Romeo would disagree with me there…and I guess through him, Shakespeare would too. Sure enough a rose would smell as sweet even if you called it something like 'karigumusa' (ok ok ..that was a weird one to pull).But hey, if at all names didn’t matter, then I would not have faced as many ..(well how do I put it..embarrassing? funny? odd ?).. situations as I have.
For the record, my name is Shainu. Choose from the following options:
1) “What? What kinda name is that?”
2) “Oh! But that’s a girl’s name!” ,
3) “ What on earth does that mean?”
4) All of the above
These are the normal average reactions that my name generally invokes amongst those who hear it for the first time.
Now I am a very tolerant and forgiving person by nature (I swear I am!!) and normally I wouldn’t give these remarks a second thought. Ever since I started working, I have started giving second thoughts.
My first job was to be at Pune and the company was providing accommodation there. So I mailed them to enquire whether they would kindly extend the facility for me. The reply was something on these lines, “ Accomodation will be arranged for you at the ladies guest house” (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) This was the first blatant attack on my sexuality that I encountered. Then I had to frame a careful mail which would convince them that I was “very much male thank you.”
It didn’t stop with that solitary attack. I have often faced similar jabs with the same intent. “ Oh but I thought you would be a female” , “ We were expecting a lady”, and lines on similar lines ( apologies for the repetition there). And I have to reply to all these attacks with an apologetic smile mumbling something incoherent about how my parents were to blame!! ( Frankly speaking, I wish they were more imaginative with names ) But I took it all in what they call my stride.
Folks and friends though called me “Shine” and I used to sign off with that name in my letters. And then came a whiff of spring in lavender. She used write my name as “Shain”- explanation being that “Shine” made me look like a verb!!! And Shain came to be what I would from then on put down on paper –real or virtual.
I thought that by using my present form of Shain, I would have put an end to all nominal tensions. But ‘Shain’ brought confusions of a different order. “ Are you a ding?” ( EJ and others who might not be familiar with that term, that means Anglo-Indian) . To be honest, when I was a young boy, I used to think that anglo-indians looked good. Then I grew up and realised that everybody could look good. So now, instead of trying to defend my sex, I now have to defend my roots. I bemusedly reply that I am not a ‘ding’ but very very much a Mal(lu).
“A Mal(lu)?????????????????????????????. Not you too!!” is the next reaction.
Oh but that’s stuff enough for another post altogether!!
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet for sure. But then don’t all of us require a local habitation and name?? It’s a love-hate relationship I share with my name..but after all these years of living together, I am getting used to it- I guess.
Cheerio, people…
Shain(u)
PS: I did happen to do a google search for my name and it threw up a lot of results. I found out that it was a female baby name, that it stood for being logical and blah blah…, that there IS indeed a woman by that name who lives somewhere in the US of A, and that some damn ingenious chap has also written a story using a whole lot of invented words..your truly’s name being one of them..and this is what, according to him, it stood for.
shainu [L] The close blood-relatives of an individual, usually to be found living under a shared roof
I am sure my folks weren’t thinking of that when they were naming me!!
Afterthought: Thanks to Shawn bro for reminding me that there are people with more problematic names. Here's a few that make me feel better : Dick Cheney, George Bush, Thomas Gay, Gladstone Small, Amber Bottoms, Arise Lewis, Beauty Mark Lee, Salman Butt, Bunny Ann Grabonski, Cuntrenna Wright (!!!!), Kumsuk Saringer, Midnight Coleman, Tape Williams..the list is endless..
I was lucky!
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