When will assault on Calcutta end - I wonder -
It started with the Brits,
then various categories and kinds of immigrants,
Then came the mad bureaucrats with Kolkata - -the variety of pronunciations can have you alternately weep and cry and wail - it's Coalkata - not Callkatta -
Then came the disillusionment with the commies
and the fall-outs of neither-here-nor-there Marxism or Leftism or Red Flag-ism
With every mad-foolish-cracked happening in Writer's Building, which has welcomed another set of pompous politicians
With every effort to dehumanize this gentle lady
With all the stress and strain of looking after a state torn apart by foolishly-handled issues
This gracious lady is eroded a little more...and a little more...and a little more...
But she is still stretching herself and taking every knock...
And now, another violation of her sensibilities - the State to which she belongs has been renamed Paschim Banga---can you just imagine how this is going to be pronounced?.....and her shame will continue...even as she ceaselessly gives succor to all who care to love her and respect her....even as her beauty still shines out from the muck into which she is constantly and uncaringly being pulled...
Having said this - and these were my personal feelings - my personal opinion is that the renaming of Calcutta or West Bengal is really a non-issue. Fact is that for Bengalis, naturalized Bengalis, those who have found refuge here, to those who love Bengals, and all those who engage in some kind of economic activity or the other here, the name of the State, and the names of the cities and towns in Bengali, will remain as they have always remained from before the time Job Charnock floated in. The other names they had been (and still are) going by, existed for political and economic reasons, or for reasons of convenience in pronunciation. Mispronunciations happen because of non-caring arrogance......It is the same in Kerala or Tamil Nadu. for instance - no matter how anyone may pronounce the names of the cities and towns, in Malayalam, or in Tamizh, the original native pronunciation is what is used by those who live, work, or have been born there...
So, why the hoo-haa????? isn't there anything else to engage in? such as things that will make life for the ordinary people in the state easier...
