Getting too personal???

"What's in a Name? A rose with a different name would smell as sweet." Some people, though, would have arguments against these words echoed by legendary Shakespeare. I am one of them. For me its an identity and i get bugged up when somebody spells my name as V-I-N-I-T instead of V-I-N-E-E-T!!

What's in a name?!!! Well, there is a little story behind my name! I dunno if its quiet interesting to share with u all but i am definitely going to bug u all with this story - the story of my name
So lets go back into a flash back :
One fine morning, my parents expected a baby gal, they wished for a baby gal! ..The nurse brought the new born baby, my dad lifted the soft cloth covering the baby... Voila! that was me!
but one X chromosome was replaced by Y chromosome and here i was a baby boy !!!!!! Cute litle bundle of joy! boy joy! Well, i was also cute at that time, like all babies lol.
Ok, here came the confusion for my parents. They strongly believed that i would be a gal and have thought of naming me Veena!!!! but What to name me now?! I think they were still in
the gal child hangover, that they finally named me Vineet. And they called me Veenu/ Vinni/ Vimmi/ Vinita at home!!! Some gal solace for them finally!!!! So i ended up with lots of names.
Only people didnt call me with any numbers yet!!

However, the changing world has changed my view-point too. I wonder now...is that really important?? Do i really care if our PM's name was Manmohan Singh or Patrik Peter? Do i really care if my Company's name was KPMG instead of PricewaterhouseCoopers? I reckon i dont!

What made this transition? The recent series of events!

I rang up Hutch Customer Care to check with them the reason for barring my outgoing calls. I had an important phone interview (ya those cheap ppl had asked me to call them up) and i was
desperate to pass the call through Hutch Network of Towers. What's the first thing i hear? Hi, I'm Preeti. What difference would it make to me had the voice been... Hi, I am Vikas. or Ramananda. Or Subramanyamswami. Why do all these people tell their names? What do I care what their names are, or if they do have names at all or they do away with serial numbers? What I want is my call barring sorted out. And not any name matching! They would not even stop there. The next sentence would be,"may i know your name and billing address." Sometimes i feel its an introductory gambit and before you react on anything someone would be comparing Linda Goodman's Sun Signs (Libra? Really! I'm Aries, and Librans and Arians get on SO well together...) I dunno what happened to new generation corporate idol of the faceless, nameless, depersonalised bureaucratic machinery that served all comers with total, anonymous impartiality without wanting to match gotras!! (who knows this is the next thing you hearing about...one step up to Linda Goodman). Why did we become so touchy-feely, so up-close and personal?

Though it is inconsequential now, coz of the topic of discussion...still i wld mention dat Preeti ultimately cldnt come to my help... she said your unbilled usage amount is over your credit limit and we cannot allow u any further outgoing calls. I pleaded my urgency to make that call and asked her to refer my previous bill payments records. She came out with the records as well (i never thought that they do check out the records as well)... and said..Sir, you already have been levied with 2 Late Payment Charges in past quarter and we cannot extend you the facility. (now who's gonna explain that stubborn lady that it was not coz of my poor credibility... but coz of my rich laziness dat i cldnt pay my bills on time). But i persisted and promised her to make payment just after making this call... it being urgent as I need to communicate about the ill health of one of my colleagues at his home. "Ok Sir", comes the reply. (gals do have heart!!!... though i still doubt....single act of eminence is not excellence...and dats when entire community is at stake...i am not willing to move!). "But it would take minimum two hours to get your services recativated", again comes the sweet (sweet, my foot) voice of Preeti. (how correct i was about this community.... and as they say,"form is temporary, class is permanent"). Finally, i had to run for the conventional roadside yellow coloured phone booth as my interview was just 2 mins away....and i cldnt have afforded to wait for two hours promised by Preeti.

Coming back to the topic, I would say this habit of telling names is not just limited to Telecom Customer Care Centres. It permeates everywhere. You go to an eating joint. Hi, my name is Rahul, and i'm going to be serving you today. Do I really care? All i want is my pizza delivered on my table alongwith the garlic breads i ordered.

Welcome aboard, Sir. This is Romita, your flight attendant for this route. What should I do? Take a vow not to eat whatever she offers? Or risk myself into caring, sharing flight-experience with someone who, till she opened her mouth and told me her name, dint know that I existed, and vice-versa?

Where it's going to end? Hi, i'm veerappan and i am going to rob you today. Hi, I'm Vijay Saxena, i'm a cop and you are a history. Hi, I am cardio surgeon who's going to attack your body as you had a heart attack and my name is Dr.Batra.

There was this funny meeting happened at Mumbai PwC Office. Whenever some new division consultant would join the conference, i would find myself speaking...Hi, this is Vineet Aggarwal from PwC Delhi. Does he really care if I am sitting there or not. Or is he really listening to my sweet name which i am chanting monotonously. At the end of Session 1, i happened to be seated next to an employee of Mumbai Office (I later discovered he was one of the manager whom we generally reported to for our deliverables). Anyways, stranger to me when we started with the lunch. I confided in him my concern about tendency of people to impose their names on others at the drop of a 'chat'. He naturally, had not disclosed his name to me, nor i did mine to him. He totally agreed with me. He added that his juniors were the worst offenders atleast in his case/ life. He continued, "There's this one fellow, Puneet or Amit or something like that, at PwC Delhi office. He would send me the deliverables and call me, start with his name and tell me that he has sent the deliverables. I will check and record whatever he has sent; but what do i want his name for?"
I was about to tell him that actually it was Vineet. But i paused. I didnt want to get too touchy-feely, too up-close and personal, did I?