“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare could say this so easily because the bard probably did not have a bank account was not provided medical insurance and definitely did not work for the Pakistani Government. Just like Shakespeare, I also thought a name did not matter until I made the thoughtless mistake of changing my name after marriage. The actual name changing wasn’t a hassle for me as being a wife of a NADRA official; I got a new CNIC within minutes without standing in long queues or waiting incessantly.
However I was a fool to believe that my trouble would end here. The first problem arose when being a government employee; I followed the procedure to update my name in the HR and wrote an application to the Chief HR of my organization requesting to update my data.
A month later, I needed to make a referral slip from my medical department for a visit to the dermatologist. The normal procedure for a referral slip is that the employee shows his/her medical card to the medical officer who makes a referral slip for any consultant the employee wishes to see. In my case, the medical department refused to issue a slip citing the reason that the names on the copy of my CNIC and the organization data do not match.
I called the HR to inquire why my data hadn’t been updated and I was told that the HR hasn’t received any application from me however my department insisted that my application had already been forwarded. To expedite the process, I immediately took a copy of that forwarded application from my personal file, drove to the headquarters myself and showed it to the person responsible for updating the HR data threatening him that I will complain of his negligence unless my data was updated because a considerable amount of time had already passed and my medical was being delayed. The data was updated (albeit without an official cover letter) and I was glad to see my new name on the next month’s pay slip.
Again, I got happy too soon. Few days later, I got a call from my bank that my employer had sent a salary cheque in my name but the names on the cheque and my account did not match. The employer had made a cheque in my new name and my name in the bank had not been updated yet. The bank informed that my salary would not be released until I came personally to the bank with a copy of my new CNIC and a Nikah Nama(Marriage Certificate). A week later, I went to the bank and updated my information and received my salary almost two weeks late.
During the time the HR took to update my name, I had also gone on training outside the city. When I received the cheque for my Transport/Daily allowance and went to the bank to get it cleared, I noticed it was made in my old name. The bank official said that since my name has been updated I would have to change my name on the cheque with the sign of the manager finance of my organization or go to my own branch to get it cleared. I went to my finance and learnt that the CM finance had had a heart attack and was hospitalized for God knows how long and so far I haven’t gotten a chance to go to my parent branch to get it cleared.
Meanwhile, I had already written a cheque to someone. That person called me up saying that the cheque was not being cleared because the name on my cheque book was old. (Why the bank did not ask me to submit my old cheque book along with my name change application and request for a new one is beyond me)
It scares me to think that there is one more bank account with my previous employer in which the data hasn’t been updated because of a lack of time to go to the bank, my passport is still in my old name and I need to update my visiting card and government stamp as well.
From this fiasco I have concluded that this name changing is only feasible if you are a housewife because in that case your troubles just end with updating your CNIC and passport but I would totally advise any working woman with any asset to her name to not to go through this route because remember Shakespeare was totally wrong when he said, “What’s in a name?” A name is your identity, your first recognition symbol. It only hits you when the bank employee looks at you, your cheque, back to you again and asks suspiciously, “Madam is that really you?”
