My evolving Nicknames

This is a story of nicknames. It hits me now how they have play a large role of my life they have gone with me to places, seen the world without me even realising. You do not realise the importance of a name until its too late. I have had a love hate relationship with mine, there have been several and wow have they been places with me.

My arrival to me didn't sound so exciting, unlike what my parents tell me. I was born on the 23rd of February 1989. This was the year when my Great-grandfather died. I am saddened that I never had the chance to know him, after all he has been and still is a legend among family and the all the other lives he has touched and inspired in one way or another. I still tell my self that he at least had the change to hold me tightly in his wholeness before he departed. Going back to the day I was born, it was a lazy afternoon around 4 pm I am told, there popped out this beautiful baby girl that had the biggest eyes. My parents tell me it was a time when they were so deeply in love, don't get them wrong they love each other even today. Its just I arrived at that right moment when everything was right with the world and love seemed to be radiating in everyone's heart. For this reason they named me Rirhandzu, a name so exotic to my neighbourhood, but yet so simple..... most of all so powerful. I bet you it was my father's pick, he has a neck for these things. Contrary to popular belief, Anna,my middle name is not my slave name, no. It is the name of one of the greatest women that have ever walked the Earth. A woman so stern, outspoken and proud, but yet so humble and grounded. This woman my grandmother is one of the reasons I am who I am today. She has raised not only my wonderful mother, she also raised my brothers and I. I feel so blessed that I had her to be named after.
My surname is one that has its own peculiar story on how it came about, that will be told another day. For now all you need to know is that is Marivate. My full name is Rirhandzu Anna Marivate.

The first nickname. From even my first memories as a child I can remember being called Rando, different variations depending on who was saying it.... If it was my father's side of the family there would be and emphasis on the o, and it would sound more like a ou. While my mother's side would have and emphasis on the a. The one I most preferred was the that from my mother it sounds just right, just Rando. This is the name that has stuck with me to this day, but only family in friend from back home call me by that.
Growing up, my family had helpers, mainly because my parents were always off at work and they didnt have the time to look after us. My 'nanny' as a child was koko Dora, a very strict woman.... one thing that many people didnt about her is that she would often smoke the herb.., made for a very interesting person to talk to. Koko Dora called me by the 'bambino' version of my first nick, Ndokie. Its afrikaanise. As a kid I didnt even think twice about it, Ndokie sounded as ordinary as the next name. I actually really liked it, it had a uniqueness to it, not saying my name is not unique, I mean in the context of where I grew up. In my grandparent's house hold,  that were we used to live half of the time my brothers and I, my aunt (Mmamogolo Tsabi) used to call me MmaMolamu. She called me by this because I was named after my grandmother, her mother, Mrs Anna Matlala Molamu. She thought the name really suited me and that I really belonged to that family rather than my father's side. I really did enjoy being called by that, it made me proud of who I was, plus as a kid you always want to be addressed as an adult and that one felt just right.
Now I really hated the way people used to pronounce my name in school so I decided to add a z to Rando, and that became Randzo.... I have been referred to by this name all of my primary and high school career.
Okay you may have realised, or not, that I went by four different names growing up, Rando, Ndokie, MmaMolamu and Randzo..

In grade 5, I will never forget this day, it was music class and we each had to sing. Any song was fine. Now in sunday school were were learning new songs and there was one that I really liked, called Maria na Josefa. Now I haven't mentioned that my home language is xiTsonga, this is the language we address my father by, this is the language we speak, read and write with in church, this is my mother tongue. So why do I have to mention that? I grew up in Ga-Rankuwa, Pretoria, where the language spoken is Setswana, and I attended a dominantly tswana speaking school where we did tswana as a first language. This should give the sense that the majority of people didnt speak my language, or it was just a foreign concept to them. Going back to music class, it was my turn to sing, I knew how to sing after all I was chosen and part of the schools music group, I dont mean to boast. So I decided to sing Maria na Josefa to the class, I thought I was doing well until this one girl, Puseletso burst out laughing at the end uncontrollably, I was shocked, I believe so was the whole class. There was a word that caught Puse attention and she wouldnt let it go, Xidonkana (meaning donkey), its not bad in the context of the song. From that day she started calling me by that name, I really hated it, despised it. She occasionally calls me that to this day.. Thankfully it didnt stick. hardly anyone as far as I can remember called my Xidonkana, or was the memory so bad that I blocked it out? It doesnt matter they dont call me that anymore.

My brothers and I went to the same school for 12 years of our lives. My older brother was fairly popular and still is. And he was Abuti big brother, always there to look out for me in school, he was cool like that. It got to a point where I was always hanging out with him ans his friends/ classmates when we were still in primary school. I was always playing with them during break, and sometimes they would shared their food with me... .life was awesome, I was accepted in the older kids circles. This was obviously not because I was me but because I was Vukosi's younger sister. And I make my point here and say no one knew my real name, I dont know why my brother didnt do anything about that. I was know as Vukosinyana around my brother's class. Even later in high school I was still called by that name like I was just a shadow in my brother's life. I felt like it was all a face value, most of them didn't really get to know me, they just liked having me around because I was Vukosinyana.

High School was a blast, and unforgettable experience. Those days are gone. I started with Varsity, brand spanking new chapter in my life. I was so excited, new friends, new experiences, and a more mature view on life. The names, Ndokie, MmaMolamu, Xidonkana, and Vukosinyana stayed with that phase.

I moved on to the University of the Witwatersrand. Here I got my first name, Mshoza. To know where this name comes from I must explain that when you are in Res, and are a first year you go through 'orientation', quite like the american equivalent of  hazing, and you would be called a freshette. Each and every single freshette had to be put through a process of been given a name.... for example Rori was given the name freshette Betina, because she kept mixing up the words to a song saying my sister Betina, instead of Belinda and my roommate was given the name freshette Busstop, dont even want to go into that one. So the house comm found out that I was from Ga-Rankuwa, the same 'hood' as one of them. And as sure as day did Neo call me Mshoza (South African kwaito star who really know how to dance) because obviously I was ghetto. So I was freshette Mshoza, and just Mshoza for the later part of the year. I thought yes okay its over and done with, its all good. Then the house comm found out that I was Vima's (Vukosi) younger sister. I should have know that he would explode at Wits too. honestly when I found out how popular he was I was kind of not surprised. It was like every second person in a campus of 25 000 students knew him, or knew of him. Now when house comm found out, they started calling me Vimanyana, the whole high school ordeal again. Why did I think I would be home free when I got to the same university my brother attended, Its not like I expected there to be so many people that everyone would just hang around their own circles outside of my life. This name went around like wild fire, most of the guys at 'Vima's' res caught on and called me by that name. Luckily, and thank Pigeon for that both Mshoza and Vimanyana soon faded to black, I was determined to make my own mark outside of my home and my brother!

The pronunciation of my name changed slightly when I began my varsity years from Rhandzo to Rhandzu, . Though minimal, it made a big difference. It was the start of another chapter of my life.  I still go by this name, well I am still in varsity....... doing my postgrad, boooya!!!!!! Its has been the best of times, such a great experience. This time was also the dawn of my occasionally, nickname that gets to me sometimes. This name came to being by shear misunderstanding. See, I use my home name in all my e-mail addresses, so they all read randomarivate@something... Now this one friend of my brother's, Jaisheel, he misread my e-mail address and thought it said random, but then realised it was rando marivate. B y that time it was too late he started calling me Random Arivate. I thought, okay, he is the only one who's figured this out. How wrong I was. more and more friends saw this, and more and more started calling me Random Arivate, especially on those days that it really got to me. It got to a point where I actually didn't mind it. Mainly because I had been know for being random and spontaneous... and during the times of my spontaneousness I was Random Arivate. Its sort of my superhero name!!!!
And then there was Prof. Ed Witkowski, great and interesting lecturer, that I have had the privilege to work with. He has know me since I took his course in 2nd year, ECBC coincidentally and ironically nicknamed Easy Peasy, was one of the toughest courses I did in undergrad. So Ed, could pronounce my name and avoided saying it as best as he could. Until I had him as my co-supervisor, where he saw more and more of me. It slipped that he referred to me as Rizzie. I was so shocked, all this time he has been referring to me by that name to other people. I wasnt pissed, it was kind of cool, and I thought it would just be between the two of us. What I didnt realise is that he would be lecturing one of the Honours classes, Statistics. That when everyone got in on Rizzie. It also was a slip of the tongue, maybe more like a slip of the hand, my hand. I just had to raise my hand to answer a question Ed had asked, "Rizzie". Ed said out loud, and the whole class went silent. Moments later burst of laughter echoed in the class. I was then Rizzie to the World.

Rirhandzu Anna Marivate may be the name given to me, and is my birth right.... but it is not the only name I go by. I am ever evolving, going to new places, through new and exciting experiences with old and new friends, and with each one a new name. Each nickname has a story, I am looking forward to making more.....

Oh look at me revisiting this blog again, I did forget that I had this under my sleeve. Honestly it seems like a lot of work to put into. I think people actually research stuff before writing an entry. I thought it would come from my mind and just pour out on command! Maybe I am mistaken, maybe its just me.... in either  case this blog business is something else. I can tell a story, but I won't lie.... be patient, be willing to listen to what I might have to say. I don't even know what I have in store for myself. I am not going to pretend to be one of those who think they are intellectually inclined and everything that they right should be word worth following. No, I am a simpleton, I only do this because its something new and different and I like having had the experience, a bit scary since I have to put myself out there. For now I am glad that I have no followers, but myself... sounds pathetic, but who cares its all good in time, we'll see.

I am thinking, maybe I should have random, interesting topics to discuss with each of my entries. That will certainly give me some structure and maybe make it a bit more interesting that just random rambles of a confused 22 year old. My previous post was exciting, but lets face it that is not an everyday experience. When I come back to revisit this, I hope to have something that I really do want to share, I wont force myself to do it because... It will be done because it is what I want, only then when I do feel like really sharing will I then put into words my feelings.

But until then, love and peace from  Random Arivate.... lol, maybe I should adopt this name, I have had so many people call me by that... don't fight it embrace it... yet another nick name the world that loves you has given!!!