If you have been around this blog-space you already know this, but if you haven’t then you should know this about me: I absolutely love my name. Also that I have only one name: Richa. No family name/surname/second or middle name. Just one name: Richa. Sweet and simple.
Now my question is: how hard is it to pronounce a five letter name? Ri-cha. Honestly? Yet, people insist on mangling, mutilating, and murdering my name. I mean its hard enough to live in this world with only one name (really, what’s the big deal? Why do every one has to ask me why I have only one name and most of the times, presume something about my culture or my family?), people insist in sabotaging that poor name as well. And its not that hard. Its very similar to a very popular name: Richard. They don’t call any Richard. ri-ka-rd, or Ree-chaard (with a long ee), or Ray-chard so why do they insist on calling me Ri-ka, or Ree-cha, or Ray-cha?
And the worst part of it? I have gotten so used to these awful pronunciations now that I actually respond to them. If some one calls out for a Ri-ka, I know they are calling for me. I have even stopped correcting them now even though my insides still cringe whenever people insist on calling me Rika or worse, “Rika Rika”.
P.S.: 1. I know, I know, I am not the only one. All of us have had their names mutilated some time or the other. Just some times it gets me, especially if I am already having a bad day and then some one insist on calling me Rika Rika during the entire conversation (yes every time they have to call me Ms Rika Rika, not just Rika or Ms Rika) while trying to solve my problem which, as it turns out, they don’t have authority to solve in the first place (something I have been trying to tell them from the start, I must add).
All I can say, I have a very limited supply of patience. Its not even sold in any store I know of.
2. My tip: if you don’t know the pronunciation of someone’s name, ask them instead of mispronouncing it (especially if you work in service industry as IT support or call center). No one minds telling you the correct pronunciation of their own name. Most of us are fairly happy doing it.
