Of Names and Websites

Since that last entry, in which I revealed that I write for a living, many people have written in, asking where they can find my work. (Well OK, nobody’s written in yet… but that’s perhaps because I just wrote that entry a few minutes ago. I’m sure a few people intended to ask that very question.) I have a professional website (so there), which you can find here. You’ll note that I use my original, Western name in that site, and not the name Noivedya, which I recently received. The Western name (Mark Juddery) is still the one I use for magazines, newspapers… everything except blogs and articles for certain "elite" publications. Most of my friends are gradually starting to call me “Noivedya” (except for those who can’t pronounce it – the idiots!).

(Only joking. Every single one of my friends is absolutely wonderful.) I also have an introductory page, which was meant to have a little more material – but I never got ‘round to it. Here it is, anyway. It will only take about two minutes to read everything in it. (You can't say I waste too much of your time!)

Today I went to the have my name officially changed. (Mark has always been my middle name - and it remains so - but Noivedya is now replacing my obscure, rarely-heard first name.) This involved going to the Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages (which is strange, because it really has nothing to do with any of those things), filling in a form, and handing them my birth certificate so that they can magically change the details. In a few days' time, all going well, I'll head back and receive a new birth certificate, with my brand new name! (That's very exciting, trust me on this.)

So... from what I can tell, they go back in time (using a really cheap time machine, no doubt - from what I know of the Australian public service), to the time of my birth, and change history so that my name was always Noivedya. Hence the new name mysteriously shows up on my birth certificate.

Wow! The things they can do nowadays!