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What's in a name, the poet may ask rhetorically. But of course,
there's a lot in a name. Otherwise why should towns and cities
in India en masse should try to change their names, okay retrieving,
to ancient names? Gauhati-Guwahati, Calcutta-Kolkata, Baroda-
Vadodara, Bombay- Mumbai, and the latest Bangalore- Bangaluru,
the list goes on and there might be a long queue yet. These
new avatars, rising from the ashes of a servile past, are
supposed to bring back the pride lost in the colonial days.
Good intention, never mind the crores of tax payers' money
spent on this name-changing process. After all, it's a question
of pride. But the cynics would mutter, 'If only'! If only,
things happened like that! If people were less fractious and
more caring about their city after exorcising the symbol of
bad old days of colonialism! If changing the name to Bangaluru
by the IT capital could prevent a Hindu guy working in a Muslim
restaurant from getting harassed resulting in a job-loss during
the recent communal strife! If Kolkata's roads and chaotic
traffic and littered roads improved with the change of name!
Well, you know how cynics are!
Moving to a less gloomy side of changing names, or is it?,
I know for sure that one of my friends changed her daughter's
name as soon as somebody pointed out that the name might coincide
with the meaning of a kiss, a mother's fond gesture, but once
her daughter grew up, she would have trouble with ever-eager
Romeos. Fully aware of what guys do to girls on the street
in the name of 'eve-teasing' in this modern India, she did
not dare to take the risk. You never know, she confided in
me, they wouldn't stop at just pulling her dupatta, they might
even try to kiss her in broad daylight taking the excuse of
the name.
Names after all are symbolic. Bengalis go to great lengths
to find evocative names for their children, perhaps believing
that the inner meanings of the words would rub off on their
wards' persona. If people from other regions make fun of some
of these esoteric names, asking Tina Turner-like, 'What's
got name to do with it?' they would counter, 'Everything!'
The cultural-capitalists of the country should know.
However, in this melee are also those who go overboard trying
to be 'innovative' throwing caution and good taste to the
winds. Take for instance, a restaurant in Kolkata's upmarket
shopping mall City Centre. On eve of the Republic Day, thriving
to be different it decided to 'rewind to the 50s and lay out
a perfect spread' with the ambience in mind . Good idea. In
fact, the patriotic fervour is to be applauded. But in their
over-enthusiasm, the management also named one of the dishes
"B52 Pomfret" explaining its nomenclature thus,
(quoted in The Telegrah, January 19) "made out of a whole
fish, it is such a heavy meal that we named it after the American
fighter plane that bombed Hiroshima during World War II."
For Pete's sake! as the Americans would exclaim. How insensitive
one can become in search of novelty! Sadly, this kind of bad
taste is frequently in evidence these days. Sometime ago,
a Mumbai restaurant was forced to withdraw its equally galling
name ' Swastika,' the abhorred symbol of Nazi Germany.
On hindsight, I wonder if this particular gaffe went unnoticed
by any of the embassies and peace-activities. Come on! The
Holocaust (despite Iranian President Ahmadinejad's feeble
attempt at dismissing it as a "myth") and the bombing
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the two of the biggest blots
in recent history. To make use of these symbols of atrocity
frivolously is to insult the memory of those who perished
and ignore the agony of the survivors. As old timers would
say, tread softly when you name something or somebody.
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