Just as many of us are getting used to rolling-off Mumbai off our tongues rather than the age-old Bombay, most others will never get used to Kolkotta for Calcutta or Chennai for Madras. While this confusion prevails, will there be another name change? Will we be unable to recognize familiar cities and states due to the infernal name changes? More on a proposed change for Bangalore, India's Silicon Alley.

- Sumita Sheth

Courtesy expressindia.com

"Bangalore to be named Bengaluru

Press Trust of India
Posted online: Monday, December 12, 2005 at 0421 hours IST

Gulbarga, Dec 11: If Bombay could become Mumbai, Madras Chennai and Calcutta Kolkata, could the country’s IT hub Bangalore lag behind? Bangalore in Anglicised form will be known as Bengaluru as pronounced in Kannada.

Karnataka Chief Minister N Dharam Singh told reporters here today that he had asked the chief secretary to take steps for renaming Bangalore.

He said that Kannadigas were calling it as Bengaluru but taking an Anglicised form and it became Bangalore. Singh recalled that a suggestion to call the city as Bengaluru had emanated at a meeting of prominent Kannada litterateurs he had called recently to seek their views on celebrating the golden jubilee of the formation of Karnataka.

He also said he would make a plea to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take steps to accord the status of a classical language to Kannada.

The Chief Minister said that the state government fully concurred with the views expressed by prominent litterateurs, that Kannada should be given the classical language tag."