"You people have some Weird names"

 After reading "The F word" it made me think back to some of the experiences I've had with people questioning, or mispronouncing my name. I've experienced the normal mispronunciation of my name, where people either take out letters, add their own, or simply just come up with an alternative name themselves. I've noticed, people slightly mispronounce my first name but completely butcher my last name. Some variations of my first include "Sockruta" or "Sookruhtaa" which aren't too bad but boy do people struggle to say my last name "Chetan". The funniest one I've heard is "Cheetah" or "Chatawn". Maybe they mistook the first line on the n to be a little longer than it is, reading it as an "h." It never really bothered me though, ever since I came here I've had people mispronounce my name such distinct ways that at some point, you give up trying to get people to pronounce it right. I also understand, that some people just can't make the same sounds as others because of the languages they grow up around, for example, the rolling r sound.  I can't pronounce certain names properly because I can't make the sounds needed to enunciate them properly. The effort of people show to pronounce my name properly is enough for me. Especially during the first day of school, I've noticed roughly all my teachers ask me "Did I pronounce it right" or apologize in advance if they mispronounce names.  But, the problem lies where people discriminate and ridicule others for having names they are unfamiliar with. During the summer, I spent time at the Troy Nature Center volunteering and helped organize events for the summer camps they held. I was usually there at least twice a week for most of the summer. One of my days there, an old white lady was instructed to help the same batch of kids, and the first thing she said to me after approaching and squinting at my name card was "Wow, you people have such weird names". I was flabbergasted, shook, my jaw was probably on the floor. I probably had to manually bring it back up with my hand. After that, she laughed and told me her name. I just smiled, and she asked me what school I go to, and if I had any plans for the future. After I answered in about one or two sentences, she continued to talk about how her kids went to Princeton, and other prestigious schools, as well as the fact that she had an education at UFM. My ears were ringing after her monolugue. The excuse some may use that she was unaware of the fact that it may seem offensive is wild to make considering her education. But, maybe she was just unaware and didn't know any better. I just never thought I'd have someone call my name Sukruta, handpicked by my parents because of its importance to them as "weird". Not to mention the various other names that would fall under the "weird" criteria because people like Clare are unfamiliar with them.