The next time you touchdown in Tamil Nadu, coronavirus willing, there will be a marked difference in the signboards that you would pass by on the roads. Mylapore is now Mayilaapoor, Egmore is Ezhumboor, and Coimbatore will now be spelt as Koyampuththoor.
The extra ‘oo’ and ‘aa’, among other things, are a result of the Tamil Nadu government transliterating the names of 1,018 places in the state, changing their spellings to make people pronounce them in the correct way — the way Tamilians do. According to the state Culture Minister Ma Foi K. Pandiarajan, it was done to reinstate ‘Tamil pride’ and do away with the anglicised versions of the spellings that were developed by the British.
While I’m all for dismantling legacies of imperialism, this move is nothing but ill-timed and absolutely unnecessary. The government led by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami seems to have forgotten that a pandemic is still raging in India, and going by latest reports, the situation in Tamil Nadu needs immediate attention.
Also read: By renaming 1,018 places, is Tamil Nadu govt reclaiming history or taking eye off Covid?
Concentrate on pandemic
According to residents in Chennai, the hospitals are overflowing, and like many other cities, no one really trusts the data that is being put out by the Palaniswami government. In this middle of this health crisis, changing the spellings of places is just farcical and tone-deaf. And the Tamil Nadu government really does not need any more bad publicity.
If the government has planned to use this move to cater to ‘Tamil pride’ as reports suggest, it’s inconceivably foolish because the current Covid situation in the state does not paint a pretty picture, and instead of focusing all its energies on the health crisis, choosing to support a move that is superficial at best is tragically comical.
It’s time to burst the government’s bubble a little, and bring its focus back to where it belongs — the Covid-19 pandemic. The new complicated spellings of 1,018 places do not really serve any practical purpose during a pandemic. And no, an offer of re-instilling cultural pride does not exactly absolve the government of its many, many shortfalls while dealing with the health crisis.
It seems like the order is meant to make people forget that Tamil Nadu crossed the 38,000-case mark Friday. Or the fact that the health secretary was recently transferred, and that reports have emerged of discrepancies in the death figures. But I suppose, since Egmore will finally be pronounced the right way, people of Tamil Nadu can forget the worries brought upon by the pandemic and erupt in cheer. Or so the government hopes.
Or maybe I should say Tamizh Nad, since technically that is the correct pronunciation and reports also suggest that this will be the next move of the state government. Coronavirus what?
Also read: Tamil Nadu transfers health secy Beela Rajesh, brings back Radhakrishnan amid Covid toll row
Vellore or Veeloor
The pertinent question here is regarding the optics of the move. What was the need now, of all times, to change the spellings of 1,108 places? Even after so many years, Kolkata is still known as Calcutta, Odisha as Orissa, and Bengaluru is still referred to as Bangalore. These changes have not really caught up, but the Tamil Nadu government is quite optimistic about its move.
No wonder, since it reportedly worked on the list for over two years. So, in effect, while the pandemic was raging on, several bureaucrats were focusing on this rather useless spell bee exercise. Not good optics, right? Considering the government waited two years for this, it is perplexing why it could not wait a few weeks more.
Onto more practical matters, the spellings of the names of these places have been in use for decades. This transition will be so messy on official documents, and with people already in distress, this is an additional burden that no one needs. More importantly, this only serves a particular section of people, who are well-versed in English; it will have little to no implication on those who have only followed the Tamil iteration of the names.
Furthermore, just like any government order, this one too is extremely confusing. While the order was meant to make the pronunciations easier, some names have been completely altered. The most criticised is the change in Vellore. It is commonly pronounced as ‘Way-lore’, but in the order, it has been changed to Veeloor.
Government officials cited grammar for this change. “It was based on ‘Nedil’ (long vowel) and ‘Kuril’ (short vowel) words. For Vellore, in Tamil, the word is ‘Waayloor’, ‘Nedil’, not ‘Wayloor’, ‘Kuril’. Hence in English, it becomes Veeloor,” a top government official told The Hindu. Yep, I am not sure who is supposed to understand that.
And if this move is to make Tamil names more accessible to people from outside the state, the fact that many people are perfectly comfortable correctly pronouncing the names of places like Edinburgh, Nice, Gloucestershire, and Versailles, how difficult could it have been for them to pronounce Mylapore?
Views are personal.