The name is Jayasekharan Unnikrishnan!

Yes, that is one of the longest and probably the rarest names one may come across in this planet. I say “probably the rarest” because an erstwhile friend of mine refutes by saying that my name is very common in South India. She could be right coz she has seen the world more than I have, she has been to places I have never been, hence I am obliged to give her claim due credence. ”Jayasekharan” which literally means “victory collector” or a person who collects victories was christened to me by my dad who wanted his son to have a true Malayalee name. Mr.Unnikrishnan did not approve of the name “Jatin” that my Mom had picked for me.Jatin was too Gujarati a name for a hardcore-Mallu-at-heart dad to consent to. How “Jayasekharan” made its way into my birth certificate is a story in itself. My mom, sis, all my relatives and some of my friends still call me Jatin, understandably!
During my entire school life my name was subjected to various contortions, some really ridiculous and some quite offending, but I got accustomed to them over the years and reached a state where I dint really give a damn to what names people used to call me. Friends in school used to call me ”Jaya” ,teachers used to call me “Jayesh”, ”Shekhar”, ”Krishnan”, ”Jayeshkharan” ,”Jaysheekran” .I remember one teacher(not disclosing his name) calling me “Samarshekharan” and the entire class burst out laughing. I mean what was so funny about it man…that was so fuckin’stupid! I have heard names much funnier than this! I never had a teacher who could spell my name correct and the outcome could be seen on my report cards and certificates. Being quite an extra-curricular kid in school, I have participated & won many medals in Karate tournaments at the taluka and district level. During the event the host would call out my name with great difficulty eventually messing up my name. The mess repeated itself during the awards ceremony, reflecting on my certificates of honor and echoed by my friends who would never miss out an opportunity to poke fun at me. I wasn’t amused to see “Jayshree Kharan” printed (in Marathi) on my certificate for a karate event in which I had won a gold medal! I know I have earned a name for myself here, but not this one for Christ’s sake!
Exit school and enter junior college; A different life altogether, different people, new friends and new lecturers. It was here I started introducing myself to everyone as Jay. Since then people have been calling me Jay and this practice continues even now. Friends who have known me since school still call me Jaya or Jatin and those who have known me since college call me Jay. Some colleagues in my workplace call me “Unni” presuming that it is my surname. Jezreel calls me Saccharide/Unnisaccharide/Jaysaccharide, a moniker derived from the biological term ‘unisaccharide’. One man, many names, like a notorious criminal with multiple aliases! ;-)
I think I have written enough about my name and the repercussions of having a name as long as mine, and now I am getting bored, cant think of anything more to write….feeling very lazy to get my hands on the keyboard as I sit back with my legs outstretched, look out of the window, retreat myself into my mental den, contemplating about life and my existence.
I don’t know how many victories I have collected till date or to what extent I have lived up to my name, but the fact remains that I am proud of my name, irrespective of what people make out of it.


P.S: A special note of thanks to 'Shatabdi Express' who convinced me to start blogging by saying that blogging takes one to 'enlightening levels' and it gives him/her great pleasure expressing their thoughts on a website and sharing them with fellow bloggers.Well,I dint feel enlightened as such,but yes I am definitely pleased to see my very first blog..a blog worth reading!