What’s in a Name? Plenty.
Yep it’s a long name and it’s fine if you don’t quite get it first time
Sending me out into the world with the name Suchandrika Tia Chakrabarti was a bold move by my parents. It’s a gift, on many levels. For one, it makes every introduction to a new person a chance for me to get the measure of them. Occasionally, just a Suchandrika Chakrabarti, or even just a Suchandrika (Sue-CHAN-drick-ah), is too much, too long, too unusual to even be tried out. It’s tossed away with, “Got a nickname?” Sure, try Suki, even though my official nickname’s Tia — but that’s a whole other thing we’ll get into, later.
I’m careful not to share a nickname too quickly, though. There are those who get offended by me offering up a shorter version of my name too soon. No, they want to wrestle with Suchandrika, curl the tongue around the vowels, change the satisfying “ch” into a hard “k,” swap out the “d” for a “t,” show this exotic, disobedient collection of letters who’s boss.
Occasionally, just a ‘Suchandrika Chakrabarti’, or even just a ‘Suchandrika’, is too much, too long, too unusual to even be tried out. It’s tossed away with, “Got a nickname?”
