Suneel

Suneel is a phonetic spelling of the Sanskrit Sunil, from su, good, and nila, dark blue, the color of a rain cloud, a peacock's neck, or the throat of Shiva. It is at once a color word and a devotional gesture, the kind of name a grandmother explains by pointing at the sky before a monsoon. Two unhurried syllables, soo-NEEL, the final consonant curling up gently. Common across India in the late twentieth century, it remains a familiar classical pick in diaspora circles. A small, vivid name about a particular shade of blue.