Bengaluru-ed

There is more change for Americans who weathered the storms that turned industrial heartlands into Rust Belts. With a “can do” attitude, those Americans re-trained for the Information Age, only to see those high tech jobs shipped offshore to India. Once Bangalore’d, they will now be Bengaluru’ed.

With a mixture of state pride, adroit political exploitation, language chauvinism and impeccable timing, effective November 1, 2006 the process to rename Bangalore Bengaluru began. There are several forces that provided the impetus for the renaming of the globally- branded Bangalore.

Changing names used by the former British overlords has been in motion in India for some time. Madras changed to Chennai in 1996; Bombay changed to Mumbai 1998, Calcutta to Kolkata in 2001. During the Golden Jubilee anniversary celebration of the formation of the state of Karnataka on November 1, 2006, the Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy announced the renaming of six state cities: Bangalore (Bengaluru), Mysore (Mysuru), Mangalore (Mangaluru), Belgaum (Belgavi), Shimoga (Shivamogga) and Hospet (Hosapete).

Bengaluru is the Kannada pronunciation of the city name. An enjoyable and often repeated myth about the original naming of city dates to the 1300’s. The legend recounts that Hoysala King Vira Ballala became lost while on hunting trip. He found refuge in the hut of an old woman. The old woman offered the king cooked beans to sate his hunger. In his gratitude, the king named the location Benda Kaal Ooru (Town of Boiled Beans). Usage eventually smoothed Benda Kaal Ooru to Bengalooru.

Regardless of origins, the British, full of their own beans, renamed the city Bangalore. IT mavens put Bangalore on the global map.

There is much to be said and admired about national and language pride. Southern Indian states are divided along language groups. Politicians give serious consideration to the state of the state language. Swept into office six months ago on a bold re-alignment of power, Kuramaswamy’s coalition government is keenly aware of the political significance of the renaming. Announcing the name changes before a crowd of 35,000 Kannadiga celebrants in Chinnaswamy Stadium was political drama Carl Rove wishes he could again command.

Ironically, due to the enormous influx of out-of-state Indians and expats to Bangalore, native Kannada speakers (Kannadigas) account for only 30 – 40% of the population. Mostly marginalized from high tech jobs, the flex of Kannadiga political muscle is democracy in action. There is much discussion, however, in other quarters of the impact of the name change on Brand Bangalore. The future will answer that question. Bombay Sapphire Gin survived…and our blogsite name will remain the same.