It was a couple of years ago that I visited an ashram, up in the New York hills. A friend of mine, Gautam, had another friend who was performing a classical dance there, that day, and he convinced me to drive him up there.

While on the ashram, we met an American who had just returned from India; he had converted to Hinduism, and was extremely interested in our reaction to the ashram. We introduced ourselves

"My name's Gautam" said Gautam, going first.
"Ga-oo-taam ?!" he struggled with the unfamiliar sound.
"Gautam"
"Ga ... ga ..."
"Gautam" continued Gautam, helpfully.
"Ga ... ooo"
"Gau-tam" explained that worthy
"Umm ... Ga-u-taaaam ... ?"
"Close enough !" grinned Gautam.
"And what's your name ?" asked the man, turning to me.

"Balakrishnan". I braced myself for the inevitable struggle.

"Oh, Balakrishnan ! That's easy !" said he, smiling broadly.

I was stunned for a second ... before I realized that since my name was that of a God, it made sense that a student of the Hindu religion would know how to pronounce it

Drive home now ...