Like in Gogol’s life, my name has always played a huge role in how others perceived me, or rather, how I believed they perceived me. Even though my name is derived from the Sanskrit language (as Indian names often are) it is unusual even in India and in 17 years of life I have heard of only one other person named Abhinaya. This ensured that growing up, I spent a lot of awkward moments when meeting strangers. I hated having to repeat my name at least thrice to every new person I met and having to answer overly curious questions about its origin. Why couldn’t I have a normal name that was easy to say, that wouldn’t raise so many eyebrows?

Oddly enough, I first started thinking differently about my name after watching the movie The Namesake based on this very novel in 2007, when I was in the eighth grade. “Abhinaya” is a concept in Indian classical dances and theater referring to the art of delivering the perfect expressions to convey an emotion. I had never really considered this information cool or interesting. But, inspired by Gogol’s story, I saw it in a new light. I even went to dance class for six months hoping to be worthy of my name – that didn’t work, however, I did realize how lucky I was to have such a unique name that ensures I stand out in any crowd.

Now when I talk to my parents about my name it is usually to express my admiration for them for having thought of something so creative and my curiosity about how they actually arrived at my name – no revelations there, unlike in The Namesake, my parents only chose this name because they thought it sounded pretty. Now when people say that my name is pretty I don’t consider the compliment an attempt by strangers to cover up their shock at my odd name. Now when people ask me about my name, I’m prepared to treat them to a course in Indian classical dance and theater. At the very least, it’s a great icebreaker!  😉