Lots in a Name

LOTS IN A NAME

Indians are well known for the ease with which they can pronounce names of foreign countries, cities and people. But when it comes to pronouncing Indian names, even newscasters, anchors and announcers do not bother to know whether the names are being spelt and/or pronounced correctly.

A glaring error by the private English news channels is the pronounciation of 'Chakan' - the fast growing auto hub of India, near Pune - wrongly as 'Chakaan'. The news channels are advised to do the bare essential research on the pronounciation, to avoid making such bloomers.

Another example is the name Raman. In Madhya Pradesh it may be correctly pronounced, but the same name in the South should be rightly pronounced as 'Raaman'.

Even my surname, though clearly written by me in bold caps on documents is wrongly spelt many times as Attawar or even Attarwar. It is also wrongly pronounced as Avtar or Atwar or Attar.

People just do not make the effort to read the proper noun, as it is written. They also do not think it worthwhile to ask the person whose name is being mispronounced or disfigured.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but a person whose name has been spelt or pronounced wrongly, would sound bitter.

Such spelling errors are very commonly found in Govt. documents, correspondence and important identity documents such as Pan Card, Passport, Voter I-D Card, Driving Licence and Gas Agency Card, among others.Why can't people especially in Govt. departments, banks and corporation offices get their basic spellings right? This is not due to the clerical staff's limited knowledge of English, but their attitude and approach to their work. The officers are equally to be blamed as they are supposed to scrutinize and verify the documents before signing. A little bit of care and caution would go a long way in eliminating such blunders. The citizens would then not have to undergo the hardship of running from pillar to post, to get their names/spellings changed on the documents, for no fault of theirs.The consequences of wrong spellings on documents would be - entirely avoidable delays for citizens in getting their work done.