Name the Problem

Every time I go for grocery shopping, I can never leave by avoiding the following conversation. This happens with the guy at billing counter. "What's the name sir, Bias..?? Oh sorry, Riaz? Illanga, Vyas, V-Y-A-S. Ok va?

I was christened as M. Sree Seshadri Vyas. A really long name, 16 characters to be precise. Obviously, like most parents, mine had strong religious reasons behind the name. And it worked well for me till a certain age. But as I grew up, I faced a few issues.

The downside of having such a name is that it acts as a barrier in making new friends and meeting new people. People have to make the extra effort to remember my name. And, let's face it, no one has the time or patience for it. Also acting as a hindrance is the usual stereo-types that we associate with names. It somehow beats me, how we always think of Rahuls to be smart, Johns to be fun loving, Priyas and Divyas to be cute and how Senthamizh Selvis always walk around with a flower shop on their heads. So who's a Vyas, hmm well, he didn't look smart, wasn't funny and didn't talk much. Didn't make a good impression. I think this guy is weird ..!! And a Rahul walks away with a poor joke for which only he managed to laugh. Doesn't matter if he spilled some juice on the guy sitting next to him. He's a Rahul, must have been a genuine mistake. 

There were some times when people mis-spelled my name in utterly funny ways (unintentionally of-course) and I had lost all strength to correct them. There was a cricket coach of mine, who used to call me Sree Seshadri 'Iyer' for 2 years. Finally he corrected it by himself. I simply wasn't brave enough to walk to him, in front of all, and tell him that he was getting it wrong.

But here is the bottom line, I like my name a lot. It may not me a fancy sounding ultra-cool name, but is still good. I'm proud of the reasons behind me being named this way. People will just have to make the extra effort to remember it. Period. 

And on the lighter side, the fun part of  having a unique name is that you can google your name and have fun reading what comes up about you. Now can a Rahul ever dream of such a thing. There will be a thousand different people with the same name. Hahaa.. One up mate.