In America, if your last name is Sen, then you are all set. You will be made a senator automatically. You don't have to be a politician. You don't have to run for office. You don't have to campaign. It takes only about six months after arriving in this country to become a senator.

It is true. I have checked with all the Sens I know in America. And I know quite a few of them. They have all become senators. It happens this way:

You arrive in America and apply for a credit card. In the credit card application form, you write your name very clearly in BLOCK CAPITALS:

APARNA SEN

Your application is approved and you receive your credit card with your name written correctly on it. In a month or so, you receive your first statement from the credit card company. Your name is still written correctly. In a few more weeks, you receive a junk mail (a free offer or something) from the same credit card company. You notice that your name is written like this:

Aparna Sen.

This is the beginning of a new form of Darwinian evolution. Here is how it goes:

Sen. Aparna Sen.

Sen. Aparna Senator

Senator Aparna Senator

No kidding!

That is not all. If you don't have a middle initial in your name, you will be given one (at no charge!) The initial then changes in perfect alphabetical order. Beginning with A, your middle intial will take a systematic tour through the entire alphabet down to Z. And then the entire cycle begins all over again. Over time you will notice your name evolving in the following manner in all the junk mail that arrives at your door:

Aparna A. Sen.

Aparna B. Sen.

Aparna C. Sen.

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Aparna X. Sen.

Aparna Y. Sen.

Aparna Z. Sen.

Aparna A. Sen.

Aparna B. Sen.

etc. etc.