Finally he changes his name to nikhil an idea that he

the name “sounds ludicrous to his ears, lacking dignity or gravity” (76). Finally, he changes his
name to Nikhil, an idea that he thinks of when he is reading about second baptisms in a
magazine. When he asks his parents, however, they seem to disagree, but in the end his father
says that since in America, anything is possible, Gogol should be allowed to change his name.
Having changed his name to Nikhil, he still feels caught between two worlds. The world
where he is free and the second world where he is still Gogol: his house. “There is one
complication: he doesn’t feel like Nikhil” (105). Despite having changed his name, Nikhil still
feels that his parents blunder, his true name, Gogol, will forever be attached to him. These
feelings are proved when his old name is brought up in two of his relationships, and never in a
good way. Maxine, his second girlfriend forgets his first name soon after he tells her, and

Moushimi, his only wife during the story, uses his old name as a joke in a part,even though
Gogol has told her to not tell anyone about it.
His feelings are even more jumbled when his father, Ashoke, tells Gogol why he decided
to name his son after Nikolai Gogol. He tells Gogol of the train ride, the train derailing, of “the