We are taught to take immense pride in our names, right?
One can certainly notice how much their name stands out in a foreign land. You can see the annoyance furrowed into the foreheads of the customer service agents ... "Ughhh, not another Indian freak!". I have noticed, people at the university to be somewhat more patient, if not occassionally interested, with learning strange sounding names. Though when you step out, one may often neglect to refer to you as anything at all, just because they cannot pronounce your name.
Although, the name is quite simple and straightforward, granted you may have never heard of it unless you have associated with atleast over three hundred Indians, it simply doesnt make sense not being able to grasp it. It is pronounced just the way it's spelt and there really isn't any more to it. Nevermind all of that, I have so far encountered all variations of it, some people just go ahead and say "Oh, I will never remember that!", with a downward intonation indicating they'd much rather bathe their dogs following a mudfest, or watch the 700th rerun of Seinfeld. Some just add a 't' somewhere in between to make it easier for them to pronounce it. No idea how that happened.
My last name is the source of an even greater controversy, and often amusement. It is small, consisting of a single syllable. Now, people don't have a problem with pronouncing that right (or atleast what they think is right), but now the shortness of it makes them smile ("Ah, one less Muthukumaraswami to spell").
Somehow, this never bothered me until today. Maybe I never noticed how common this phenomenon is. Today I had to explain my name to 3 administrative assistants, 2 professors, 5 customer service agents and 2 research technicians - by the end of the last round, I did not tell my name anymore, all I did was spell it out and hope the person was bright enough to grasp the 5 letters in quick succession.
Not that I am thoroughly peeved by this or anything, just a little frustrated. I do however realise, why this problem may have arisen. Maybe all they need is some substantial exposure to the quintessential Hindi daytime soap. 'Ekta Kapoor', what say?
After all, I do find it quite difficult to acquaint myself to Asian names like "Xihauo", or "Xiunjing" and the likes, but I am making an effort to get better at it. I wonder if they feel the same way, or they recognise that it may be genuinely difficult for non-Chinese/Korean/Japanese/Vietnamese/etc. people to pronounce their names. The common trend for them is to come up with generic western names like "Ben" or "Amy" to avoid all confusion. Even the professors who are originally from these parts of the world participate in this practice. But I am often curious to know their real names. And I do ask them, "that isn't your real name right?". They don't seem too impressed, at all. And that leaves me bewildered, for all I know they may be fighting back the urge to kick me in my shins. Why? I don't know. But I am sure they have a good reason.
Maybe I need a new name too. Nah, I'm too proud to do that.
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