THE SOUL OF THE BUSINESS
A PRIVATE   FAITH MADE DANGEROUSLY PUBLIC 
The Making of a Paper
 By SHOMA CHAUDHURY
 In Gratitude
 By TARUN J TEJPAL

Another change of name. Did someone say, change the city?

By Vikram Kilpady

Bombay, Madras and Calcutta have got another sibling – Bangalore, soon to become Bengaluru. Though it has been Bengaluru all this while in Kannada, here’s another xenophobic strike.

When an inter-city bus rolls into the bus terminus in the Tamil Nadu hinterland, the conductor (nine times out of ten) hollers “Madras, Madras”. Madras, not the official Chennai.

But the demand for Bengaluru did not come from the rabid Right, it came from litterateur UR Ananthamurthy who suggested the change of name as part of the state’s golden jubilee celebrations. The chief minister was willing, so willing that he offered a name change for Belgaum too.

Pause a moment. Would Bengaluru be any different from Bangalore? The same potholes, the same traffic jams, the very same pollution. (Besides, how many people, even in Bangalore, are aware that Bengaluru literally means the city of boiled beans? Certainly not an edifying thought.)

This also happened with Bombay, oops Mumbai. The whole world still calls the city Bombay, only filmstars and some Maharashtrian politicians say Mumbai and that too when on a Hindi news channel.

Rome has remained Rome for over two millennia but if our politicians had a say, it would have been Roma. Why? When in Rome do as the Romans do, and the Italians say Roma, our leaders would have added.