After zipping through the A to Z challenge almost over the
half-mark, when N came across, I have to write about my name which incidentally
starts with N.
No, in case if you have guessed something, it is not about
how I got this name. My dad gave me this name as he liked it…no fancy story
attached to it. However, as a kid I never liked my name. I still remember when
I was in Class 6th; I gave my dad the option of changing my name to Neha
or Nisha which was obviously turned down instantly!
I hated the fact that no one was able to pronounce my name
correctly. Carrying a Bong name in northern belt of India is quite
difficult. I had heard so many versions of
my name that it has ceased to amuse me now.
The most common assumption was that it would spell with a ‘V’ instead of
‘B’. Do you remember how Vidya Balan has to interrupt every time in the movie
Kahaani when Bongs called her Bidya instead of Vidya…in my case it was
vice-versa. Few inquisitive ones doubted my spelling capability and insisted
that it has to be ‘Nivedita’ instead of ‘Nibedita’. I had to explain them that
Bengali language has no sound like ‘V’ sound…it is either B or Bh.
In school, I heard so many variations of my name in terms of
spelling & pronunciation from teachers & fellow students; it ranged
from Nivedita, Nebidita, Nibidita, Nibodita, Nebudita and so on!! The college
pals were smarter and they shortened it to ‘Nibz’. I felt so relaxed, it was
definitely better than to hear twisted sound of your own name!
I can recall one incident, when I was in Class 12th
and appearing for board exams. For viva-voce, we had to face external examiners.
I was so terrified in my Physics practical exam. The examiner asked my name.
When I told him, he asked its meaning might be to break the ice….I told him
that it means ‘dedicated’…He asked immediately, ‘To whom’? I had no answer
ready for it so I just said ‘to God’….and he gave me broad smile. The Viva went
very well after that.
My office colleagues started with Nibedita but I was
rechristened as ‘Nibbo’ or ‘Nibey’ soon. My bosses preferred to call me with
last name only. However, while handling overseas client calls it was a mammoth
task to tell my name to them and ninety percent of time I had to spell it with
phonetic sounds. So, it would sound somewhat like:
I login into a conference call which is spread across
various geographic locations of world.
Hi, this is Nibedita Bose from India, site ABC, Operations.
I am sorry, who is there from India??
This is Nibedita….N as in Nancy, I as in India, B as in
Bravo, E as in Echo, D as in Delta, I as in India, T as is Tango and A as in
Alpha…..and yeah the last name is B as in Bravo, O as in Oscar, S as in Sierra
and E as in Echo……..Hmpffff!!! (I always ensured after this to check whether
the person on other side was still alive or not!!!)
Another fact with my name is that, I had retained my maiden
surname. But, there were many instances when people assumed my last name to be
my hubby’s surname. When we applied for my daughter’s birth certificate it came
with my name as ‘Nibedita Ghosh’ instead of ‘Bose’, when asked they said that
they thought we have mistakenly filled up the form with different surname, so
corrected it!!
Many of my office colleagues congratulated me through SmS,
after my daughter’s birth. Few of the messages were like: Congrats, Mr. &
Mrs. Bose! I didn’t know how to pass on those congratulations to nonexistent
Mr. Bose though!
Till now, I have faced so many goof ups about my last name
that now a day, I keep my marriage certificate handy for any kind of paperwork
involved in Banks or any other offices.
When it was time to christen my daughter, we raked internet
to search for a contemporary but easy to pronounce name….the only criteria my
in- laws requested that if it can have somewhat related to God. After an
extensive search and rejecting almost hundreds of names, we pinned it down to ‘Ishaani’,
hoping that it is not easily twisted as my name was.
So, what is your Name’s story?
P.S: After my Teen years, I started liking my name and I love it absolutely now :)