BuLba on racism in the U.S. after 9/11: “I could easily have been called a terrorist”

My real name is easy to find. I was in college and had just started playing at a somewhat professional level. I didn’t want anyone to find out my real name because then they would have found my college. They could have tracked me down, and my parents would have been against it. So I had to come up with a name for myself.

My parents even told me straight out: “Okay, you can do this, just don’t reveal your real name.” They were worried, of course—typical Indian parents. I grew up in the South, in North Carolina, during the time of 9/11. There was a lot of racism directed at me and my parents there, especially after 9/11. Being dark-skinned in North America at that time—especially in the South—was tough. …> Growing up, I could easily have been mocked, called a terrorist, and things like that. There was definitely racism there.

My parents, of course, were worried. They didn’t want people to say things like, “Oh, he’s some Indian guy,” and so on. Plus, my name isn’t exactly common, so I could easily be found on college student rosters. In the end, I decided, “Okay, I’ll sign up for DotA tournaments and play under a pseudonym.”

I liked the whole idea of made-up names—I loved to read. For example, Lemony Snicket, the author of *A Series of Unfortunate Events*, also uses a pseudonym. So I decided to find myself a pseudonym and, you could say, borrowed a very common name. That guy was my roommate. He’s still on my friends list on [social media], and I’ve apologized to him. I only took the first name—I just needed a name. Sam is a common name. I took my roommate’s first name and just made up the last name.