Old name, new name

Great!

"I'm not unpatriotic or against changing street names, it's just that the old Raj name gives my workplace a majestic and distinguished feel about it!"

We’ve just about dealt with the ‘Old No. – New No.’ situation, when another wave of change appears.

This time, it’s street names – specifically those sporting the Raj touch.

You do see the reasoning.

Why have ‘them’, when we have so many deserving ‘us’ around?

But isn’t it easier to find new streets in a rapidly expanding metro, or find other ways to commemorate people?

Imagine the hassle in changing addresses, informing a million different essential services...who’ll get it wrong anyway, despite repeated intimations.

And ‘correcting’ the nostalgia portions in your brain – there you are, all misty-eyed, gazing at the specific corner where you had your first ‘thiruttu dum’, just before the descent of a furious parent, when your memory train screeches to a halt...

Oops... street name’s all wrong!

Sad.

But you know what?

Names don’t disappear that easily.

Grand name-changing (and very obviously populist) gestures remain just that, as the general populace goes about cheerfully using old names.

History has a way of staying with you, try as you might to sanitise its pages.

Frankly, cleaning up streets is far better than renaming them.

And showing we’re strong enough to reflect all of our history – in all its shades. That’s a sign of having evolved.