Being Agrawal
National Award recipients, CEOs, top businessmen, toppers of every possible exam, leading coaching classes of those exams, young entrepreneurs, and even insider traders. You can find an Agrawal in them all. They are a community of extreme over- achievers. Glance through any newspaper and you will see the stupid faces of couple hundred students who have scored 110℅ on some exam. You will easily find a couple Agrawals amongst them (pretty good idea for a drinking game ) .
The Agrawal community prides itself on any achievement made by fellow Agrawals. At home every morning I would witness my grandparents or parents hold up the paper, proudly pointing at some successful Agrawal story. This is generally followed by an inspirational speech and the value of the name talk. It doesn’t help the fact that the Agrawal community consists of all these other over achievers such as Mittals, Bansals and Guptas. These guys combined own a large chunk of every Indian mothers hopes and dreams for their children.
I was thrust into this community as a deliberate act. My dad’s last name is Goyal. My parents decided to name both my brother and I with a last name as Agrawal. I never really understood the real reason for it, they always told me that Goyal is a subset of the Agrawal family. So basically they upgraded me. Perhaps that was a popular thing during the 90s when getting a version 2.0 was a glamorous prospect. Funny thing is that people in USA wouldn’t think of it like that. My teacher would look at my registration form, with my name next to my parents, give me a double look for signs of a broken childhood, and give me a tight hug . Buried in the bosom of this consoling woman, I should’ve realized that this is the best way to pick up girls in the future.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t despise my name or my family. It’s just amazing to see how one community can be distinctly obsessed with showing off achievement.
I think I’ll name my kid differently, give him a completely new last name to let him set his own ways. I need some ideas, else I think I’ll end up naming him daaruwalla.
