SNIPPETS:
What's in a Name (Change)?
Bangalore will be renamed Bengalooru (or Bengaluru) in November; a change proposed by one of India's most respected writers and thinkers, Prof. U.R. Ananthamurthy.

People seem to be vastly divided on the subject: elated, irate or indifferent. (The last category profess a "let them improve the infrastructure instead" stand.) However, one critical point seems to have become lost in the crossfire: there is no name change in the first place.

It was always Bengalooru
As Prof. Ananthamurthy explains, "When I said we should call the city Bengalooru, the Kannada papers did not report it because they always referred to it as Bengalooru. Everyone on the street calls it Bengalooru, but it is ignored by the people who live here."

The only change, then, is in the spelling and pronunciation of the name in English. Is the transition to Bengalooru so difficult in a national and international context? But why should it be, when name changes happen all the time…

Some reasons for changing place names
Changing the name of a geographical location, for different reasons, is a worldwide phenomenon. For instance:

Closer to home
In India, reasons that include regional pride, anti-colonialism and synergy between spelling and pronunciation have led to changes like: Bombay --> Mumbai; Calcutta --> Kolkata; Calicut --> Kozhikode; Cochin --> Kochi; Pondicherry --> Puduchchery; Poona --> Pune and Madras --> Chennai…to name a few.

Another reason for changing of place names in India is the reorganisation of states from British colonial divisions to Indian linguistic divisions. Karnataka was created by unifying the State of Mysore with Kannada speaking regions in Madras Presidency (now Tamil Nadu), Bombay Presidency (now Maharashtra) and the Princely State of Hyderabad (now Andhra Pradesh). The State of Mysore, with these additions, became Greater Mysore State in 1956 and was renamed Karnataka in 1972 (the name Karnataka itself is said to date back to the times of the Mahabharata).

Other name changes that have been proposed include: Ahmedabad to Karnavati, Lucknow to Lakshmanpuri and Delhi to Indraprastha or Dilli. And, even closer to home, Mysore to Mysooru. And...

...Bangalore to Bengalooru
Bangalore has grown from a pensioner's paradise into one of Asia's most important cities. The Silicon Valley of India label, though worn a little thin, reflects the undisputed truth: Bangalore is the centre of the IT and BPO industry in India and holds a respected presence in the international business arena. (Terms like "I've been Bangalored"-meaning "I've lost my job to companies based in Bangalore"-have even crept into the English language!) Bob Hoekstra, CEO of Philips Innovation Campus, Bangalore, says, "We have spent 15 years building Bangalore as an international brand and going back to the native name could hurt that brand". Many share this opinion.

But how many people actually identify with this brand? Are they largely the upwardly mobile, English-speaking population of the city? What do local residents with deeper roots in the Bangalore-that-was-let's call them Bengaloorians-have to say?

Many feel their city, culture, language and local traditions have been virtually taken over by relative outsiders, most of whom seem to show scant respect for it. The name Bengalooru is truer to their regional identity-their brand-than Bangalore ever could be. Laxminarayana, a 56-year-old Kannada teacher who's lived here for the last forty years, is such a person. He, like many others, uses the pronunciation Bengalooru in his everyday conversations in Kannada. "If the Anglicised name (Bangalore) is changed officially, it will make us proud, as it gives us a sense of recognition", he says.

Historian and social commentator Ramachandra Guha feels "…the demand for renaming Bangalore is legitimate, and should be honoured. Calling the city Bengalooru is consistent with history and custom, and it hurts no one. The other and equally legitimate name, Bangalore, will continue to be used in popular discourse."

What's in a name
More than ever before, a place name is now seen as a protector of cultural heritage in the face of rapid social change. The complexity lies in the fact that there are no absolutes: many independent identities exist within the whole; everyone feels their existence is mirrored in their city's name. So changing it is never easy…or free from emotion.