Bangalore vs Bengaluru: Much ado about nothing

Bangalore vs Bengaluru: Much ado about nothing
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Two famous Murthys were on their best commenting about renaming of Bangalore as Bengaluru. The IT icon N R Narayanamurthy said on Tuesday here that the debate was a waste of time. The energy should be spent on improving the infrastructure and life of common man.

Internationally acclaimed writer U R Anantmurthy who initiated renaming process told this website's newspaper that he agreed with the Infy founder.

But infrastructure should also be improved for the denizens of Bengaluru not just of the IT population of Bangalore. He maintained that the State capital had two cities in it; Bangalore and Bengaluru.

The writer said that Bengaluru is a metaphor for the local population sidelined by the IT boom. “The city's brand originates from its climate and Brand Bangalore has killed it. The international community must realise that there is another city here called Bengaluru,” Ananthmuthy said.

Narayanmuthy told reporters on the sidelines of the emergency general body meeting of Infosys that Kannadigas like him were anyway using the names of the cities like it was pronounced locally. There were other important issues to be debated upon, he added.

“For me, changing the name is not important. As a Kannadiga and as a person who speaks Kannada at home, you always called it Bengalooru. So I don’t think that matters much,” Murthy said.

He rather wished that “all this energy, enthusiasm and debate” (over name change), instead, takes place on how to improve city infrastructure, road safety, health care and education.

“I would say those are the issues that should be debated rather than Bangalore or Bengalooru,” the software icon said. “This (name change) is a very easy thing. Government can issue an order and change it. That does not require any hard work”.

Asked then if he is not in favour of the name change or whether he is not proud of it, Murthy said: “this is immaterial to me. This is not what I would spend my time on. I would spend my time on improving the quality of life of every Bangalorean....”.

But Ananthmurthy said that Narayanmurthy must pay some attention to infrastructure for Bengaluru.