Brand Bengaluru?

Now this will certainly take some getting used to

The Indian Express

Kannada Nadu makalu —the children of Karnataka—have spoken. If Madras can become ‘Chennai’; Bombay transmogrify into ‘Mumbai’; Calcutta get rounded into ‘Kolkata’; Trivandrum get baptised as ‘Thiruvananthapuram’, and—yes— Indian Airlines fly as ‘Indian’, why cannot Bangalore take on the ethnic tones of ‘Bengaluru’? But this will certainly take some getting used to.

A demand of this kind is fuelled by an irresistible mix of local fable, linguistic and literary tradition and more contemporary concerns like cultural chauvinism and emotive politics. The recent ruckus over the status of Belgaum, which had Karnataka’s rulers in a fine lather, may have helped to sharpen regional anxieties. Remember, the state has had to define itself against its neighbours. Karnataka’s no-holds battle with Tamil Nadu —to claim ownership of the waters of the Cauvery—has been a long and bitter one. It remains unresolved to this very day. Its border disputes with Maharashtra still have the potential to light bonfires. So before the world runs away with Bangalore, which it has come to regard as its very own software backyard, why not pin the capital city as a badge of honour on the regional lapel? Call it a clash of civilisations: the local asserting itself against the global.

But this anxiety to change nomenclature also smacks of a disturbing lack of confidence in the project of modernity. This is ironical in a state which has benefitted immensely from the changes wrought by technological innovation. Why must Bangalore be any less Karnatakan than Bengaluru, when Karnataka sees itself as an important destination on the global IT map? Surely the state has come a long, long way from the days when King Ballala had to first beg for, and then remain content with, a humble bowl of boiled beans in the old days of the Hoysala dynasty?