What's in a name!

"I Pity the Fool" is an American reality
television series on TV Land  
starring Mr T 

"What's in a name," they might say, but when I joined the BBC in 1999, my Regional Head Elizabeth Wright confided that the reason why she decided to officially see me later than expected was because of my name. She needed some time and probably a bit of practice to decently pronounce my name.
Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay, a 23-letter name is not only mouthful but also quite a difficult one to pronounce even by the Indian standard. No wonder, the elderly White British people in my neighbourhood chose to rename me "Tito". Everytime they apologetically address me by that name, I assuage myself by babbling the Shakespearean phrase from Romeo and Juliet.
My colleagues at West Thames College are even smarter. They have reduced me to "Mr T", of course with my consent. Little did I know that the name was linked to an American television character and our looks and nature were miles apart.

About a decade ago, subaltern historian from Chicago Dipesh Chakarabarty wrote in the Anandabazar Patrika how strangely his surname was pronounced by a cabbie to give it a different connotation.

However, transformation of names to facilitate easy pronunciation is not uncommon. Sunil becomes Sam, Banerjee - Beny or Banjo and Sukhbinder - Suki or Sukh. But all these are in the West and Indians, especially Bengalis take pride in the fact that their tongues are flexible enough to pronounce difficult names easily.

Sea Bass becomes Basa Fish in India

Tonight during our dinner, my wife Sonali narrated a story of how the name of a fish has undergone metamorphosis - thanks to the upward mobile Indian middle class - which is hilarious to say the least. The laughter that followed lightened the sombre mood at the dinning table ahead of a dull Monday morning.
Sonali gathered from her Facebook friends that Sea Bass, a sweet, white, textured fish, caught in the North Atlantic, from Norway to Senegal, is known as 'Basa' in many parts of India and is gradually becoming a prestigious delicacy among the ever expanding middle class. To add a vanity touch, the word 'fish' follows 'Bassa' rather than its usual vernacular versions.

Our local fish monger sells Sea Bream alongside Sea Bass and he hails from Afghanistan. "What's left of globalisation," I said to myself ! Globalisation may be a great leveller but names still matter.

** The comedy of errors with names continues. My friend Suddhasattwa Bandyopadhyay pointed out on Facebook that what is known as Basa Fish in India is actually "Pangasius Bocourti" and not Sea Bass.

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay is a journalist and media consultant. 
He can be contacted at tirthankarb@hotmail.com 

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