What's in a name?

What's in a name?
By: B V Shiva Shankar Date: 2009-06-30 Place:Bangalore


A lot...say residents of Whitefield, who don't want their ward to be named after a small hamlet

Residents of Whitefield are upset that the government has named their municipal ward after a small hamlet.

The authorities want to call the ward Hagaduru, but residents say the name Whitefield has global recall.

"Hagaduru is a small hamlet with a population of just 500, " said S Muniswamy, a local Congress leader. "The population of Whitefield is around 4,000. Moreover, Whitefield is the hub of IT, and the ward can catch global attention if it's called Whitefield."


Global Recall: The name Whitefield has a greater brand appeal across the world than Hagaduru file pic

Apart from Whitefield, the ward encompasses areas like Brookefield, Gandhipura, Vijayanagara, where the IT giants including SAP, Dell, TCS, IBM have set up their branches. The International Tech Park Bangalore (ITPB), Silicon Valley's brand equity, is also a part of the Whitefield area. "The name reflects the tech-industry aspect of the place. So we must call it by its brand name" said K Ganesh, a BPO entrepreneur.

Many techies, residing in the area, endorse Muniswamy's view.

"Whitefield is synonymous with IT," said Vidhu Mehta, an employee in IBM. "It's not right to call the 'temple of technology' by any other name."

Muniswamy said the residents had already written to the BBMP commissioner and the department of urban development in this regard. "If they don't respond in a week's time, we will picket the BBMP office," he said.

Even residents of Hagaduru want the ward to be named Whitefield. "We are happy that the ward is named after our village, but Whitefield would be even better," said Marappa, village panchayat member of Hagaduru.

However, some believe the name is not all that important.

"What's more important is how we develop the ward to match to the needs of the people," said Congress leader B Shivanna.

When contacted, BBMP commissioner Bharatlal Meena, said, " The BBMP has nothing to do with this. It is the urban development department that has to take a call. However, people are free to file objections and I hope their voice will be heard."

Techies hope chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, who also holds the urban development (Bangalore city) portfolio, will buy their argument.

How Whitefield got its name
More than 50 years ago, the godman Satya Sai Baba had started his ashram in the area.
The ashram was frequented by foreigners more than the Indians.
The local villagers then referred to the area as 'billiyera maidana' which literally translates to 'whites field'. From there, the place came to be commonly known as Whitefield.