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

Its all in the name, I say. My mom probably was not expecting that her "Ragini" would live in a country where people struggle to pronounce anything thats not a John or a Smith. So R-A-G-I-N-I becomes "Regina" .. A name I just cannot stand. But I insist they learn to say my name right. I refuse to change it to a "Reggae" or something, simply coz it suits their convenience. At restaurants. Kaushal becomes Kris, Shyamal becomes Sam, and Aaras( now how hard is that !!!! ) becomes Alex. The last time i said "Ragini" at Starbucks, it somehow magically became "Virginia". HOW ??? What cracks me up though is given my name is complicated, how come Ram became "TOM" ??? As shyamal says, unless he says Sam with an accent they even don't get that !. I am close to giving up. At times when i don't have the patience to go through the exercise of making them repeat my name after me, I simply say Rachel or Hazel or some name that i would have liked to have were I american. Growing up in this country and having complicated Indian names will border on child abuse. :).

It shouldnt really matter, but my name is part of my identity, that makes me ME. And i refuse to let go of that part of me. !!!