The ‘Open Page’ article, “ >The regional preferences: which Mr. Sreenivasan, please ” (Feb.8) reminded me of my time in a multinational company. We had a number of Subramaniams and each was known by his initials — A.S., P.S., M.S., K.S., S.S. It was difficult remembering each person’s name but one had to be careful. When I was transferred to Chalakudy in Kerala, I faced a similar situation with the plethora of Antonys, Georges and Joses. I faced a number of hilarious situations as I couldn’t remember who was who.
N.C. Sreedharan,
Kannur
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Some years ago, the English wanted to know what the most popular name in England was and decided to do this by announcing in a packed cinema hall in London that Smith’s house had caught fire, and Smith was to meet the cinema house manager. Nearly 70 per cent of the hall became empty instantly. Thus, the English arrived at the finding that Smith is the preponderant name in England!
K. Pradeep,
Chennai
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The article took me down memory lane and of my dance classes some 40 years ago. There were six Meenakshis, as Meenakshi is a common name in Madurai. In order to identify us, our master used a prefix for each one of us. So there was an ‘LIC’ Meenakshi, a ‘Railway’ Meenakshi, a ‘Bakery’ Meenakshi and a ‘TVS’ Meenakshi, bearing the name of the offices where our respective fathers worked. Of course, with the passage of time, ‘Meenakshi was conveniently forgotten and only the ‘prefixes’ remained. One is reminded of Shakespeare’s contention, ‘What is in a name?’ because it is the name that matters much.
Meenakshi Pattabiraman,
Madurai
