[11] Whats in a name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
by any other name would smell as sweet."

--Romeo and Juliet

I am sure many of the unfortunate tambram boys who have names like yours truly would beg to differ with Mr Shakespeare. How could you possibly name a human 'Venkataramanan Jayaraman' .This was one of the first thing I asked my grandparents when I gained my senses and their explanation was that they dreamed of me to have the good qualities of three Gods(not one but three). A bit greedy, you would think. I am not sure if even a fraction of the good qualities of any one have come yet.

Reasons for my aversion to the name are the following. In any test I take, more than half of the length of the test goes in filling the 'Name' tab. Though, this was a good excuse to give at home for my poor scores when I was small. Secondly, the number of syllables in the name tends to infinity. Thirdly, when the image when ppl say this name would be a studious guy with lots of coconut oil in his head doing math all the time. Fourth, not as simple as John or Joe. I am tired of the horrific reaction of Amreekans when they note my name from my ID or I have to spell my name over phone. Fifth, on the auspicious of nights when I would be in the climaxing with my partner, 'Venkataramanan' from her mouth will NOT be cool.

Thats why I am thankful to the guy who invented nicknames. Saves me from the blushes a million times a day. I have my share- venky, venkat, venks, ganje, takle, bhenki, memory loss,sotta,ven'cute'(hey,I too could not blive it), ven'key',ven'cat', whencut..(last 3 courtesy amreekans)

If I become a Prof in this country and am really pissed with Amreekans I would offer a 3 credit course for 'pronunciation of south Indian names' and no prizes for guessing what the tuffest homework is going to be.