catastrophe? Are they trying to dissociate themselves from the realities of the aftermath, by naming it thus? ".

He was initially amused by the extent of my thoughts regarding the baptism! But he proceeded to explain that this was a result of their tradition of naming all cyclones in an alphabetical order in the sequence of their appearance.This helps them identify each storm individually and track their movements across the ocean, thereby eliminating confusion.

The entire name-list comprises of three categories of storms, with six namelists for each. The same lists are recycled every six years, unless certain names are dumped. Now, this was quite a revelation to a guy like myself, who had always thought of America to be an attention seeking country!

Although the Americans claim they dont have enough money to rebuild, their brand-building has been impeccable, thanks chiefly to the media's unconditional help! They have yet again succeeded in building a globally recognised brand at zero marketing costs!

Does anybody agree??