My Name

My name says a lot of things about me. My name is a mixture of the lightest of blues, purples and pinks, a very feminine name. My name is one of a kind. Some people say it is weird; some say it is beautiful. But I say it is me; everything about me is my name. In India my name was a beautiful name with the right pronunciation! But here it is a different thing altogether. It is distinguished into three different parts. In India or inside of my family it is one word, three syllables that come together as one to make my name. My name reminds me of silk. It slips out of my mouth. I’m almost used to correcting people with the pronunciation of my name. Very few people have got it right. Some of my friends just call me Nanda, my last name. But that is not me, I share it with my family; it is us, not me. My name is Pratiti.

I have been teased about my name. When I first came to Malaysia there was a big girl on my bus. I was in first grade and she was in fifth grade. She was a Korean and she made fun of my name, I could hear them laughing at the back of the bus, whispering and pointing at me. I still remember her long dark hair, pale skin and her tall frame. The funny thing was, I thought her name was weird! I had never been exposed to international schools so I thought her name was odd. But I had some manners and didn’t think it would be funny to make fun of her name. Other times when the teacher mispronounces my name, some people laugh at it. I laugh along with them, because I don’t take it as an insult, I find it funny.

My name means ‘belief’ -- it is a Sanskrit word. I think I’m very privileged to be named after such an important word. Isn’t it ‘believe’ that always comes before hope in inspirational speeches? “We have to believe there is hope!” Don’t people always say, “you have to believe in yourself” or “I believe in you!” My parents named me Pratiti for two reasons. My brother’s name is Pratik and they wanted my name to be something similar. The second is they believed I could do wonders. I’m going to prove them right! I will make them proud of me. I will make sure that I do wonders. My father wanted to name me Sabrina from a female protagonist in a book he was reading during the time I was born. He doesn’t remember what the book was called anymore since he read it about thirteen years ago! I have a nickname that only my family calls me: Munlee. My brother’s nickname is Leemun, so my nickname is his nickname backwards. But the ‘m’ and the ‘n’ change places and the ‘l’ goes before the two ‘e’s.

I love my name; I believe that it is unique. I mean how many people have you met whose name is Pratiti? I’m not saying that I’m the only one with the name but it stands out. I have always wanted to stand out and I think I do. My entire family is organized with everything. They have all graduated with good grades and they all love to do math, they are consistent in their grades! But me, my grades change from time to time, my room is always a mess and I enjoy reading about myths and history, I love setting my imagination wild and put what I’m thinking into words! It all adds up to humanities! It is true: My father is a marine engineer; it involves high level math! My brother is studying accounting and finance which also involves math. My mother is a housewife ,but cooking also involves math! But I want to study literature, I find it interesting, something that I can study without getting bored!