My name

For people who didn’t know my name yet, it is A.C. Karthick. It denotes the younger son of Lord Shiva. In my part of India, the name is a very usual one and also heavily redundant. At times, you could count 4 to 5 Karthick’s in a single classroom. Enough of the self-admiration let's get down to work.

"Your name is the sweetest thing you can hear in the world" (forgot who said it) .For starters, there is absolutely no problem with the pronunciation of my name. North Indians who have the history of butchering South Indian names tend to get my name right the very first time. But the real trouble lay in other areas.

It was because of the two letters in my initial. My full name would read Ariyapampalayam Chellamuthu Karthick, with my father’s home town followed by father’s name and then by my own name. In class rooms filled with students who had single initials I was the only one with a double. Every time a new teacher took attendance she would pause before my name and would ask the explanation of the initials without fail. And I would say Ariyapampalayam as eloquently and quietly as I can in an effort to go unnoticed. And the teacher would utter a giggle to which the whole class would reply in kind by joining with her. It was almost as if irrespective of what explanation I gave for the initial they would laugh.

Some friends who tend to make people around them laugh with one-liners loved me. Not because I was such a charming kid with gentle character. It was because they could say anything ranging between Air Cooler Karthick to Asst. Commissioner Karthick and get the crowd into splits. I could do nothing but laugh with them though it would be more of a smirk. I almost wanted to ask what business is that of yours or why does that concern you. But would keep quiet assuming it would be the last time I heard such one-liners.

I thought the ghosts surrounding my name would finally rest after I joined the company. But on the very first day (induction, I believe) it came back to haunt me again as if an LKG classmate calling in the wee hours saying not to forget him. There was a process for email id generation and that required the first and last names of the employees. I had filled the form with Karthick and AC. This was unacceptable for the person generating the email id and she asked me to utter my full name. I began again in that eloquent and quiet tone. She was dumbfounded. She then explained for about 5 minutes that the email generation process required two names (US style I presume) and it is up to me to provide the clear first and last name for the process. I decided then that my father’s name would more than suffice the requirement and told her the same. She was also fine and the email id got generated with my name followed by my father’s name. Phew, they keep coming at you dont they.

Frankly the names with hometown as first initial have gone completely out of favor. It was an age-old tradition especially in South India to have hometown names first as it would help immensely in identifying the background of the person. Now the modern trend has made me (or at least my name) look like a throw back to the old era. But I do not have any regrets over my name as what other chance would a village like Ariyapampalayam have to be known somewhere this far and across. It is my name and I have lived with it for years (This line is a blatant lift from Stephen Leacock’s “With the Photographer”, due credits given). To hell with all the queer giggles and one-liners.

Tidbit:
If people had trouble with my name, then try these for a change.
Chaminda Vaas - Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas
VVS Laxman - Vangivarapu Venkata Sai Laxman