Post B # 2

The next few chapters of the novel seemed a bit odd to me. Gogol becomes an older brother as his mother has a daughter, whom they name Sonali. The odd thing about this chapter is the constant changing of names. Gogol is enrolled in school and his parents decide to change his name for school, to a "good name," meaning one that American kids will be able to pronounce. They put on the registration form that his name is Nikhil Ganguli. My uncle is named Nikhil, and I personally think that Nikhil is a harder name to pronounce, then Gogol. I just think Gogol is a less common name, so I guess I agree with them changing his name. What I don't understand is that there were already two other Indian students in the school, and their names were Jayadev and Rekha. As far as I know, they didn't change their names any. It just struck me as weird, that the Ganguli's would be changing Gogol's name for school, and then have Lahiri talk about two other Indian kids who had left them unchanged. Maybe she was trying to stress the fact that the family is still getting used to life in America, and that the other kids had been there for their whole life.
In addition to Gogol's name, Lahiri talks about how Sonali's name is gradually changed at home (not even in school or a public place) from Sonali, to Sonu, Sona, and then finally Sonia, which is the name that I guess she sticks with. I don't know if it is just me, but I thought that the whole name-changing seemed a bit out of place, even for an Indian family that is trying to fit in, in a country like the United States.