Source: http://media.sdreader.com
Like any kid born in the 80-90’s, I too grew up calling my city as Bombay, until one day I was told that it has been renamed to Mumbai. As a child, I didn’t even know what difference it made and the political agenda behind it. Like many, I too always cribbed of why I should be forced to call my city by a name I didn’t even know as a child?
Well, this was almost two decades back when Bombay was renamed to Mumbai, derived from the local goddess Mumba Devi. This was the name change that actually proved as a trendsetter, with two more cities Calcutta and Madras being renamed later.
Source: s.yimg.com
Recently, the name changing fad as come up again with the change in the name of city Gurgaon to Gurugram by the Haryana government. The reason being cited is that Gurgaon was the ancestral village of Guru Dronacharya. Well, was it? Though what came as a sudden shock, was actually a proposal made by the municipal corporation way back in 2012, which has come to fruition now. But, this time rather than being angry, the youth made a joke about it on social media, with trolls breaking the internet. Now, if analyzed, both Gurgaon and Gurugram have ‘Guru’ in them and Guru Dronacharya won’t mind either of the names I suppose. Then why these politicians are busy instilling their will, draped with historic reason, on the people? Now, even I don’t give a f**k about it like other youth of the country.
Source: http://homegrown.co.in/
But, back in 2006, name change of a city or state, was not taken at the pinch of a salt. A good example is the name change of Bangalore to Bengaluru, which was not welcomed by the youth that time as it sounded too orthodox and the youngsters felt that it would affect the international standing of the city. But, unfortunately, there was no twitter or facebook that time, wherein they could express their distress. Yes, with time, we did swallow our sorrow and accepted Bengaluru, but that didn’t stop us from calling it Bangalore. With an exception of few orthodox and core Kannadigas, I guess everyone calls it Bangalore. Thus, the name Bengaluru remains a mere official name written, which reminds of me being called by my nickname by all while my official name was just in the papers.
Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/
In the meantime, while I was still trying to get over the Gurugram shock, I just glimpsed through the papers to find that more bombs are in the pipe to traumatize us in the form of Aurangabad, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. Our very own RSS party has come up with the proposal that Ahmedabad should be named after a Hindu king Karan Dev I, of Solanki dynasty, Aurangabad after Chhatrapati Sambhaji and Hyderabad after goddess Bhagyalakshmi. So, if this anytime occurs, don’t be amazed if you hear Ahmedabad being renamed as Karnavati, Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar and Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar. If RSS can put up a demand for above cities, then why can’t Bhopal be renamed to Bhojpal? Wait, it’s not me who is complaining, but Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.
Source: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com
Ok, I understand, many dedicated Indians (I mean our politicians) want to eradicate the Anglic influences these names have, which remind us of the British rule. But, don’t you think, the historical transformations the British made, is also a part of our history? Citing the historic reasons and preserving the old forgotten tradition, the politicians are actually playing a power game in which we common people are forcefully dragged in. Now, be it the renaming of Orissa to Odisha, Pondicherry to Puducherry or Mysore to Mysuru, the politicians did win in their name change battle. But, in the end, the name change is a mere paperwork and the residents of the state or city still pronounce the names they grew up calling. So, why a fuss on this name change?
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