Replacement Value

IT’S SOMEWHAT PUZZLING what politicians hope to achieve from changing the names of places. In Mumbai, the state government has just done that to a number of local railway stations to give it a more local flavour. Earlier, too, stations like Elphinstone Road had become Prabhadevi. Now, they decided why be miserly, and did eight stations in one shot. Ergo, among them iconic names like Marine Lines, Charni Road and Mumbai Central will become Mumbadevi, Girgaum and Nana Jagannath Shankar Seth, respectively.

The obvious trigger is the coming elections, both for the Centre and later for the state. But this is the inexplicable part: exactly how many votes can get swung by such tokenism? Espe­cially when the opportunism is neither sought to be hidden nor not under­stood. Some name changes are part of a larger, longer political movement and that has some resonance even if you question its wisdom. Three decades ago, Shiv Sena changed Bombay to Mumbai but that was integral to its core ideology of promoting regional identity, some­thing it had defined itself since incep­tion. When it came to power, it only put a stamp on it. Or take the change of Aurangzeb Road in Delhi to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road, which formed a continuum with political Hindutva and its resurgence. It might not add to the vote count but is a signal of being steadfast in ideology.

What heart or mind can be touched by getting up in the morning one day and changing the names of railway stations? These soon-to-be-erstwhile names are English-sounding with British anteced­ents but it is really hard to find many Indians alive today riled up about former colonial masters. Even Bollywood mov­ies that have the white man as villain have stopped making the box office sing. Going after the British is a currency that has long ago been demonetised.

If the name changes serve to do anything to the larger population in Mumbai, then it is only as a mild ir­ritant. People who have long been used to Charni Road as an address will find inconvenience in changing letterheads and visiting cards. And if they have to change government documents then it will mean real annoyance. They are not going to complain though because or­dinary Indians are for millennia used to shaking their heads and moving on with lives, no matter the whims and fancies of rulers. They mostly want to be left alone and short of being forcibly vasectomised, their endurance is very broad.

If anyone was really interested in making names and addresses better ver­sions of themselves, then they would just do away with words altogether. Numbers are much easier to remember and also to navigate. New York City planned a numerical system for its streets two centuries ago. If you want to imagine how much easier numbers are, imagine if all flats in multistorey buildings in cities like Mumbai and Delhi had names instead of numbers. Imagine the circles food and courier delivery guys would have to run to just reach a house.

About The Author

Madhavankutty Pillai

Madhavankutty Pillai has no specialisations whatsoever. He is among the last of the generalists. And also Open chief of bureau, Mumbai  

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