Please respect my Indian name
“A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” .Dale Carnegie
Saying a person’s name – There is a positive effect in saying someone’s name when interacting with them, provided that their name is respected and said correctly. In Winford James’ Sunday Guardian article “The Shame of my name” of 1st May, 2022, he was blatantly disrespectful as the Indian name was ridiculed and dragged in the proverbial mud. Despite his seeming apology for his racially scathing article, one big question remains unanswered – what drove him to revel in his ignorantly brazen derision? Here are some possibilities:
Was it hate? – Was it a kind of perverse pride for him having what may be perceived as a ‘superior’ English name? Was it envy towards the fact that some Indo-Trinbagonians were able to keep their ancestor’s name while he did not? Was it a devilish enjoyment in ridiculing the Indian name?
We may never hear, from the horse’s mouth, what negative emotion/s caused the vile eruption of Indian name bashing. Of hate, pride, and envy, pride and envy are two of the deadly sins. To Winford James (and all the closet ‘Winford Jameses’ of T&T), I beseech you to abandon low mental frequencies, seek out a higher nature, and learn to respect others. Respect our Indian names, by taking the time to learn the correct pronunciation, and to simply ask us about its meaning if you are so interested.
Pundit – The Religious Title – The disregard does not stop at names, but extends to the Hindu religious title of ‘Pundit’. Pundit is often mispronounced as “poon-dit” instead of “pun-dit”. Noteworthy is that ‘pundit’ was adopted by the British and brought into the English language with its original pronunciation, as can be easily seen in any English dictionary.
I can almost hear dissenting voices echoing that I am making an issue out of something insignificant. But it is significant for a population that has had its presence in T&T for 177 years.
To hear TV and radio announcers, reporters, politicians, government officials, professors, and many highly educated people say “poon-dit” instead of “pun-dit” for over 50 years, it is ludicrous. In comparison, a knowledge of more advanced phonics is needed to pronounce other religious titles like Priest, Pastor, Imam and Reverend. Why is this mispronunciation prevalent among so-called educated persons? A contrary reflection of unintelligence and cultural insensitivity is cast upon those educated persons who stubbornly perpetuate this mispronunciation.
To those who say “poon-dit”, I appeal to you to overcome your intellectual stubbornness and mental laziness. Please show respect for the pronunciation of the title of Hindu religious leaders ‘Pundit’, just as it is shown to Priest, Pastor, Imam and Reverend.
The Unfair Surrender of Our Names – Indian indentured labourers and their descendants in T&T were forced into the position of having to surrender their names in order to learn English. This was the work of the missionaries who did not have a true spirit of charity as their motive, but an objective to convert Indians. Indians knew that the mandatory surrender of their names was the only available option for their survival, for the procurement of food, clothing, and shelter, in a society where English was the only national language.
It may be argued that being at the lowest rung of the educational ladder after the end of indentureship, Indians voluntarily gave up their names to be educated at missionary schools.
Voluntariness in any survival situation is a half-witted argument. Like someone who would voluntarily(?) pay a ransom for the survival of a kidnapped person, Indians voluntarily(?) paid the price of their names, and that of their children’s for them to be able to survive in an adopted land. Missionaries held the Indians to ransom.
While executing their cunning conversion strategy through an English education, they launched, whether knowingly or unknowingly, the reprehensible disrespect of the Indian name in T&T. Unfortunately, the missionaries set the tone in society for others to mimic their disregard towards the Indian name.
It is a basic right to name one’s children, and for anyone to preserve their own name. Any devious or direct attempt to destroy a person’s name is an attempt annihilate one’s identity. To those with dissenting voices (including those of Indian descent), who do not care to understand what our Indian names mean to us, our choice of name is not your business. In your case, silence is unequivocally golden, simply accept and respect the Indian name.
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