'What’s in a name?' ...a lot I say…name defines gender …name defines persona…
Belonging to an Indian origin with a 10 letter name, it was quite natural that my French teacher had difficulty in pronouncing the same,
every day she would stutter and squirm and then eventually signal instead of call… tired of whistling or clapping her hands, she decided to give me a name fit for her French candor… ‘Delphine’
Lowering my eyebrows and repeating the name.... I couldn’t find anything ‘Delphinish’ about me, except maybe the ‘D’ which I thought was pretty lame…
That night, I slurred the nomenclature again and again, desperately trying to picture myself with the new appellation… it seemed like a game…
Next morning, as I picked up my notebook I noticed the labels had changed…I was no longer me… I was the Delphine that my teacher wanted to see…
Weeks passed, ‘Delphine’ began to grow on me…I would promptly reply during attendance call, recite poems as if I was a French pro and do things which I never knew how to before…
When I was Delphine, I was Prim and proper, I would smile rather than snigger, I would bat my eye lids and cross my legs, act in a fashion that would tell the world I was well bred… I spoke French and sang like a nightingale, delicate and fragile, my voice was sweet and surreal!
But when the class would end, I would go back to being my self… I would be the old me… loud and real… I would show all my teeth while laughing and jump and run without caring … sing as if I was wailing and talk as if I was shouting…my face would show a hundred expressions and my hands would move with every annotation….
Why did I change for those brief moments?... Was it an act or a ‘me’ I never knew ….. a persona unexplored or a hidden ambition… was it the actor in me… an example of shakespear’s ‘the world is a stage’ or just an acceptance to my teachers whims and fancies?... then again don’t we all do the same?...act in a different way when people and situations change?...do we not respond differently when addressed by our nicknames?...
More then a decade later, I still look up when I hear the name…its become me…a part I hide until someone calls …’Delphine’
'what’s in a name?' they say...A LOT I say!…
Belonging to an Indian origin with a 10 letter name, it was quite natural that my French teacher had difficulty in pronouncing the same,
every day she would stutter and squirm and then eventually signal instead of call… tired of whistling or clapping her hands, she decided to give me a name fit for her French candor… ‘Delphine’
Lowering my eyebrows and repeating the name.... I couldn’t find anything ‘Delphinish’ about me, except maybe the ‘D’ which I thought was pretty lame…
That night, I slurred the nomenclature again and again, desperately trying to picture myself with the new appellation… it seemed like a game…
Next morning, as I picked up my notebook I noticed the labels had changed…I was no longer me… I was the Delphine that my teacher wanted to see…
Weeks passed, ‘Delphine’ began to grow on me…I would promptly reply during attendance call, recite poems as if I was a French pro and do things which I never knew how to before…
When I was Delphine, I was Prim and proper, I would smile rather than snigger, I would bat my eye lids and cross my legs, act in a fashion that would tell the world I was well bred… I spoke French and sang like a nightingale, delicate and fragile, my voice was sweet and surreal!
But when the class would end, I would go back to being my self… I would be the old me… loud and real… I would show all my teeth while laughing and jump and run without caring … sing as if I was wailing and talk as if I was shouting…my face would show a hundred expressions and my hands would move with every annotation….
Why did I change for those brief moments?... Was it an act or a ‘me’ I never knew ….. a persona unexplored or a hidden ambition… was it the actor in me… an example of shakespear’s ‘the world is a stage’ or just an acceptance to my teachers whims and fancies?... then again don’t we all do the same?...act in a different way when people and situations change?...do we not respond differently when addressed by our nicknames?...
More then a decade later, I still look up when I hear the name…its become me…a part I hide until someone calls …’Delphine’
'what’s in a name?' they say...A LOT I say!…
Talking about the importance of names, Johnny Cash's song titled 'A boy named Sue' comes to my mind: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/johnnycash/aboynamedsue.html
ReplyDeleteloved the song! :D...Thanks for sharing!...haha wonderful end!
DeleteHehe ... i can relate to ur story ... in school i had more names i can remember ... n yes the name d surounding n ppl affects one behavior ;)
ReplyDeleteGlad you could relate to it...yes, there's a lot in a name!...:D
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