Its finally happened. Bangalore has become Bengalooru. The Karnataka government has officially nativised the names of the capital and 10 other cities in the state. Mysore is now Mysooru, Belgaum is Bellagavi, Gulbarga is Kalburgi, Hubli is Hubbali…you get the drift. The move came on November 1, the 50th anniversary of the formation of the state of Karnataka. This means that the cities will be written the new way even in English, though this was the way they were written in Kannada.

The Kannada chauvinists have had their way, led by the Kannada Rakshana Vedike and a pack of other equally Kannada chauvinist organizations. At the root of this idiocy lies a fear that “Kannada culture” is dying. Even heavyweights like UR Anantamurthy have weighed in on the issue. I heard him the other night on NDTV saying that Bangalore has lost its Kannada moorings and there are way too many outsiders in the city. I mean, this is the guy who won a Sahitya Academy award for his book Samskara and is considered a major literary figure. I hope he sleeps easy tonight knowing that his beloved city has now regained some of its Kannada flavour.

I can understand the sentiment behind the move. In a fast globalizing world, where identities and cultures are changing at a rapid pace the fear of losing one’s own identity is a very real one. Whether that fear is real or misplaced is an entirely different issue. Last year when I was at Ranga Shankara (a premier theatre festival in Bangalore) a Kannadiga complained to me how the crowd at the venue (a swanky auditorium) was “so English speaking without a trace of Kannada. The couples here kiss openly,” this gentleman recounted in horror. At that time I argued with him, but I suspect my arguments didn’t have much impact.

I just wish that these people would engage with issues of culture and identity in a deeper way. This business of renaming cities is such a superficial way of asserting yourself that its laughable. For now it looks like the ‘digs’ have won (what a Pyhrric victory).