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This is about 25 yrs. back. As a grad student, I used to stumble into his papers pretty regularly. Later, I'd scan for author name and pay a lot more attention if it was by Arvind (also a few others). I'd always smile after looking at the author name. Growing up in India, your last name doesn't mean much.

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> Growing up in India, your last name doesn't mean much.

My experience is the opposite. People often use only the last name, and first name is seldom used. E.g Mr. Kumaraswamy or Ms. Deshmukh in professional context and simply the last name in friend circles.

He probably means northern part of India. Surnames are more emphasised in the South than North.

I think it started when British started asking for surnames in job application in colonial India. South Indiana took their birthplace as surname along with caste name. In North, Singh and Kumar were used as surnames. Caste names became quite popular in late 20th century.

Before British, I am not sure if surnames were common anywhere in India. Would be a lovely study in history.

i think the reason people like arvind stopped using surnames was that, in india, surnames had come to mean far, far too much. now that he's dead he can't protest against mit news foisting a surname on him

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