What's In A Name?

What’s in a name?

Plenty…. Shakespeare and the rose notwithstanding!

A suave and sophisticated lady, a good friend, a dedicated Mumbaikar was in Kolkata recently to meet her relatives. The last time, she was in the city was over thirty years ago when she was a new bride. We, the die-hard Kolkatans kept our fingers crossed lest she finds our dear city abhorrent. After all, Mumbai was the glam-city, the commercial capital of the country!

The fear was uncalled for. She had a wonderful time in Kolkata. She did some shopping; bought kurtas from Sharbari Datta for her American son-in-law, a few baluchoris for herself and her daughter. No other city in the world would offer her this fanciful merchandise. And, she loved the food here. She tasted a bit of “Oh Calcutta”, “Flame Grill”, “Nola” and enjoyed a sumptuous dinner hosted by her cousin at the Kolkata Club. The last place sounded a bit unfamiliar!

“Kolkata Club?”

“Well,” she clarified, “it is a very old club for the city’s elite bang opposite Rabindra Sadan”.

She was surprised we never heard about it.

Well, not quite, we did hear about it. But the place was Calcutta Club.

“Really?”- She was a bit surprised now, “Hasn’t Calcutta been rechristened?”

“Yes, true but not the club!”

Interesting point indeed! The city did change its name, true. But, does every entity prefixed with Calcutta need to change as well?

 Can you have a restaurant called “Oh Kolkata”? Nahh.. It does not sound right!  

What about the other institutions of the city? What about the University of Calcutta, I wondered. The state authorities must have changed the name. But no, the university still retains its old name; at least that is the impression one gets at their website. It is a fairly user-friendly website I must say, decorated in light blue, very soothing to the eyes. It proudly proclaims “University of Calcutta”. There is no sign of Kolkata anywhere.

Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation or CESC, an organization we have all known for ages have stuck to their identity and did not convert to KESC. Calcutta Tramways Corporation or CTC could have changed itself over to KTC but they did not; in spite of being a state owned company. It would be a shame if it did; CTC has a very cute logo, - a “T” with two outstretched arms sheltering two cute little  “C”s that look so vulnerable. KTC would have destroyed the balance and symmetry of the logo.

However, Calcutta Police did change itself to Kolkata Police. All their vehicles are marked with the Bengali letters “kaw” and “pu” with a vertical arrow between the letters. The arrow, from a distance, looks like the phonetic “aa” sound rendering “kaw-pu” as “kaapu” which is interpreted by some cynics as an abbreviation of the word “kaapurush” or coward! This aberration was pointed out to me by a Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police, now retired.

There are several others, who have not changed their names.  Calcutta High Court, Calcutta Youth Choir, Calcutta Kennel Club, Royal Calcutta Golf Club have all retained their identity.

So did Calcutta Club.

Thank God for small mercies.

Kuwait - 5 January 2009