All in the name

GEETHA RAO / TNN / Apr 27, 2007, 20:31 IST

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Aishwarya Rai, huh, Bachchan. Changing your surname after marriage, retaining it, or using a bit of both. Women choose their own.

Aishwarya Rai, huh, Bachchan. Changing your surname after marriage, retaining it, or using a bit of both. Women choose their own.
So Aishwarya is now Aishwarya Bachchan. That's how she's said to have signed her first autograph in Tirupathi after her marriage. And toed the line of tradition like many women who willingly change their surnames after marriage.
But there are some who have stuck to their maiden names and are happy with it; or others who have gone in for a combo of surnames so they get the best of both worlds (keeps everyone happy?).
To each her own, finds BT. Activist Munira Sen, Munira Jamal before marriage, says she was married 20 years ago, and it didn't even occur to her that she could retain her maiden name.

"A sheltered Muslim girl, I was very naive, and my education began only after I joined Madhyam. I have no regrets becoming Munira Sen at all. I could act, do films, travel alone. A whole new world opened to me, another culture. It was the best thing that ever happened. If it hadn't, maybe I'd have been a diamond merchant's wife!" she laughs.
On the other hand, there's emcee Priya Ganapathy who's not changed her maiden name. She says she's been known as Priya Ganapathy since the time her parents named her so. And since her in-laws and her husband have no problem, she's retained her maiden name.

She says, "I told my husband 'I won't change my name da', and he said OK, so it's the same."
Why not make it Priya Ganapathy Malik? "Because that would be an extra long signature," she responds. At the same time, "I have no issues with those who have changed their surnames by taking their husband's."
But, "who wants to go through the paperwork of having a notice inserted in the papers to say that I've changed my name?" And then there's Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chief of a premier bio-tech company, who was Kiran Mazumdar.
"My husband said Kiran Mazumdar is the name that created my company, so I should retain that and add a Shaw. So my double-barrelled name retains my identity. At the same time, it traces lineage, which is important. I have noticed many women in corporate careers have these kind of names. For example, Naina Lal Kidwai. Because they've built their career on a certain name, then they attach the husband's surname as a tag, because that too is important."
geetrao@indiatimes.com

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