One too many
You’d think that Shane Warner wouldn’t be all that hard a name to say or remember, but when I was here in India 10 years ago, I remember that there were many people who just couldn’t pronounce it. Even back in Canada, I get called Shawn on a regular basis, so I’ve gotten used to it. However, some of the mispronunciations I got here in India were pretty amazing. The one I remember most was “Shaanae Varmer”, commonly used by a kid (Atul) in my class at school. Even though it was an English school, Atul’s English wasn’t great, so I attributed part of the mispronunciations to that, but there has always been part of me that wondered whether he was trying to tease me – he was a bit of a strange kid… There were many other creative mispronunciations, too many to list (and too hard to figure out how to spell them).
However, since arriving in India this time, I’ve found that Indians are much better at pronouncing my name, and remembering it. Occasionally, they will even sound a little startled when I give my name, or just give me a bit of a sly smile. I had noticed it, but didn’t make much of it, until the day I went to Janpad with Ravi. In the car on the way back, Ravi randomly commented that I had one too many letters in my name. Confused (as Ravi certainly knew my name and knew how to spell it), I asked him what he meant. The answer made me understand Indians’ reaction to my name.
Not only do I have one letter too many, but it is the very last letter that is in excess. Drop the final ‘r’ from Warner (and sometimes the way I say my name, the last ‘r’ is pretty quiet and could be missed), and I am no longer a young Canadian traveling around India, but suddenly become the world’s biggest cricket star. That’s right folks, if you’re like me and don’t follow the crazy sport of cricket, you’d also have no idea that Shane Warne is a superstar Australian bowler (cricket’s pitcher equivalent, as the sport is most similar to baseball), and is particularly loved in India due to the fact that while he completely dominates ever other country, he has a tendency to play poorly against the Indians, which sometimes gives the Indians a chance to beat the Australians (a rare feat, for example, the Australian team recently played – and easily beat – an international all-star team made of the best crickers from all the other countries combined).
So I guess unlike most other people who have to work really hard for a long time in order to even get the chance to become internationally famous, all I have to do is drop the last letter in my name. Not a bad deal, but I think I’d actually have to learn/understand at least the most basic concepts of cricket before I could think of pulling that off. On second thought, maybe I am like everyone else – I think it would take me a similar amount of work (with a similar chance of success) to begin to comprehend that absolutely insane game that stirs the passion of this country like nothing else…
This is the online home of one Shane Warner, my place to attempt to tell some of my stories, as well as just spout off whatever comes to mind.
