Anamikan

What's that again?"
Me: It is Pon/nap/pan Aru/mu/ga/nai/nar.
Oh, How do you pronounce your last name?
Me: It is pronounced as Aru-mu-ga-nai-nar
Wow, longest surname I have ever heared.
Me: Yaah! its my Dad's name. In the region where I come from, we use dad's name as the surname.

I am tired of the above conversation - everytime I introduce myself or get introduced to some body.

My first name too sucks! When I pronounce it in the authentic tamil way, people never get it (because of the stress on the "nn" and "pp" sound. So I have to pronounce it as ponapan. I always felt that I am carrying my grandfather's name (I am named after him) and my father's name and not my name. [Sometimes I do admire the linguistic beauty of my first name. It is made of only 2 consonants ('p' (ip) and 'n'(in)) and 2 vowels ('a' and 'o') ]

It would have been cooler if carried my community name "pillai" as a surname and my dad's name as a (rarely-used-only-for-document-purpose) middle name. But in Tamil Nadu, it is discouraged to have the community name as the surname . The reason is that such names kinder casteist feelings. But I found Tamil Nadu to be one of the most casteist place in India. People might have taken the caste titles away from their name, but not from their way of life. Intercaste marriages are very rare in Tamil Nadu. It should have been the otherway. People should take the caste prejudice from their social life and not just their name (infact taking it out of the name doesn't matter to me at all).