What’s in a name??

So how important are our names?

Well, we all have different names, the first ones, last ones, middle ones, nick names, alter ego name and many other stupid names which we are christened with, either by our friends, colleagues or  by our enemies.

 Today I want to share my story of having a name which is both, common and also unique!!

My name is Raj Visa.

So let me talk about my first name, i.e “Raj”. Raj in hindi means “rule” or “reign”. This name even finds a space in Oxford dictionary which defines it as the time span of the British rule in India. This was the literature supposed to be known about my name…..

 But if you watch Bollywood movies, you would be sure by now that it is the most common name in India. Thanks to numerous Shahrukh Khan movies and all the other romantic flicks, the name “Raj” has become synonym with a guy who is romantic ( I mean desperately romantic or in deep love). This name has been made so popular in Hindi movies that I have actually seen some guys, who are a wannabe real life Casanova, renaming them as “raj”. It is somehow supposed to make them look “kewl” in front of girls (WTF), but I think it makes them look as desperate as hell!! Also here is my next argument….

According to me,”Raj” is the most uncommon common name. What I mean is that this name is only popular because of movies, but you would rarely come across  a guy whose name is “Raj”. You would find many people having “raj” as prefix or suffix in their first name… names such as “rajkumar” or “yashraj”. But guys with only first name as Raj are a bit rare to be found. Even in the famous sitcom “The big bang theory”, the full name of actor Kunal Nayyar is “Rajesh koothrapalli” which is shortened to “Raj”. But still I have to deal with stupid remarks made by many people, especially the ones quoting Shahrukh Khan from the movie “Rab ne bana di jodi”. Yup! You all got it, the stupid dialogue…”Raj … naam toh suna hi hoga”.!!! And I have to deal with those buffoons (sigh!!!).

Coming to the unique part of my name, that is my surname. It is “Visa”

I have been in centre of many jokes just because of my surname. I agree it’s quite unique but that doesn’t mean people should actually ask me if it is my real surname (true story). My job interview had actually started after discussing my surname for five minutes. One of my high school teacher used to call me passport (HAHA, you were supposed to laugh on that). All this have an advantage also. I don’t have to alter my name while looking for gmail account. It is also easier to find me in Facebook, Instagram and other social networking sites. But my worries don’t end here. I live in the eastern part of India. Here you would come across people from two states whose language doesn’t have ‘V’ alphabet in it. I am talking about the Bengali and Odia people. The alphabet ‘V’ is replaced with ‘B’ in both these language. The plight that I am talking about is hilariously shown in the movie “Kahaani”, in which the lead was named “Vidya” and she goes to the city of Kolkata. Funny as it may sound, her name was always misspelled as ‘Bidya’ by the sweet people of Kolkata. But that was a movie!! I had to face lots of trouble in my past when my name was wrongly misspelled as “bhisa” or “bisa”. Also no one pronounces it correctly. So there you go… I have trouble with my surname also.

I know that I am not the only guy who has faced problem with his name. It is also not that I hate my name. I proudly say that my name has been given by my father!! It is just the fact that I have to face a bit of problem but it all ends in a funny way.

So all of you out there with a unique name or a common name….. If you are ever troubled by it, then just remember Shakespeare who wrote these lines in the famous “Romeo and Juliet”….

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, in which means that a name is an artificial and meaningless convention!!!  

Three cheers to those who are named “Raj”

And also to those who have the surname “Visa”!!!