STREET WISE
What's in a name change?
Last week, we learned of a change of name for Bangalore, the Indian city famous for software, technology parks, Internet cafes and globalisation. Replacing it is Bengalooru, the local term for "city of cooked beans". A reason given for the change is Bangalore failed to honour the kind old woman who plumped up a hungry 14th-century king with a small bean feast.
This change follows several other Indian cities. Bombay has been rebranded as Mumbai, Madras is now Chennai and Calcutta now goes by Kolkata. "Sign writers and printers will be glad of the new business, politicians will claim a blow against British cultural enslavement and a victory for authenticity, but many others will give a weary sigh. So many places change their names, and so often," The Economist said in its latest edition. It took years before people in South America knew that Burma was called Myanmar. If China were not an economic power now, it would also have taken a long time before people recognised that Guangzhou was formerly Canton. Given that cities concern a large number of people, changes in city names puzzle many more people than do a change in an individual's name. Take Bangalore. The city has been known to the world by that name for more than a century. That means at least two generations have known the city by that name. While tourists might ask why they can no longer book a flight to Bangalore, businessmen could also find it difficult to pronounce Bengalooru. An individual name change could spark a fury, too, if that name were Thaksin Shinawatra. Surely, that would spark interest from at least 65 million people, as well as many others in foreign lands. achara_d@nationgroup.com
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