Bangalore Becomes Bangalooru
Arghh!!! WTF. That summarizes my reaction.
Okay, so assuming that you have just returned from Mars, here is a quick summary. Effective today (November 01, 2006), Bangalore will be known as Bangalooru. This is supposed to be the state government’s gift to the people on the 50th anniversary of Karnataka state.
Oh! thanks for the un-pronounceable gift. Can i return it Mr. Chief Minister?
For note, I think Bangalooru is utterly un-pronounceable and has (sort of) a rural sleepy village feel to it as compared to relatively well know, well pronounceable and cosmopolitan sounding Bangalore. Just my personal thoughts, I think at least some people would be able to pronounce it.
Btw, I am sure that the government did not have anything better to do when it thought of this wonderful plan. I mean, hey its just a matter of getting the name right. Once the name is right, the infrastructure will take care of itself. And of course, the same applies to other problems of Bangalore like the law and order situation, increasing regional chauvinism etc etc
So does this mean that Bangalore too disappears into history – just like Bombay and Madras? Or does it mean that people will continue to be Bangaloreans in Bangalore and Bangalooru will be restricted to the government world?
Link 01: Bangalore, names and Nehambal by Neha Viswanathan.
Link 02: Everything is in a name by Aviraj.
Posted under: City Life , Bangalore , Uncategorized
Tagged with: Bangalooru, Bangalore
November 2nd, 2006 at 05:15:28
Instead of changing Names they should put their power, time and authroity in changing Indias IT capital Bangalore infrastructure. We need more roads a proper airport and clean city.
November 2nd, 2006 at 12:29:30
You know what my reaction to this is?
You can take your un-pronounce-ablity and stick it where sun does not shine.
We have reason to change its name. It may not appeal to you. It does not have to.
What have you done apart from ranting to improve the situation in bengalooru?
November 2nd, 2006 at 13:01:31
dotslash, do you by any chance happen to think that you own the exclusive rights to Bangalore? And would you care to tell me what the advantages of this renaming are going to be?
Ekawaaz, I agree that the time and energy can be better channeled into improving Bangalore infrastructure, or the law and order, or other problems. But I think the renaming is a better bet for getting some votes, and some people (look at he comments for example) believe that renaming will solve all the problems.
November 2nd, 2006 at 13:04:59
“advantage”?
why were you named Sajith and not Filibuster William Walker?
Not everything is measured with “advantages”.
November 2nd, 2006 at 13:44:34
dotslash, am not sure how accurate your analogy is. I am not trying to rename myself from Sajith to anything else. And my problem is not what Bangalore is named, rather why its being renamed…
Why is time and energy being wasted on renaming Banaglore (well known) to Bangalooru (unknown, un-pronounceable)?
And frankly do you think its more important to tackle problems of Bangalore (infrastructure for instance), or to rename Bangalore for the sake of regional chauvinism?
November 2nd, 2006 at 14:29:49
unknown to whom?
unpronouncable to whom?
Were you born with the innate ability to pronounce foreign names, including English?
Changing the infrastructure of the city has nothing to do with its name. It would have to be improved whether its called Bangalore or bengalooru.
Perhaps if you stop criticizing everything that is kannada as chauvanism(big words, eh?), you can be less bitter.
The whole point of linguistics states is to give the local people their voice. It is very easy to be cynical about the local culture and language. But it takes a big heart to open yourself up to what is important for the people of the state whose infrastructure(however it may suck in you view) you enjoy to earn your livlihood.
Using your logic, now how does bengalooru stop you from improving the infrastructure.
Your excuses are lame. Stop beating the dead-horse called cosmopolitan culture.
November 2nd, 2006 at 14:39:42
Mate, its as ridiculous as saying that you stop going to petrol bunk till you find a medicine to cure your hair loss. Why are you mixing two unrelated things?
http://vasukir.blogspot.com/2006/10/whats-in-name.html
November 2nd, 2006 at 14:49:29
Sorry for flooding your blog,
but I think that you are getting carried away by your irrational fear of things that you do not understand.
You infrastructure/name change ‘funda’ is the same as people who say
why does india need another satellite when they have millions of poor people.
This is not a good analogy perhaps. But, you should stop linking
Bangalore’s infrastructure (where you have selfish motive)
Kannada sentiments (which you do not understand, because your reluctance to get out of your self-made, so called, cosmopolitan shell).
November 2nd, 2006 at 15:42:51
Thanks for the comments dotslash. I respect your viewpoint, though don’t quite agree with it. Thanks for the link – interesting blog, though I don’t agree with the post you linked to :)
November 2nd, 2006 at 15:54:48
In hindsight, my first line of first comment was a bit harsh. sorry about that.
I *really* want kannadigas and everybody else getting along. There are bigger problems to solve in the world.
Peace.
November 3rd, 2006 at 09:08:45
@Dotslash
I want to aks one question why you got nick name Bengaluru why not full name ? Benda Kaal Ooru?
change of name is hardly the most important thing the city has to deal with.There other more thing to do about the city. why not Government bothered about that? Bangalore got Brand its took almost 20 years from some intelligent people from Bangalore to build this Brand in todays world.
Only reason they took Bengaluru short nick name becuase of this brand its bit sound similar to Banglore.
Call it by full name and you will see the reaction. Bangalore knows as Silicon Valley of Asia will surely be hit if you put full name.
Either do it properly or dont do it. Simple. Government played a good game, he made kanada writers happy by saying that ok I got your name, and also thought bengaluru will keep the brand image that Bangalore got in world. Game of Politics not thing to do with any sentiments.
November 3rd, 2006 at 12:46:27
This “brand name” funda is bull crap.
You would have come here to work even it were to be called “benda kaaLa ooru” or ‘missisippatomus’.
So, get on with your work and do what you came here to do – make a living and earn boat loads of money.
Have fun.
November 3rd, 2006 at 18:00:08
dotslash, My apologies for breaking the peace treaty.
I disagree with you statement: This “brand name†funda is bull crap. Sorry to say this, but brand names are important. A brand is an identity and its not easy to change it. Can you imagine Amul being called Luma or anything else.. And what effect do you think a change like this (Amul to Luma for example) will have on the product’s perception and sale?
dotslash, I understand that you love kannada and Bangalore. But why do you think that every one who is a non-kanndiga is here just to make money (boat loads as you say) and is not interested in the city itself. I am sure that there are a lot of people who are genuinely interested in Bangalore and its future, and its probably because they are interested that they blog about it, or comment on it.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangalore#Demographics
Is there any one community that can lay claim to Bangalore? Like it or not, facts say that Bangalore is a cosmopolitan city. Sure enough kannadigas are a majority (as a single group), but is it also not true that is you put all non-kannadigas together (keralites, tamilians, telungites, maharashtrians etc), they are more in number than kannadigas?
Cities evolve, Bangalore too has evolved to accommodate the non-kanadigas. And frankly I think kannadigas (as a group) are very friendly, open and helpful people. That said, I am concerned about the efforts of a few people to bring in the kannada sentiments into play here… I have friends – kannadigas and non-kannadigas and so far, no one whom I have spoken to seems to think that renaming is a wonderful idea.
Ekawaaz, I am not sure if the renaming will adversely affect the city as most people will continue to call it Bangalore. Legal documents might say Bangalooru (or Bangaluru), but I think Bangalore as a name is going to stay. This is not to say, that I welcome the renaming, just that I think (at least I hope) it won’t quite matter in the end.
November 3rd, 2006 at 18:00:32
dotslash, any idea what the correct spelling is – Bangaluru or Bangalooru?
November 3rd, 2006 at 23:38:26
Correct spelling – bengalooru
bangalurubangalooruThe l is hard L as pronounced by kannada/tamil/malayaLam people (not the nasal zh).
November 4th, 2006 at 01:38:40
Thanks dotslash. Will try not to mis-spell it next time i post something :)
November 4th, 2006 at 18:04:31
Well… this whole debate of local sentiments.. not sure what it means. Too much fuss about it. Kannada is a great language – it does not need props.
Can anyone answer: why the buses do not have their destinations marked in English apart from local language? This leaves the visitor to the city – totally lost – and gives a unwelcoming unfriendly feel to the place.
November 12th, 2006 at 18:15:55
DotSlash: “What have you done apart from ranting to improve the situation in bengalooru? ”
Dear Mr Chauvanist – pls explain what you have done? Forget Bangalore, what have you done for the country, let the lowly everyone else know… kindly tell us all.
January 10th, 2008 at 03:38:54
WTF! Sajj Itth Mad Havana?!
Who named u that son, my doggie finds it too hard to pronouce. Go change it.
January 10th, 2008 at 14:06:04
Fan_of_DotSlash, unlike Bangalore I am not famous enough for my name to cause inconvenience to millions :-)
And Btw, I am surprised that you dog can actually pronounce “Fan of Dot Slash” – has to be a daggie extraordinaire…
January 10th, 2008 at 17:08:23
WhoTF told u it’d help millions if u changed ur name? Just my doggie, son.
January 10th, 2008 at 20:26:24
Fan_of_DotSlash, if you dog is able to pronounce “fans of dot slash”, guess its smarter than you – just an opinion based on your comments :-)
January 12th, 2008 at 18:17:11
Ah man, you still don’t get it, do you? Pity you son.
November 11th, 2010 at 12:09:51
Sajith u are not updated about our city.. brush up your knowledge about bengaluru and try understanding the history of the city.. it’s not according to your convenience.. did your dad named the city as bangalore
? . no right.. bangalore is named after bengaluru u crap… go home..u are unfit to even speak about the city and ur posts are too cheap