What's in a name?

Sometimes I wonder why my father chose such a weird name 'Puttajunjaiah' for me when his own name is Krishna Murthy and that of brother's Karthiveera and mother Lalithamma which all sound good. As a child, it never mattered to me because I grew up in a village where the name was familiar to everyone. My name in the school register was ‘Junja’ till 5th std. My family deity is lord Junjappa (not sure reincarnation of which main God) and hence my father preferred this name for his younger child i.e. me(the victim). In 5th std, my father asked my head master to change my name to ‘Putta Junjaiah’, adding prefix and suffix to the original name. He even paid Rs.50 for the same(which I still remember). For me, it still did not matter since that name was used only during attendance calls. Friends and others still called me Junja. In the same year, I wrote Navodaya entrance exam and got through it as well. Navodaya is a boarding school run by the central govt.

I joined Navodaya the very next year. Here you find students from across the district. When I aired my name, they were all laughing. For the first time I felt there was something unusual about my name. Equally weird is my village name 'Yadaladaku'. I refrained from making it public. No one in my village knows the meaning of it. I have asked the oldest man in the village Sanjeevajja regarding this but to no avail.

In the class, every teacher pronounced my name in their own way. Hugar sir called me Putgunja. Nirmala madam called me Putnanja and Abhed Nago sir called me Puttanjaneya. Likewise, every teacher had their own versions of my name. It was embarrassing for me during attendance calls as the whole class would burst into laughter when my turn comes. I would almost feel like crying. For God sake, one teacher pronounced my name correctly. That was Vanajakshi madam, perhaps since she was a Kannada teacher.

When my father came to meet me on a sunday, the first question I pounced at him was, why did you choose such a funny name for me? I explained him how I was made fun of by other students. He consoled me saying it is a God’s name and shouldn’t feel bad. As the days rolled, people got used to my name. They preferred to call me Putta rather than the full name.

After 8th std, I moved to JNV Khiriya Devath in Madhya Pradesh. I knew, people over there cannot pronounce my name. I was mentally prepared. They pronounced it in numerous ways but I was least bothered. Most peculiar was that of the post man’s which I don’t remember but it was very funny. In 10th std, I had the option of changing my name as it would be the final throughout my life. Nishad sir asked me if I wanted to change my name, but I said no since I was emotionally attached to that name by then. Moreover, I thought that might hurt my parent’s feelings.

There were relatively few embarrassments in degree because if somebody asked my name I would say them I am Putta, which is quite a normal name and easy to pronounce. After my degree, it was the turn of job interviewers. Many interviewers have asked me this question: what’s the meaning of your name?

It did not stop there. I was working under a Chinese manager who would address me as ‘putha’. Once, while introducing ourselves to the client team, I introduced myself as Putta and immediately there was a question from Pete Moreno if my name was Pete or something else.. I had to clarify, my name is Putta and not Pete.

Of late, I have started looking for my life partner. A girl asked me if I can change my name to some fashionable one. But I politely rejected. Because, I have lived with it almost half of my life and would like to carry the same for the rest. I hope to make it more pronounceable like Vishveshwaraiah perhaps by achieving something noteworthy.

But then, there is an advantage that this name offers to me. People readily remember my name more easily than any other because it is unique. Try my name in google you’ll find only my information. Try yours, I am sure you’ll not find your info in the first 10 pages. My name along with my village name forms the strongest form of key in database terminology.