![\"Umang\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/access\/files\/2015\/03\/Umang-500x333.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMy name Umang is of Sanskrit, Indian origin, meaning \u2018happiness,\u2019 \u2018hope\u2019 and \u2018enthusiasm.\u2019 I was given this name so that I am always aware that one\u2019s success is defined by their happiness quotient. With graduation round the corner and the dawn of a new chapter in my life, I am beginning to realize now more than ever how my name defines me and the choices that I make.<\/p>\n
Today on International Women\u2019s Day, I want to share how my middle name came to be. In the majority of the Indian subcontinent, naming conventions follow that a person carries their father\u2019s name as their middle name. Living in a largely patriarchal society in India, my mother defied the existing norms and put up a strong fight against the resistance she faced by the legal system. This unprecedented act led to my middle name being my mother\u2019s name, something I am very proud of. It is a reminder of who I am and what I stand for, and the reality that we have a long ways to go to achieve gender equality. Umang gives me the hope for a better tomorrow and Pooja inspires in me the tenacity necessary to achieve it.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Umang Pooja Khandelwal: My name Umang is of Sanskrit, Indian origin, meaning \u2018happiness,\u2019 \u2018hope\u2019 and \u2018enthusiasm.\u2019 I was given this name so that I am always aware that one\u2019s success is defined by their happiness quotient. With graduation round the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23597,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83199,1096507],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-equity-ambassadors","category-the-ubc-name-project"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/access\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/access\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/access\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/access\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23597"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/access\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1365"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/access\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1370,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/access\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1365\/revisions\/1370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/access\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/access\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/access\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}