Change is inevitable., but when the frequency of change supersede your lifetime, or rather capacity of your chronological memory, wont you be at your wits end?
whats the address?
Akhilesh Yadav said to RE-christen 8 districts in U.P (TOI, 24 July 2012). Chattrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar & Ramabai Nagar will revert back to Amethi & Kanpur Dehat. Bheem nagar, Prabudh Nagar, Pancheel Nagar will be renamed as Sambhal, Shamli & Hapur. Kanshiram Nagar , Mahamayanagar, J P Nagar will be restored to Kasganj, Hathras & Amroha.
Born and brought up in this name game era & more explicitly in its arena , state of Uttar Pradesh, I have rather personal experiences in this matter. I used to live in a colony which was called Allahpur in Allahabad. But for quite some time it had been renamed as Bhardwajpuram. Probably in official document it was christened so but I never saw any change in our day to day life. If I had to pick up a rickshaw also they would understand Allahpur only .” Yeh sab upar saheb logon ki baat hain, humey kya fark padta hai. Hum usey jis naam sey bulatey they wahi bulayengey” once a Rickshawpuller told me. My dad an alumni of King George Medical college, one of the prestigious college in U.P. was in doldrums that will he be referred to “Georgian” as people in India & abroad knew or a ” chatrapati shahuji marajian“?
What is there in name? Shakespeare once said but I guess there is lot…….mainly confusion!! When invasion used to happen , naming was at the disposal of domineering party and their dialect & script. Why was India called Hindustan rather Industan, for the guess, be my guest. Whatever name our city, town, village or rather street gets is part of our history. Passing an order to re-christen it seems a rather very easy solution but if you had been calling your daughter Khushi for 15 years & all of sudden you decide that you find a better name Harshita (though they mean same), lets see how many times she responds. Well fine I know the decision comes from government which in turn means from the people itself, how many agree that people never consent on one thing (which can be realized by dynamic change of higher commands). So if people can not make up mind on one government, how can they make up their mind on re-christening the name?
I do agree that we should name places or streets in the honor of people. The martyrs have their due to be honored. It is done out of respect and to inspire people too. But we should at the same time remember that the motive behind this step should not the driven by ideas which promote religious and casteism differences. We do not want to reach a stage when no-one would like a street to be named after himself/herself as we will start seeing it as an ugly political war.
People in different sectors face many problem because of this ever-changing names. For example, surveys are done for various records like census data, voters ID, land-use records etc. In all these records if the name keep on changing who will keep the track? What if I am making a map for land-use for Mahamayanagar, should I leave the option of concerned area “open to editing”? Will it not be a wastage of Government money & time as most document go to trash just because the name keeps on changing?
I do welcome the step of Chief Minister of U.P. about reverting the names back to original. But I dread once again if the government change, people will be gifted the same old, tattered, regressing gifts in new wrapping paper. If only they knew that people do want a change but not just for the namesake….
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