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On November 5, 2020, Jane T. put this on Facebook:
"Today is National Middle Name Day.
If you're not afraid, drop your middle name."
Answers included 'Carolyn', 'Irene', 'You know mine', and 'I don't have a middle name' ... among others.
The idea for this newsletter came to me after I responded, and we discussed my response.
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Dear Reader,
When Jane put her question about middle names on Facebook, she must've expected a variety of responses. She must've expected straightforward answers with lovely names like 'Christine', she must've expected some unusual answers, with two middle names, like 'Elizabeth Maisie', she must've expected some people to be too shy to reveal their middle name ... and various other possibilities.
I'm sure she didn't expect the response I gave.
Funnily enough, in India, one wouldn't have to ask someone's middle name if one knew the names of close family members. Because in most cultures (not all) here, sons and unmarried daughters have their father's given name as the middle name, and married women have their husband's given name as their middle name. My Dad's given first name is 'Arun', so my middle name, and my Mom's, is 'Arun'. If I ever marry, my middle name will change to my husband's given name.
Often, forms which we have to fill out are templated this way:
First Name ______________
Father's/ Husband's Name: __________
Last Name: ________________.
By this, my name is Sonali Arun Bhatia, and that's fine by me.
However, a friend of mine from college had to get all her certificates amended, her middle name being 'Annabel' but being filled in there as 'Alfred' thanks to the templated application form.
Which brings me to the topic of this newsletter.
Going beyond the surprise.
Jane had expected to be surprised by some unusual middle names, she had not expected to find a culture in which the whole system of writing names is different. She began with something and with an expectation, and what followed took her further than she had expected.
Which is why there is a story to tell. It's not just the expected surprise, but going beyond that. I wouldn't call it a 'twist' exactly, but a 'leap'. A twist, I would say is when the story begins on one road and appears to be following a path, and then veers off on another path. A leap is when it goes much further along the path, or takes greater leaps across that path than expected. You expect to have unusual responses to 'middle name' -- here's a whole different culture.
A plot that leaps.
And shall I go further? You know know of the format:
First Name, Father's Husband's Name, Last Name. This works in some parts of India. I'm Sonali Arun Bhatia. My Dad's name is Arun Dwarkadas Bhatia. (My grandpa's name being 'Dwarkadas'.)
However ...
In some areas, particularly in South India, people are identified by where their ancestral home is, or where they were born. That forms part of their name. So their names follow this sequence: Place, Father's Name, Given name. The given name takes the position of the last name.
So, Dad has a friend named Kanakapura Murthy Narayan. 'Kanakapura' is the place he comes from, 'Murthy' is is father, and his name is 'Narayan'. His son's name: Kanakapura Narayan Prakash. Usually, these names are written as "KM Narayan" and "KN Prakash".
What was the question? The question was 'What's your middle name'.
The answer was a story, with a leap in the plot.
Try it in a story you're working on.
Ask your question. Have your premise or scenario.
And then -- LEAP, and see where it takes you.
Thanks for listening!
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Thank you for the responses to "Happy Birthday, Dad!"
Hi, Sonali. I really enjoyed your diary entry for your Dad's eighty-fifth birthday party. Burning Thoughts 
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Short Stories: December 16, 2020 Issue [#10466]
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