I grew up calling my Angay Agay. That's just a thing from our village- calling grandmothers Agay and grandfathers Jojo. Of course, I never really thought it was weird until I learned in school that Agay actually means grandfather. I have no idea how this came to be but it did lead to some confusion. When my sister was in primary school, her friend curiously asked, "Why does your grandfather wear a kira?" Therefore, when speaking about my grandmother to my friends, I would always refer to her as Angay. To be honest, when I was younger, I thought it was embarrassing to having to explain myself over this simple thing. However, in retrospect, I think it's pretty cool and unique and makes a great story!
I have a three-month old nephew now and I was thinking of what he would call me. My cousin's kids either call me "Ashim" or "Aunty". I grew up calling my dad's sisters "Ani" and my mom's sisters "Jumu". These are terms that are becoming more and more rare. As parents become Mummy and Daddy over Aie and Apa, Uncles and Aunties over Azha, Aku, Ani, Ama, Jumu, etc. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if kids started calling their grandparents Granny and Grandpa.
As our generation become parents, we should be more conscious of the little things that we are exposing our children to. Of course, I don't think any Bhutanese would want to intentionally contribute to the deterioration of our culture and tradition. Nevertheless, we need to be more conscious of the long term effects of little things we do starting from the names they call us. So, if anyone out there is reading this, do try to keep your traditions going- even if its as weird as an old man wearing kira.
Yes, you are right👍👍👍