So what's in name? I guess quite a lot. When you haven't really met a person and you just know the name, you automatically tend to create an image in your mind. Like a 'Shalini' would be homely, and a 'Jia' would be hot! Imagine someone with a name 'Raka'..Absolutely no offence intended here to anyone who actually has that name but you would probably expect a tall, well-built man (remember chacha chaudhary comics), and then if you discover it's a woman, you'll get the shock of your life!
And when someone knows your name and still screws it up, it's rather infuriating - like a horribly wrong pronunciation or a spelling error. Imagine reading 'Obama Killed' in stead of 'Osama Killed', 'Nick Carter' called 'Nick Farter' (Just one letter differences). Also, there was this famous racing horse called 'Hoof Hearted', and you can imagine what the name sounded like while the horse approached the finishing line and the commentators screamed his name with real excitement and speed!
Now let's talk about my own experiences. By now most of you would know, I am Debleena (The 'D' is pronounces as 'The'). Do you think the name is that tough! I don't, but many do. While I was in school, I remember everytime a new teacher would come, I would have to repeat my name and sometimes even the spelling numerous times. Nevertheless the time I was in Kolkata/ Bihar, life was better. They would all be able to more or less pronounce it correctly, with minor edits like 'Debolina' or 'Devleena'.
But somehow Delhites found it very tough. I moved to my first PG, and they said it was too complicated and they would call me 'Leena'. I had to say okay to it although at times I felt it was not me! Again at the restaurants when I put in my name for a reservation, they would write all kinds of spellings like, Delena, Beleena, Reena, Meena and so on!
Then came office..it actually wasn't that bad except that some of my American friends would pronounce the 'D' as 'D' and not 'The'. But it was perfectly fine. Some would sometime refer to me as 'Dableena'. And then came a funny moment, a guy who had newly joined the team, came and called me 'Debbie'.. It was a bit shocking to start with (I just got another new name and that too from a person who just joined) but the name somewhat picked up. He later claimed that someone had told him my name was actually Debbie!!
But the incident that beats all is this..I had ordered pizza over phone for my entire team. The guy probably like my voice and he sent a small gift along with the pizza. The gift was a digital clock that stopped working after 2 days. But it had come with a note saying 'For Babelina'. It was actually hilarious!! The whole team couldn't stop laughing. Thank god my real name is not Babelina!
That was about me. Tell me about your funny/ disastrous experiences with your names.
