Illegall change of Name; Date of Birth & Acquiring 2nd New Drivers License
(in 1982)
<<-BackI was born under the name Anupam Kumar Chaturvedi, on 21st September, 1958. When I was enrolled in the 1st grade, at 'Don Bosco School', Calcutta, on 1/15/64, my name was registered as Anupam K Chaturvedi. My middle name was not included. In December, 1972, when I was in the 9th Grade, I flunked my Final-Examinations, very closely & was not promoted to 10th Grade. I was embarrassed & did not want to repeat my 9th Grade again. So I applied to La-Martinere High School in January, 1973. My transcripts from Don Bosco School, for Grade 1 - Grade 9 was registered as Anupam K Chaturvedi. I was accepted into the 10th Grade and I registered as Anup Chaturvedi. I told the Registration Office that I want to be called Anup & not Anupam. I changed my first name from Anupam Chaturvedi to Anup Chaturvedi & was registered as Anup Chaturvedi. I forgot to include my middle-name initial 'K'. The registrar, pronounced my first-Name as AND UP. I told her that my firstName Anup, is pronounced as ANOOP. So she smiled & registered me as Anoop Chaturvedi. I graduated La-Martinere High School in 1975, as Anup Chaturvedi, pronounced as Anoop Chaturvedi
The Iranian Hostage crisis, was going on when I was enrolled at Springfield College in Illinois. Mt last name
Chaturvedi was pronounced
quite similarly to Ayatollah Khomeini, who was the new Islamic leader of Iran. In Springfield, many people began to think, that I was from
Iran. Khomeini and Chaturvedi sounded alike. Americans began to dislike foreigners, while the hostage-crisis was going on. I was accosted
once at a local tavern, where some drunk ruffians, thought that I was from Iran & started a fight with me. So I descided to change my last
name to Kumar, as that was easier to prounounce.I wrote to my Dad & explained him what had happened & asked him, if I could change my lastname 'Chaturvedi' & use my middlename 'Kumar' as my new lastname. I told my Dad, that I was dating an American woman & she was interested in marrying me & someday visit India. I also told my father, that I was planning to join the United States Navy & someday become a fighter-pilot. In order to be eligible, I had to be a US citizen, college-graduate, good moral character with excellent health & under 29 1/2 years of age. I told Dad, that it would take me about 6 years after I got married, to become a US citizen. According to my plans, I would miss the 29 1/2 years age-limit, by 1 year. I asked my Dad, to send me an affidavit stating that my name was ANUP CHATURVEDI KUMAR and my date of birth was 9/21/1959, instead of 9/21/1958.
In the meanwhile, I went to the admission-office at Springfield College & told them that I wanted to have my fullname printed on my records. My name was listed as Anup Chaturvedi and I wanted it to be printed as Anup Chaturvedi Kumar. The registrar told me, she wanted to see my Indian passport & make a copy. I told her that I would come back another day & bring my travel documents.
I got married in June 1983. I became a United States permanent-residence in November 1983. I spoke with a Navy recruiter & found out that the age-limit for the Navy Aviation Officer School, was 26 1/2 years. I realized that by the time I graduated & became a citizen, I would be 2 years over the limit. So I desparately asked my Dad, if he could send me another affidavit, stating that I was born in 9/21/1961. This way, I might be able to qualify for pilot-school. My Dad was furious & said that I had already made him lie once & now I was asking him to lie again, on a Government document. People would think that he is crazy, does not know when his son was born. I pleaded with my father & assured him that this was just a document. Besides he would never even have to answer to anybody, as this would never ever become an issue & come-up in public. Besides I could become a Navy Officer & get free flight-training. I would then come to India & help my father & mother emigrate to the United States of America. I practically forced my father to lie again on an Indian Affidavit of Birth Certificate. So my father sent me another signed notorized Affidavit of Birth Certificate, stating that I was born on 9/21/1961. I made a copy anf sent it to Immigration & Naturalization, in Chicago. I know all this seems very bizzare & mysterious. A person with 2 birth-certificates I do not have a twin-brother. I am I, me & myself.
My wife Carolyn, who worked for the State persuaded me to get into Electronic Dataprocessing & Programming. I decided not to join the military and try for a career with the State of Illinois. I moved to Miami, Florida in 1998. My father passed away, due to a heart-stroke in Summer-1998. My life was completely shattered. Later on, I realized that I should use 'Chaturvedi', as my last-name. IT IS MY FAMILT NAME & I SHOULD BE PROUD OF IT. Im Miami, Florida, I changed my name to 'Anup Kumar Chaturvedi', legally in a District Courthouse of Florida. It was simple & concenient. I should have done this initially, in Springfield, Illinois, the legal way.
But I found later, that few Americans went to investigate me in India to find out whether I had a twin-brother or not. This may have caused my family-members, some embarrassment & misfortune; especially when the United States Department was actually doing the investigations. This all occured due to events, that I was
accused of in Springfield, Illinois !