Aakash vs Akash & Teachers

 Aakash Vasireddy | Blog Post #2 | Non-Fiction Writing | September 30th, 2021

Names. A word, or words in some cases, given to each of us by our parents upon arrival into this world. A word as we grow older that we learn to associate with ourselves, our hands adjusting to the movement of the pattern of letters our pens and pencils make to denote possession. A word we use to refer to ourselves in discussions with peers, friends, and those who surround us, first, last, and middle (or lack thereof) combining to form differences between each of society’s individuals. It portrays power: the impact your name creates as it is announced on the microphone or at the front of the class, resonating to all the people that hear it. It portrays identity: the things, items, personalities, emotions, characteristics, memories, that pop into one another’s minds as the name is mentioned, a crystal clear image. It gives… understanding and meaning - an understanding and meaning of the stories that make up who we are. Names are important. Special.

My name is Aakash Vasireddy. I’ve written and heard my name so many times that the moment passes by quickly without any thought. Every time I take my red pen and write “Aakash V.” on my paper or to conclude my email, I have never really taken the time to sit down and ponder my name and the anecdotes that are associated with it - that is until today, I guess.

As you may or may not be able to tell, my name does not originate from American culture. Aakash, as I understand from my parents (and corroborated with Google Translate), is a Hindi word most commonly meaning “Sky,” although I believe there are also different meanings to the word as well. I remember asking my mother about my name and her saying she specifically chose the name because it represented “inspiration” and "hope" which I found quite interesting. My twin’s name Vikas means “development” and “growth” and “evolution” in Hindi which not only suit him more, but are also admittedly cooler than being called “Sky.” Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind “Sky,” but being able to say “my name means evolution” could make for some great college essay references. Just saying.

The amount of A’s in my full name is quite ridiculous. In Hindi names, the name “Akash” isn’t that uncommon. For me, on the other hand, I have two A’s in the beginning. Despite not being that much more rare than “Akash”, the two A’s in “Aakash” tend to throw people off. There are tons of instances where people constantly write my name as “Akash” without the second A. Of course, I can understand that they mean me, but even to this day, there are still teachers, friends, and family that write my name as “Akash” which confuses me.

Teachers might get a pass considering there was someone named “Akash” that graduated two years prior. It took me a couple weeks when I came to Uni to realize that someone had a name so close to mine, and the realization came as a big surprise for me. Names associated with any culture or demographic tend to stand out among a population of common names, but having another person with essentially my name amazed me while also confusing me on countless occasions. Subbie year, I am working in the library and I hear my name shouted in the room. As anyone would when they hear their name, I whirled around in alarm to find out who was calling out so distressingly, but I found out that my “twin” and his friends were just messing around.

On the other hand, there are simply times where my name gets mixed up with some other person, most commonly some Indian person. In Modern History sophomore year, I’m (for the moment) not falling asleep while watching the slide show - I was doing a great job! Out of absolutely nowhere, Mr. Butler exclaims, “AAKASH! Put that pen down and pay attention!” Naturally, I looked behind me to where Mr. Butler was sitting to see what he was talking about and saw him not even looking at me - he was looking at Ekam, sitting three rows across from me. So he’s talking to Ekam - “Aakash.” I wait until he’s done talking and go, “Mr. Butler, sir. Um. I’m- I’m Aakash…” He responds with “Oh,” causing some of my friends to get a little laugh while learning about the French Revolution.

This blog is getting to be a bit long, I realize, so I am going to make a part two. There really is so much to reflect on when it comes to my name, isn’t there? Crazy...