Tuesday 8 September, 2009

WHO AM I

I go by the name Aruna . I was Aruna Ananth and mainly everyone wrote me as Aruna Anand . Like a prophecy I married and did become Aruna Anand. Then we travelled abroad and realized no one knew who I was . Ok my husband is Viswanathan Anand . His name is Anand . Many thought I was Mrs. Viswanathan. This family name , given name thing is most confusing. Then I decided to call toll free numbers and order services on phone. Like my husband noted with a phone in hand I was like a grenade with a pin pulled off . The lady on the other side always insists on knowing my name so that in her words Address me personally . Ok I say I am Aruna , first surname Anand , second surname sorry we dont do that. She blinks.OGood morning Mrs. Ananda. Makes me feel like I am a yogi with a free spirit or a Ibiza high flyer with flowy clouds and chill out music. No I am just a harassed woman wanting to cancel a highly dubious service plan . Then it gets better in the good old days we used to buy air tickets by phone. Always when it came to my husband´s family name I had to take a deep breath. Family name . I would say Viswanathan . The poor Foreign call center ladies would sometimes giggle and I have to count till ten not to explode . Or I would say let me Spell it out for you...and here it goes Valencia Inglateraa, Suiza , Washington, Albacete Navara Albacete Toledo Huesca Albacete Navara ! Try it sometime it does wonders for your lung capacity . Now at what speed do I do this . At a word per second the poor things eyes are zooming all over the map of spain , europe and the world. Even better are the letters we get. One spectacular credit card company sends us mail to Mr. Viswatintin . The other is Vismanat and it gets funnier. My dad once had the issue in chennai when he called a toll free number and he said he is from neelankarai . He got a parcel to Mr. Neelankar. We remember the Delhi news readers who would fumble Tamizhkudimagan and Nedunchezhyan . Nowadays I call myself Mrs. Vishy . Say my family has just one family name which we have not figured out too. Since many confuse Anand and Viswanathan perennially . My mom in law gets called Mrs Anand and vice versa .
Well most of you are thinking why cant I just be Aruna ? Why do I need a family name. Brace yourself for this . In some places I get introduced as Aruba . I was so polite and shocked not to insult my host I kept quiet. But my inner voice which is generally louder than my outer high pitched alter ego lept out Why am I called Aruba. And the posh lady replied didnt your parents conceive you in Aruba . You see like Brooklyn, Apple , New York here I come ... Aruba. Cant really imagine my mom though sitting coyly in Aruba , knowing her she will say when we have a beach in chennai why na you want to go to Aruba. Take a flight , pack .. food , climate... well maybe thats why I was born in Chennai .

14 comments:

  1. Travails of being born in Chennai - so completely understand. I guess that's why havent changed my surname. This Bong Tam mix is already playing out funny with my daughter, what with a name like Keya Srinivas. The Postman in London thinks there are 3 unrelated people living in our house - three different surnames!!! I recently went to India with my daughter & the immigration official asked me how I was related to the baby!!!!! Completely empathize with your situation....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi sejuti nice hearing from you. I always get asked how come my husband is Anand Viswanathan and Im aruna anand! so we had a tough time convincing people we were married .

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOL! I can totally relate to this...I have two parts in my lastname..my father's name and native place name...19 characters long! similarly my wife has two parts in her last name...everybody from customer service agents to airline ticketing agents go crazy..

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ha ha.. Good one Aruna.. And guess what? I have been going through the same here in chennai and have come to terms with the fact that I have atleast been re-christened 'EASWARAN'! I say 'Ishwar with an I (or eye??)(like saying I am quick gun murugan or something!)' and I call out India Singapore Holland Wheel Apple Russia and still it comes as Easwaran by default.. And when I say no no its an I, I'm suddenly faced with a distorted version of my name '(Eye)shwar'! Lets talk about phonics! Well, I'd rather settle for Easwaran.. I think..

    ReplyDelete
  5. well they even manage to make me Arena at times... that means sand in spanish. not very conplimentary i guess

    ReplyDelete
  6. LOL......:) chanced upon this blog and had a good read and a laugh.:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. My name is Aruna too and I can truly identify with your plight! I was googling my name (that sounds funny now) and came across this great blog :)

    I have been called Aruba and Arena too. Also Aruma, Aroma, and Arora. I decided to keep my maiden name as my husband's "surname" is even longer and harder to pronounce than mine - drat those Tamil names! My husband Sridhar has had his own share of issues - he has been called Spider among other things.

    On another note, great to discover that you are married to Mr. Anand. My 7-year old is a decent chess player and a HUGE fan of Mr. Anand - he goes over his games over and over again almost everyday!

    Aruna (a new follower - BookMole)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Still getting fits of the giggles when I think of "Viswatintin" :D :D Happened upon your blog by chance - and what do you know, my little cousin Teesu and my ex-colleague Ummon are your regular readers!!! :) Small world...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Respected ma'am,

    Please do not consider this as a spam. I, Vedant Trivedi, one of the millions of die-hard fans of Visvanathan Sir, am writing this to you as a request to forward our request to him.

    I, as a core member of Shaastra team, the technical festival of IIT Madras, humbly request Mr Visvanathan Anand to accept being our brand ambassador and mentor for nation-wide "Pledge a Book" campaign, which shall be followed by setting up libraries in underprivileged villages. Please let me know how to go about contacting him?

    My email address : vedant@shaastra.org

    ReplyDelete
  10. madam Aruna
    Not only you crores of fans like me suffered loss on that day 09.11.2014 at the second round match at SOCHI.I was sleepless, prayed to SADHASHIVA BRAHMENDRAL
    to give ANAND the pride back..The wonder happened on 11.11.2014 at third round.. It is my earnest request that you , anand and all others in your family should atleast once in your life time visit the JEEVA SAMADHI of the BRAHMAM , situated at NERUR village near KARUR tamilnadu.
    Praying for Anand.
    BASKARAN, CHENNAI
    MY email. kathiravan62@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am starting a criminal lawyership with self practice and I have reached MathWorks for ownership. I would like to be the criminal lawyer representator of Mr. Viswanathan Anand. I request you to reach me at vinoth.iiith@gmail.com.
    Regards

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My blogspot address is Criminallawyership.blogspot.com.
      Regards

      Delete