When you are name-shamed!!

Well, indeed, one’s christening, however exuberant it might sound doesn’t divulge anything about an individual other than a mere identity. Many people with lurid-sounding names may be of the nondescript types while many nomenclatural unglamorous individuals could be of the precocious type. Some could be the exact reverse of the above. Yes, we find a cornucopia of all types.

True, a name doesn’t tell much about a person. But it can be rather ridiculing!!

Take my name, for instance. It is “Chaitra”!! Say my name in front of a stranger, and I bet he will be expecting a representative of the feminine type. You should see the bewilderment that is very ostensive on his visage when he sees me a guy!

In India, Chaitra is one of the seasons and is mostly a feminine name. You can find very few males carrying around this name and I was one of the unlucky guys!

It was my uncle who took an interest in choosing a name for me! Having read a lot of literature, he had a plethora of names in his repertoire. What beautiful names he has come up with; my brother carries the name “Vishwanthar”. It is supposed to be the name of the 100^th incarnation of Lord Gautham Buddha!  Most of the names that he had chosen were often recondite but are so pleasing to the ears and carry a deep meaning for the erudite few who can decipher!. One thing is sure, the others lucky enough to be labeled by him never had to be baffled like my poor soul!

WHY ME?? But of course, what’s in a name, right? Wrong, there was something!!

Well, to make a long story short, I was told that he had chosen my name based upon the son of a famous personality whom he admired very much! Thus was born “Chaitra!”.

The school was the first where it all started. Friends did poke fun at the name, but their comments were within a childhood ambit, mostly innocuous, and I was not perturbed. Of course, they were my school buddies. I did not mind much at that age, but little did I realize that this embarrassment was inchoate at that time, ripening with age and that this embarrassment will follow me like my shadow.

Ok, I come to college. Not many people there knew my name. Our class had three rows, two occupied by the boys and one row on the extreme right occupied by girls. I chose a comfortable bench on the extreme left row. In comes the lecturer and opens the roster and start taking attendance. After some time, he yells “Chaitra” and looks at the rightmost row expecting a reply but instead hears a voice from the left-hand corner. The whole class stares at me. I see stunning pairs of eyes transfixed at me from all directions and in utter disbelief!! I felt like a jailbreak convict, who was being charged with double-degree murder! How on earth could any guy carry such a name?? My name sure was the most risible thing!!

I felt like my heart was in my mouth. I admit I felt very ashamed. I seriously wished that the earth opens up and gobbles me in a jiffy. I just wanted this moment to pass, but it felt like an eternity. Staring with a razor-sharp glance at me, the seriousness on his face suddenly turned into a wide grimace. His body contorted as he convulsed with laughter. In the paroxysm of giggling, he reverted “Really, “Chaitra” he quipped, and like a chorus, the whole classroom laughed. Pity me, not only was I the laughing stock, I felt my very existence belittled and my NAME besmirched!!

What’s in a name? Did you say your name was what??

I face embarrassment even in the present situations. Of course, I am better insulated now, having quarantined my self prestige against these mundane embarrassments with a thick layer of callousness fringed with a veneer of lenience. Yet there are some unavoidable circumstances in day-to-day life.

A lady (some marketing agency) calls me on my phone, and she knows the receiver’s name is Chaitra. I pick up the phone and the lady hears a male voice. She stumbles for a moment which clearly says that she did not expect a male voice. She recovers from the jolt, and says, “Sir, can I talk to madam please?”!!

There are more sinister situations that seriously inflict my conscious soul which already has a premonition of what’s ahead. For instance, I am at a hospital waiting in the prodigious waiting room along with a lot of patients who are waiting their turn. A nurse or an attendant comes to the hall shouting the next person’s name whom the doctor will see. I know she will soon call out my name. To evade this embarrassment, I stand close to the doctor’s door hoping that the nurse will check with me first. The damn luck is never in my favor when I need it most. She comes out and yells my name “Chaitra” and glance towards the ladies sitting there. I put my head down and scurry towards the doctors' room to avoid the astonished looks of the onlookers. Damn them!!

When someone I don’t know fills up my application form, I am sure that he/she would have put the “Mrs” preceding my name!!

To my luck, I don’t seem to face many embarrassments once I started to work in the software industry. The environment here is more forgiving and the system seems to accept my name unquestioned (perhaps attributed to the more open culture inculcated due to the MNC culture). Added to the fact that the foreign partners with whom we interact daily cannot discern the Indian names and that is sure a blessing!!

What’s in a name? Sometimes everything!

Will I ever change my name! I must admit that I had thought about this and even tried before. But now, no, I love my name and nothing in the world can make me change my name!!

What’s in a name? As time ripens, the name becomes everything and that is how people remember us when we are gone from this earth!!

Be proud of your name!!