Whats in a NAME?

"So wats your name?".
Me-"Shaival"
Person(confused)-"what?"
Me(this time speaking slowly)-"Its shaival"
Person(still confused but trying)-"okay shaiiival".
Me-"no not shaiiival. the letter 'i' is kind of silent."
Person(now more confused)-"yeah yeah got it. shaiival now i m right na".
Me(teeth clenched)-"yes dude u r right".

This is a normal flow of conversation that happens with me whenever i meet a new person. I m so proud of my name that has been bestowed upon me but the sad fact is that most people dont respects that. :-( My name has been ripped off so many times that it doesnt sound anywhere near to the original one. The big problem lies with the pronounciation. BUT WHY ME. WHY AM I BEING MADE THE CHOSEN ONE. ALL THE PRIDE THAT I HAD REGARDING THIS NAME IS NOW SLOWLY SHATTERING.

Recently i met some kids, they asked my name and the usual thing happened. But they were more cruel. They were rude enough to say that we cant remember or understand(???) ur name so we would be calling u bhaiya only. ur name is nowhere near to the simpler ones like jay, amit etc. Kids being kids told the truth and i had to gulp down the insult with no reaction.

In school too i faced the same jokes of error. My english mam(who is a bengali) used to call me SHAIWOL with a big emphasis on "vol" as if its WALL.

When i shifted to a new school, in my class a boy came and asked "hey wats ur name?"
I with caution and as slowly as possible said "shaival"
He-"hmmm. nice to meet u".
I was relieved to see that at last someone got it correctly in the first time itself.
then after some talking and all stuff he said "U know its pretty weird. But why did
ur parents named u SEVEN".
I was shocked like anything. cmon yaar. no body insulted my name like this way. How come u? Ahh, and again the whole process of teaching him to pronounce my name correctly started.

U know there r days when some people in the first time itself pronounce my name correctly. When i hear them doing so, my joys have no bounds, i feel like a baby and tell my friends "look he prounounced it correctly. i cant believe this." I get so
happy at those times that i feel like giving jaadu ki jhappi to such honourable souls.

Apart from pronounciation, the other problem lies in wat is meaning of ur name. I tell them its related to lord Shiva. But there r great souls who have other thoughts. Once i met an uncle who said " U know ur name means AMOEBA. In gujarati, shevad means amoeba. So u r an amoeba. HA HA HA". Now i tried explaining him its not shevad but of no use.

So this is the story of my name. And please all those who r reading this start pronouncing my name correctly. I will leave u

with a phone conversation that had rattled me as usual when someone distorts my name.

Person-"hello sir"
Me-"hello who is this"
Person-"Sir i m from tvs motors. the call is regarding ur bike"
Me-"okay"
Person-"Sir ur name is SHIVLAL NA"
Me-%&$#&#& (in my mind ;-) )

P.S I STILL LOVE MY NAME. :-)