I am sure you will ask what is harinair? My original name is supposed to be Hari G. Nair; the middle initial G for Gangadharan (my dad’s first name). Nair is our family’s last name but my parents decided to drop it since it identifies the caste. In late 60s and early 70s there was a sentiment against using caste in the names, at least in the state of India I was born in. In that state, the last name was not important. Hence my name became Hari G.

When I moved out and started working in other countries, I found that the last name is important and I finally expanded my middle initial to make my full name Hari Gangadharan. Later when I got married, fortunately or unfortunately, my wife’s last name was already Nair and we decided not to change her last name to Gangadharan.  When our kids were born, to reduce confusion and to keep the naming a standard (yeah – I like that!) both of my kid’s last name became Nair. Now I am the odd person out! Meanwhile since harigangadharan is too long (I too misspell it) and hari is always taken, I always use harinair for all my online identities. That way I feel I still belong in the family. Few years back, I registered this domain but I am putting this to work only now.