What’s In A Name
Ivy
The word conjures up an image of academic excellence: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, and Dartmouth…duh.
By the way, the Ivy League is a sports league of above-listed 8 universities, and that’s why MIT and Stanford are not members of the Ivy League.
But…..Ivy is also an evergreen plant native to central-southern Asia (including India) which was later introduced into North America. Ivies (there are many types) are of major ecological importance for their nectar and fruit production, both produced at times of the year when few other nectar and fruit sources are available.
Does inclusion of ‘Ivy’ in our name make sense yet? If not, read on…
Don’t be fooled, because Ivies (just like the Ivy League Colleges) are not for everyone. They are very bitter, moderately toxic to humans, but rarely poisonous. Isn’t it funny how this applies to the Ivy League colleges too? Although some of ivies have been shown to kill breast cancer cells, they are ‘creepy’ and sometimes can compromise the structure of a building, especially if the building is not built to modern code.
Does the inclusion of the word ‘Ivy’ in our name make sense now? Still not? Read on…
On a lighter note: Frank Lloyd, America’s greatest architect, once said, “Doctors bury their mistakes, architects cover them with ivy.” So, if you have made mistakes with your child’s preparation for college, come to Ivy GuruKul. We would rectify those mistakes rather than ‘covering them up.’ We hope the word ‘Ivy’ makes sense now.
Guru
The word has come to mean different things in different cultures. In the western world, Guru means an expert; whereas in Sanskrit it means an intellectual or spiritual guide or leader.
Also, the Sanskrit guru is cognate (words that descended from the same language or form) with Latin gravis (which means heavy; grave, weighty, serious) and Greek barus (meaning heavy).
Kul
In Hindi, Kul has such disparate and incommensurable meanings that it is impossible to list them all. Some of the ones that apply in the context of Ivy GuruKul are: total, complete, only, every, warm, clan, house, and family.
Gurukul
Also, Gurukul, as a compound word that combines Guru+Kul, is a schooling system that has existed in India since the Vedic age (i.e. around 1500 BCE).
Apart from checking off items from the obvious list of considerations that a good name demands e.g. the name should be catchy, short, sticky, meaningful, and available as a web domain (of course), we were looking for a name that would exude a balanced combination of modern as well as ancient values that we strive for. Above we provided the significance of each word in our name; you be the judge.