However, the baby arrives before the letter, and the hospital explains that mother and child cannot leave go home without a birth certificate and first name.

             There is no way that the new parents will follow the American tradition of naming the child after a father, grandfather, daughter or grandmother. "This sign of respect in America and Europe, this symbol of heritage and lineage, would be ridiculed in India. Within Bengali families, individual names are sacred, inviolable. They are not meant to be inherited or shared" (28). When it is suggested that they put down the temporary title "Baby Boy Ganguli, Ashima and Ashoke decide instead to use a pet name on the birth certificate. The "pet" name is what Bengali families use for their children among themselves, close family and friends in contrast to the names that are used for formal purposes.

             To Ashoke, the name Gogol is the perfect choice, since this name had earlier brought him a miracle. Once when he was reading on a train, the engine and seven coaches derailed from the line. Many people were killed in their sleep. Ashoke laid half inside and half outside a shattered window as he smelled the acrid odor of soot and fire. When the search party went by the window, the light of the lantern overlooked his body but not the bright white pages of Nikolai Gogol's "The Overcoat" crumpled tightly in his fist. Thanks to Gogol's story, he was saved (17).

             The parents are also not disturbed that their baby only has a pet name, since Hindus sometimes wait years before they know what formal name best fits the child. As Lihiri writes: .

             After all, they both know, an infant doesn't really need a name. He needs to be fed and blessed, to be given some gold and silver, to be patted on the back after feedings and held carefully behind the neck. Names can wait. In India parents take their time. It wasn't unusual for years to pass before the right name, the best possible name, was determined.