I have always hated my name. I have a very common ethnic first
name and a hard to pronounce last name. This made life very difficult when I
was a kid. There were two other Reenas in class besides me. This meant that
during roll-call the teacher had to call out our first names as well as last.
My last name used to be called out in a whole variety of ways depending on the
teachers mood and her accent. I dreaded roll-call each day. Naturally by the
time I was in third some smartass bully thought it would be hilarious to
torment me during recess about my name. This girl was really huge… like a teen
wolf, and yours truly was a puny kid back then. This meant I was seriously
lacking in the self defence department. So basically she used to trail after me
during recess singing out my name and I’d spend the whole recess trying to
outrun her. I wasn’t very good at the running thing either.
So yes! I hated my name back then.
I changed schools in when I was in 7th. I went
from an all-girl’s school to an all-girl’s boarding school. Oh joy! At boarding
school there were more Catholics which meant every second girl was either a
D’souza or a Fernandes. We also had Alphonsos, Borrettos, Sequieras, etc etc…
And then there was me! Chakalakal! What does that even mean?? It’s too long and
there are no records available giving directions on how to spell it. Of course
in boarding school too there were 4 other Reenas besides me. Gets better,
right? Actually in a weird way it did. Not immediately though. I had to spend
my first year in boarding school being called ‘Chakli’. A big girl named me
that. She was in 10th and very popular. The name caught on. Bummer!
Then, the next year I became friends with a girl who was sweet
and brilliant. Somewhere in that year or maybe the next… she had a little chat
with me about names. She made me love my name and take pride in it. Her
reasoning was simple. She was a D’Souza and there were many other D’Souzas in
school. She explained how ‘Chakalakal’ was unique. And it was. It is. So then
on I took to educating people on how to pronounce my name. I still dislike my
first name though. But now I’m stuck with it. And I fear becoming a ‘Reena
D’Souza’. But I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what happens when that day
comes.
Fun fact: I come from a family of R’s. My dad is called
Robert, Mum – Rachil and my brother is called Reagan. So I guess that’s
something right?
