I have a rather peculiar surname. It’s short, very specific & suits me too. Those who have my physique in mind call me Big & for those who notice my balding head use the option of calling me Wig. In between there are various permutations & combinations that can be used according to mood. Viggy, Viggu are some of the names I am largely accustomed to. The end result is that people know me but I don’t know them. But it’s not my surname that causes me the problems.  It’s the one I use before it drags me to awkward situations many a times.

 The name Rahul, as you know is one of the commonest of names. Try yelling it out in a crowd. Almost all the heads turn to look at you. It’s not that everybody has the name. It’s that somebody must be having a brother named Rahul, somebody’s son may be a Rahul, a close friend or in luckier cases Rahul, the boyfriend. I am sick and tired of turning around to answer for others with the name

There are four other genuine Rahul Vig (exact spelling) on Orkut. One fellow even created a community by the name. I was a member for two days but finally had to leave it because the owner looked too reluctant to remove his own photo from the community profile and upload a more general one. . Once something very interesting, regarding surname happened to a friend of mine. He used to live in a joint family. A common friend of ours went to see him at his home. It’s a common practice among people that surnames are used for referring purposes. So to call him out, the visiting person yelled the surname as loud as he could. The result was obvious. Everybody in the family excluding the person being called for responded to the family name.

Coming back to the Rahul story, the name has always been a headache for me. Back in the schooldays, it was a common scene outside the Principal’s office that all the Rahuls from the same grade waiting to find that actually which one was called for misbehavior or low attendance. Once, my mother attended a Parent Teacher meet in the school. My class teacher, a very polite lady, knew me well so I was eagerly awaiting my mother’s return from the meet & waiting for her to come back & narrate my tales of academic triumphs. But I was in for a shock when my mother kept laughing as I asked her about the meet. Soon I knew the reason. Actually my mother went up to my class teacher & just said Rahul. The teacher, not knowing which Rahul’s mother has arrived said “Rahul, he’s always after girls.” It was god’s grace that my mother didn’t faint at the moment & had the strength to blurt out the surname. “Oh I’m sorry Mrs. Vig. I thought it was……” I knew who she was talking about. That guy was definitely very good in those extra co-curricular activities.