"Do you want me to spell out the name for you? " I asked over the phone exasperated. I mean, how many times have I repeated this particular sentence. I am getting tired. But you know, I am very sure I am going to be repeating this for years to come, until someone invents an easier way to do speech to text recognition. My name.. Kanagasabapathy... Is quite simple you know.. just SEVEN syllables. and its not like those Eastern European names which do not have any vowels in them and you really have to fight it out. I have SIX vowels and all of the the SAME.."A".

However, its of no avail. The trials and tribulations that I had to undergo because of my name were too many. I was named after my two grand fathers. Come on tell me, how many souls on this earth have the fortune of having two grandfatehrs with the same name. Yes, both my mom's dad and my dad's dad had the same name..and I consider it lucky to have been named after them. And my name is quite dynamic u see. it reflects my personality.. It means "Golden chairman" in sanskrit. yeah yeah, i wish i had got golden handshake last year..would be relaxing by the foothills of the swiss alps now.

I have this very bad habit of getting off on a tangent. you have to kick my butt to get back in line.. ouch!!! i am back now.. My name as i was saying, has always been quite intriguing for most people. especially the westerners. Every time i get introduced as "Kanags" the shorter form of my name and as i am most known, I always get nudged by someone or the other who knows me to speak out the full name and explain it. Its quite valuable u see especially when u kind of impress other with that nice smile/grin following the spelling of the name and to see the awe at such a name on the listeners face.

I had the best time of my life when I was sitting in my MBA classes at INSEAD. The MBa office had prepared my name tag with my whole name on it and the first few classes , you could see the professors gawking at my name confounded as to how to pronounce it. The whole section of my fellow students eagerly wait for this to happen in each class and burst out laughing.. After a few sessions where i tried to explain my name, I gave up and went and changed my name card to the easier "Kanags".

Even though there are disadvantages of such a long name. primarily when you have to spell it out to all those customer service representatives and when they end up not finding my record because the previous one had misspelt it, My name is my personality and I am proud. hang on.. I am getting a call..

Hello.. yes this is kanags, its ok.. dont try to pronounce, you are talking to the correct person.. what can i do for you?.."