Names

In India, unless your parents are very careful about documents, the government official decides your name.




Like Sharvari Joshi was misspelled as Sharwari Joshi. And I was fortunately named Jai. 




The story goes back to whenever the custom came in. In my community, the TamBrahm community, you name kids after their grandparents' names. Like, I am called Jai because my grandfather's name was Jayaraman (and partly also because of the fact that he was alive when I was born    people would have found it offensive to call a kid by the name of someone elderly; and hence the shortened form).




Yesterday, I had an appointment with my dentist/orthodontist; we did an X-ray and it turns out that the person at the X-ray centre could spell Subramaniam Subramanium Subramanian correctly. Names also come with strings attached. Some people need to spell out their names to people (like Shawn Shaun Sean or Jay Jai or whatever). Some need to do a show-and-tell to show people how it's pronounced (like Daphyne or Daphne). Some search unsuccessfully for meanings for their names (like i'd-rather-not-say-it). And some others can't help but muse at the paradox or tautology of their names and their personalities (like a brave person called Veer or a Courage, the cowardly dog). 




You may be Nevaeh and still not a hellish brat, or Merlin and still not a magician.




But your names do define you. Imagine Lilith (she was the first woman, not Eve) and Adam being '1' and '2' and us being '6 billion-something'.




So, if you are an Indian, I'd you rather better become a little more vigilant about what goes on your kid's birth certificate.