This evening I went out for a walk... after many days. Took a new route, up the St Anne's Hill. However, halfway up the hill, it started to rain and so had to return. Was pleasantly surprised to see a street dedicated to me! Yeah, my name!
At college there is this confusion of my name still raging! Here in the English culture everyone calls everyone, even those elder to one, by their first name. Only official and formal reference to someone would involve only their surname with the salutation 'Mr' prefixed. Most of those who know me in college call me by my first name. However, some who have been in e-mail correspondence with me have asked why do I sign my surname. That's because that's how I've been called for the past 20 years!
I still remember filling out the name sheet on one of our first days at The Retreat, Yercaud - not even a month after my first profession in 1996. There was our full name printed out and we were asked to fill in our birthday and preferred name to be called. By then I had known most in the community. There were two more in the senior group with the same name as mine. So to avoid confusion I wrote my surname, as the preferred name to be used. Since then it has been how I've always been called.
But here's the icing on the cake: None of the other two were called by their first name - all three of us were called by our surnames!!
No comments:
Post a Comment