INDIA: India's hi-tech capital Bangalore became Bengaluru yesterday, evoking mixed reactions to the state government's fiat to assert the city's regional identity and to "protect" it from being eroded by English-speaking outsiders and proliferating globalisation.
"It's a retrograde step," said Roshin Varghese, a leading socialite.
Bangalore's image as a progressive, dynamic and swinging city will be lost at the altar of local inward-looking politics, she added.
Others, such as Kiran Karnik, head of the National Association of Software and Services Companies, India's largest software organisation, dismiss the name change of the capital of southern Karnataka state as "no big deal".
"Fortunately, the new name is phonetically similar to the current name. If it makes people feel good, I don't have a problem," he said.
Bangalore's original name was Benda Kaluru or "the place of boiled beans" in the local Kannada language. According to legend, a local chieftain and his warriors spent the night there following a battle and an old woman offered the fatigued fighters boiled beans.
British colonialists who settled in the city's mild and salubrious climate in the 19th century anglicised its name to Bangalore.
The decision to change the name of the city - often referred to as India's Silicon Valley for its booming information technology industry - was taken last December in response to demands from regional nationalists, including Kannada writers wanting to promote their history, culture and language.
"I am really worried about globalisation," said Kannada writer UR Ananthamurthy, the prime mover behind the name change. People who come here do not relate to the culture of the place. That is neither good for them nor the natives."
