Pi explains that his unusual given name, Piscine Molitor Patel, keeps creating problems because people mishear, misspell, or mock it. In university, trying to avoid another French speaker laughing at his name, Pi tells a pizza-order taker, “I am who I am,” and the pizzas arrive addressed to “Ian Hoolihan,” reinforcing how easily names can be changed by others.

Pi reflects that name changes can be profound and even sacred, citing figures with multiple names in religious history. He then recalls the moment at age twelve when a schoolboy points at him and coins the taunt “Pissing Patel,” and how the insult spreads across the schoolyard.

The mockery becomes relentless, sometimes coming from teachers as well, especially in the afternoon heat when they slur “Piscine” into “Pissing” without intending to. Even when classmates do not react, Pi always hears the humiliation and spends his final year at St. Joseph’s School feeling persecuted, planning an escape to a new beginning.

After St. Joseph’s, Pi transfers to Petit Séminaire in Pondicherry, where his older brother Ravi is already popular and athletic. Determined not to be trapped by the old nickname—even if it means being known only as “Ravi’s brother”—Pi executes a plan on the first day in the first class.

Before the teacher can speak during roll call, Pi goes to the blackboard and announces “Pi Patel,” underlines the first two letters of his name, writes “π = 3.14,” and draws a circle sliced by a diameter. He repeats the performance for each teacher until students and staff adopt “Pi,” classmates chant “Three! Point! One! Four!,” and even other boys try on Greek-letter nicknames. Ravi privately approves, joking that anything is better than “Pissing,” and Pi finds lasting refuge in the name and symbol “Pi.”