Say My Name

The rumors you hear about Bali are true: the people are very nosy — at least by Western standards. It's true of most of the Indonesians I met, actually, not just the Balinese. (Indonesia is one of those countries that somehow got smushed together by colonialism and the rise of nationalism in the 20th century. It's really many, many small kingdoms with a long history of changing allegiances, cultures, and religions united to a greater or lesser extent depending on which regions you are discussing. For one brief point, it was officially named The United States of Indonesia, a name that I think is a better description of the place than the Republic of Indonesia, but no one asked me. Nor should they; I merely mention it for historical reference.)

So, they ask a lot of personal questions. It can be a bit uncomfortable for a Westerner, especially since you're pretty sure at some point the conversation will transition to a hard sell for whatever tourist job this person has. How are you? Are you married? Would you like to buy a sarong? Painting? Carving? Painted egg? Just looking OK. (But just looking is never OK. Once you look, it takes a will of steel not to buy.)

But, it's incredibly rude to not engage. You have to make eye contact. You have to respond. And, you make more friends if you ask questions in return. They want to tell you about their children. About where they are from. Really, it's just good manners.

So, I have prepared myself for the questions. I am asked about my name. Oh, I've done this before. A lot. And it's usually not very pretty.

I have an unfortunate name for someone living in China. It has not only an "r", but also an "l", and arranged in syllables that are practically unpronounceable for a Mandarin speaker. Mandarin does have an "r" sound, especially in Beijing, but it's a different "r". Your tongue floats around freely up near the roof of your mouth, I can almost say it, sometimes. But bunched all up with the other syllables? Well, I think it was the difficulty of my name as much as there being two of us that caused the Chinese at my last school to latch onto my last name instead of my first. Not that "sc" is all that common, either.

So, when this Indonesian taksi driver asked my name, as he he gouged me on a short trip between terminals 2 and 3 in Jakarta, I said it very slowly and clearly, expecting him to trip over it.

Car - o - line.

He cocked his head for a moment, listening. Ah, Caroline, he repeated. No hesitation. No stumbling. In fact, he said it even nicer than it is in English, because Bahasa (Indonesian) uses a rolled "r", so the middle syllables took on this lovely, musical lilt.

I tried it with the next Indonesian I met. Same thing: lovely rolled "r", and no hesitation. And again. I think "What is your name?" is becoming my favorite question.




- Do you really care this was posted using BlogPress from my iPad?

Location:Indonesia