My name.
Indian names are difficult to write in English for the “inconsistency, irregularity and redundancy of its spelling”. They can be better written in the Devanagari script, which is the script for Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi, Nepali and some minor languages of the Indian subcontinent. In the Standard Scheme for Roman Transliteration of Indic Words, my name is written like this:
(As far as possible, this scheme should be used everywhere to write unanglicised Indic words.)
My first name Girish is a Sanskrit word, which literally means the Lord of the mountains. A strange name for me, it was given by my parents. (One reason being that its short and simple and so unlikely to have any cruel abbreviations.) Girish is a name for the Lord Shiva—a character in the Hindu mythology—who symbolises destruction and has the Himalayan Mt Kailash as his abode.
My last name Kulkarni is my surname. The word describes my ancestors’ occupation in the medieval times. I don't know what language this word came from. The post itself was known as Kulkarna and its occupant Kulkarni. A Kulkarni's job was to assist the village headman (Patil) in matters of taxes by maintaining accounts. A Kulkarni was sometimes called a Gramalekhi. My far ancestors were Kulkarnis in a village called Shelgaon-Atol in Northeastern Maharashtra (present Buldana district).