The name game

Many south-Indians have the privilege of possessing long names. Some are complex names but some are simply long names. It is the former, which has to bear the brunt of being pronounced in all possible and fashionable and horrible ways.

Sadly, my name too belongs to the long and rather complex south-Indian name and even I am not spared. My name, Srivathsan8217;, is often confused with the surname Srivastav8217;. Many of my school-teachers and even some of my classmates used to call me so. I used to plead to them to stop straining their grey cells to guess the right pronunciation of my name and call me just Sri8217;. But no. They were all the more motivated to get their lip-tongue coordination right.

Some people who find it too complex to pronounce my name, take the safer route and call me by my surname. Personally, I do dislike it, but it is much better than making a mess of my name. Some of my juniors in my school used to call me Shiree bhaiyya8217;. That was horrible!

One thing I fail to understand is what is so difficult with my name.

Sri Vathsan = Srivathsan8217;. So simple and lucid. This has been happening to me since my childhood. I am very sympathetic to the people whose names have met the fate as that of mine and I assure all of you that this mockery is not going to stop, since neither will these people change, nor will our names.