Mi Nombre

I have had this said to me three times. I went into University Federal Credit Union to open up my bank account and the lady across the reception said “May I help you Sir”.

“Yes Please. I’ am here to open a new student bank account”

“Certainly. Please fill in this form and we’ll get to it”

So I sit down and fill in the form, which has the usual personal details and stuff. After I’ am done, I hand it back to the lady who looks at it and says

“Siddhartha .. huh ! I’ve read the book, it’s fabulous but I’ve met a person by this name for the first time”

My bulbs went out for a second. Then they came on again. I knew what she was talking about. “Oh yes!” I say  “We are a rare breed”

The same thing happened to me at University Co-op Art Store and at Walmart.

By this time was I was psyched out to the extent of having decided to go ahead and read the damn book once and for all.

I ‘am referring to Hermann Hesse’s “Siddhartha”. This is a book about a prince’s journey of finding his inner self and giving up all the worldly possessions in the process. Originally written in German it has been translated into several languages including English. I looked all this up at the “mother-of-all-uploads” Wikipedia. Sounds quite like a spiritualistic, musty and “Deepak Chopra addresses the crowd” kind of book so I was skeptical because I do not like such books and have never really read one of those except for “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” and “The Alchemist” which I despised, but WTH, I’ve never read a book my namesake either. So I went to the Perry Castaneda Library and got it issued.

It’s about 120 Pages, hardbound.

The first thing that stuck me as odd when I started the book was that there was something wrong with the story line. At least it did not align with what I had known for so long. I knew that Gautam Buddha, was originally called Siddhartha and when he renounced all the worldly pleasures, he came to be known as the former. But here it was different. Siddhartha was a different guy and Gautam Buddha was a different guy. My only hope of sharing my name with a world-class celebrity (albeit of a different class) was shattered.

When I finished the book, I closed it and lay back. I was feeling heavy. Not because of the book, I had just finished my dinner. The book did not have any effect on me. You know there are things which if you call BAD people frown on you.

Like when I was in college, I used to mock my friends who were a fan of “FRIENDS” and they went like “You outcast! How come you don’t like FRIENDS” and today I have all the dialogues memorized. Similarly I borrowed this copy of “The Alchemist” from my Mom and when I finished it she asked “So did you like it? “. Everyone likes the Alchemist or at least pretends to do so but I was about to say “How did you allow me to waste 2 days with this crap” but said instead “I have to go to the bathroom”. She would have frowned, no doubt.

So anyways, I did not like the book. It was as sleepy a hot bathtub and bottle of cough-syrup but at least now I can say  “Oh Puhleeezzz! Am not that boring”