My friend knows a professional numerologist who says a slight change in my name can drastically improve my romance and career. I am told he has a very high success rate. Do you think I should go for it?
— A 25-year-old, name withheld by me.

What’s in a nname? Nnothing or everrythingg.
I too know a guy in Mumbai whose fees start from Rs 10,000 and shoots upwards to a million — depending on the size of your ambitions and your wallet. He claims to use a mixture of astrology, numerology, biology, zoology anthropology… if he so much as sniffs your hidden ambitions, discerns your desire to be great, to be a star, to be wanted by the masses, he will delicately lighten your purse as he shyly hints that God whispered your new name in his dreams.
So Vikram becomes Vikkram, Vikrram or Vikramm. Sunil becomes Suneil, Suniel, Sunill, Suunill, Venkat becomes Venkatt, or Vennkat or Venkkat…Wow! What original suggestions! What humongous inspirations! You would never have guessed that unlimited success and stupendous riches were just a mere letter away!
Sure, don’t take those messengers of God lightly. They will tell you that once people start calling you by your new altered name, those people are actually sending fresh new vibrations into the Universe, and the Universe, thrilled by this, is responding ecstatic, sending back fresh new opportunities that resound everywhere all at once.
So the chick, who till yesterday ignored the drab old Sunil, now wakes up to the aura of a brand new Suniel. A deep thrill shoots inside her as she rolls your new name on her lips. Suddenly she throws a kiss down your path and the toad goes Boing! A prince emerges, shaken from the curse of old days. Happy?
Well, to be fair, that’s not exactly what happens. In truth if you are a bit depressed about life and its dwindling rewards, you might actually feel a bit better with a new letter stuck in the middle of your name — even a bit relieved that some hot shot dude took a lot of money to come up with the suggestion, so he must be definitely right, and good fortune will surely come your way.
If I was your age and someone told me to say add another ‘r’ at the end of my name, I might be smug for a while, smile at the raised eyebrows on Facebook or in the cafeteria, and hint that my future was now headed northward and stuff. But that’s about all the points I could really score, because I would still be the same old me, and the added ‘r’ would get stale after a while and life would revert to what it used to be.
Sorry friend, that wasn’t what you wanted to hear from me, I know. What can I do? At my age I can’t bluff, I can’t be naïve and I can’t be soft on pulp peddlers either. What I can be is inspiring. I urge you to shake off the dust and debris out of your mind and know that there isn’t anything you can’t change or improve about yourself.
We seek comfort in external options because they are easy to blame if the gamble doesn’t work. No success despite name change? Blame it on the numerologist, never once yourself. But that doesn’t have to be the case.
As Shakespeare said, “It’s not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings.” You want things to change, change yourself first and see the results. Start today. Prepare an action plan and get cracking. Don’t place bets on the alphabet. Bet on yourself and work towards it, you will surely win.