Dear Mr Rajan,
I read about your decision to address my city with its
colonial name in your newspaper, though our government reverted back to its
earlier one some years back. As a Mumbaikar, I thought I could express my view,
which you, an Indian-born British person, at least owe me, to read.
So firstly, the name of Bombay was changed back to Mumbai, not because of any
Hindu nationalism, though the political party which did it is mostly known for
this. It was done because Bombay was a colonial name. As is Calcutta, as is Madras
and Trivandrum. All these names as you know, were changed back to Indian ones.
I didn’t listen to the BBC interview, only read about your views in agency
reports, which don’t mention your ‘cosmopolitan’ views about these other
cities. If you want to side with ‘the tradition of India that’s been open to
the world…’ are these cities an exception to that tradition? Or is it that only
Mumbai bothers you?
Also, if the name ‘Bombay’ so epitomises this tradition or the ‘open, secular,
pluralist and tolerant’ tradition, let me just reiterate the fact that it comes
from the anglicised version of the Portuguese name Bom Bahia. Why not go for
that? Why not go to an even older name? Heptanesia? Why insist on a name given
by the British? Doesn’t this reek of a colonial attitude? Of the closed mind of
someone who could be termed Macaulay’s child?
Obviously, Bombay bothered many of us, and so the name was changed, as were the
names of the other cities mentioned. But why are you bothered about the name of
a city that many of us, Marathi and others, agree with? After all, it’s only
the city you land in a few times, probably when you arrive to meet your cousins
from this developing country. Too bad Pune escaped an anglicised name. Oh! May
be you could revert to its British spelling: Poona.
Better, why don’t you refer to London as Londinium? Apparently it was also a
major commercial centre then. It must also have been cosmopolitan then. Isn’t
your mind open enough to accept Roman names? But that’s a colonial name for your
city. Think about it.
