OH! Kolkata
When Calcutta becomes Kolkata, I traveled to see the change. Since declaring its independence from the United Kingdom in 1947 after years of colonial rule, a number of India’s big cities have undergone name changes as their states underwent reorganization. Capital of West Bengal-India, is the union of race, moment and milieu. In Jan 2001, the name was restored back to Kolkata from Calcutta. In the alphabetical order many intelligent people remarked that it was a silly mistake. One should not swap a Capital C with K, it might push back the economic parameter of the state. Well so the people said but the decision was carried out. So I looked into the old tales of how the name Calcutta came into use. One story was that three village blokes were lazing under a tree when a British troup arrives and they enquire, pointing at the paddy fields- "What's the name of the place?" but villager's misinterpret the question to (when was the paddy cut) and an...