Calcutta by any other name?

CALCUTTA, DEC. 24. The decision to change Calcutta's nomenclature to Kolkata has attracted both bouquets and brickbats.

``I wonder what Bengali culture will stand to gain by rechristening the metropolis Kolkata. The heavens wouldn't have fallen had the city's name remained Calcutta,'' Mr. Mrinal Sen, film-maker, said.

Asked whether the Left Front Government had followed the footsteps of Shiv Sena and the AIADMK in renaming Bombay as Mumbai and Madras as Chennai, Mr. Sen said ``I don't know whether regionalism has outweighed cultural considerations or it is the other way around. We can see an assertive cultural movement here which speaks about making it mandatory to paint signboards in Bengali. Will it help us to integrate with the world? I'm not sure.''

On a different note, the Bengali novelist, Mr. Sunil Gangopadhyay said, ``It has been a long-standing demand of intellectuals of the metropolis. They have been clamouring for a change in Calcutta's nomenclature.''

Mr. Gangopdhayay was in the vanguard of the movement for a change in the city's name along with several writers, poets and artistes.

Mr. Ananda Shankar Roy, litterateur said, ``I'm vehemently opposed to the decision which will make a mockery of the history behind Calcutta's name.''

``You can pronounce the name of the city differently, but how can you change the spelling which has evolved over a period of time?'' he asked. ``Besides, phonetically and linguistically Kolkata and Calcutta go hand in hand.''

Fiction writer, Mr. Buddhadeb Guha, was however, all for Kolkata. ``It is a welcome decision albeit long overdue'' Mr. Guha, the writer of the much acclaimed Chapras said. ``You can call the decision a fulfillment of our dreams and aspirations.''

The Magsaysay Award winner and activist-writer, Ms. Mahasweta Devi, said, ``We wanted a change. But what will happen to the names of our venerable institutions? Will the Calcutta University be renamed Kolkata University or Calcutta High Court as Kolkata High Court from now?''

- PTI

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