Emails

I have a very uncommon (first and last) name. My given name is uncommon in America, of course, but it is also uncommon in India—I’m no “Gupta” (which is a last name, FYI) or “Dhruv” or “Aaditya” (typically, “Aditya”), dime a dozen overflowing, spilling onto the streets and crowding out the phone books. Of course, I am not the only person with my name, that would be pretty ridiculous. I’d say there gotta be about a couple hundred people with my name, at least with my English spelling—which you may rightfully argue is cheating but I’m writing not you, so—which is closer to transliteration but isn’t phonetic, thus inciting a lot of trouble: less so when people can’t say it, because I don’t really care anymore, but more so when people suddenly realize that they haven’t been saying my name correctly for the past one, two, three, five, ten years. Again, I don’t care, but I do find it hilarious. Anyway, that’s all beside the point—the point being, I have a rare name, and my spelling only makes it rarer (the correct spelling is विश्रुत, by the way).

However, I still manage to keep getting emails for all the other “Visruth”s in India. Those lazy or careless or just evil Visruths put my email down for things because they can’t be bothered to put all the numbers at the end or whatever. I get Swiggy (Doordash) and fantasy cricket receipts, queries about my bike’s extended warranty, OTPs, etc.—for a while I think I got some promos and such for a Visruth D., who put his email wrong for his bank—Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI):

Dear MR VISRUTH D.,

Greetings from ICICI Bank.

We would like to inform you that there have been no transactions in the captioned account for more than 12 months and the account status is now inactive.

We request you to transact at least once by cheque, ATM/Debit Card, Internet Banking or through any of our branches to activate your account.

For any clarification or more information, you may call our Customer Care or visit the nearest ICICI Bank branch.

Looking forward to your co-operation in helping us serve you better.

Sincerely,
Sir Such and Such

ICICI was also so kind as to send me a litany of deals over the years, such as a “Flat 7% instant discount at Kisna.com”, “Enjoy huge discounts on Myntra with your ICICI Bank Cards!”, and “Get up to Rs 5,000 discount on OnePlus Mobiles using your ICICI Bank Credit Card”. ICICI also sometimes lets me know of wonderful deals at Zomato (Doordash): “Avail of up to 20% discount on Zomato with ICICI Bank Cards!”. Mr. Visruth D. eventually fixed his email thankfully.

Ten days ago, another Visruth signed up for an IDFC (Infrastructure Development Finance Company) bank account:

Dear Visruth,

Greetings from IDFC FIRST Bank.

Thankyou [sic] for choosing IDFC FIRST Bank. Knowing about your experience while opening a FasTag account brings us a step closer to understanding your needs.

Please take a moment and click here to share your feedback.

Thank You.

Customer Experience Team
IDFC FIRST Bank Ltd.

Obviously, I filled out the survey and said I was very happy with my experience—it was so smooth it was almost as if I hadn’t filled out any forms at all!

Swinging to Swiggy, that Visruth (Visruth TK) has been using my email since November 2023. He lives some 1,200 km (750 mi) away from where I usually stay in India. Here’s the latest email I got from him, in July of this year.

Greetings from Swiggy
Your order was delivered in 16 minutes! Rate this lightning fast delivery here

Order Number: ##############
Restaurant: Tavuk Restro

I’ve gotten six confirmations: November ‘23; March ‘24; thrice in June ‘24; and of course July ‘25. I wonder if he mistakenly enters my email sometimes so I get a smattering of his orders, or if he simply doesn’t use Swiggy that often. Regardless, Visruth TK seems to like burgers (4x).

I think Visruth TK also bought a bike; I got a booking receipt for a top class Royal Enfield clocking in at an on road price of 2.2 lakhs ($2,200)—a Hunter 350 Tokyo Black as it were. This was in July too. Last month, I got an email from EDME Insurance Brokers Ltd. thanking me for choosing them as my “preferred motor Insurance advisor.”

A different Visruth (650 km) test drove a Citroën but didn’t seem to like it because I didn’t get any follow-up emails nor any order confirmations. He may have been the same one who signed me up for a Škoda email in Oct ‘23, and solicited information about the Kia Carens in May ‘24. I wonder if he has decided on a vehicle yet—can I pick the color?

A very frustrated Visruth sent 8 Netflix “Finish signing up” emails from 11:05 AM to 11:06 AM in Sep ‘24. They all said:

Three more steps and we’ll do the rest.

Finish Signing Up

Sent from your device:
Smart TV

With a bright red button for finishing my Netflix sign up. I wonder if he gave up or finally figure out he wasn’t spelling his email correctly.

“Just Dial” tried to poach me from my education this February, offering me 2-3 Lakhs to be a “Field Sales Executive” and the chance to move to any of “Siliguri, Nadia, Malda, Central Kolkata, South Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly”. They weren’t picky though, and noted that I should “Feel free to share this opportunity with your family or friends who may be interested in this job.” I treated it like a chain mail and mailed it to twenty of my contacts, just in case they wanted to move to India and a lack of a job was the only thing stopping them.

See the problem is that I don’t have an easy way of contacting the appropriate Visruth. I have no interest in doing an extensive online search to find another channel of communication, not to mention a dearth of social media presence on my part. The only real way I have to contact people out of the blue would be through email. Sometimes, these emails have a link to click on to inform the purveyor that they have reached the wrong email address, but more often than not no such recourse is available and I just immediately junk and delete the mail. Unfortunately, I get enough that plenty slip through the cracks, as the emails I’ve included evidence.

One time about five years ago, I got an email regarding a wedding but I managed to get that message sent to its true receiver that time somehow; I seem to have deleted the chain to save on space, so that ultra-brief summary will have to suffice I’m afraid.

If you are a Visruth who is reading this, please double check your email before punching it in.

Anyway, I want to end with the best email I’ve gotten, which was from ICICI in March of 2022. It went:

Dear Visruth D.,

If you receive a call claiming to be from “ICICI Bank”, “Reserve Bank of India” or “Income Tax”, or if you dial Customer Care by looking up a contact number through search engines on Google, and are asked to divulge your passwords, such as One Time Password (OTP)s, Grid Values or Personal Account details for security checks, be careful, as Bank/Government organisations will never ask for such information.

Do’s

• Visit official websites of service providers to contact for support
• Remember that the Bank would never ask you to verify your account through a call.

Dont’s

• Use search engines to look for Customer Support Numbers
• Share information like your User ID, Account Number, Login password, OTP etc. with anyone, even if they claim to be a bank employee.

The clincher? The subject is “Beware of Vishing Fraud”.