Whats in a name?

No Indian, in recorded history, ever thought of amalgamating the three hamlets of Gobindapur, Sutanati and Kalikata into one of the biggest metropolises of the world. Only the adventurous British could ever thinking of making a strategic stronghold based on these three faceless villages.

The late Job Charnock is credited as being the founder of Calcutta. Regardless of a ruling passed by the Hon'ble High Court of Calcutta in 2003 that he was not the founder, the fact remains that Calcutta was one of the jewels in the crown of the British Empire.

For a detail on the ruling passed by the Hon'ble Court please view the following link:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030518/nation.htm#3


So important was the city, that the British even had a flying aircraft named after it. The Short S.8 Calcutta Flying Boat flew for the Imperial Airways and had the distinction of being the first stressed skinned, metal-hulled flying boat with 3 Bristol Jupiter engines each developing 550 HP, mounted between the wings. It was a biplane in the lines of most of the aircrafts built during 1928.

So what does this tell us today? Why a sudden show of patriotic jingoism at the turn of the 20th century? Only a few would be able to come up with solid answers to this.

We should be changing our national anthem to the Star Spangled Banner tune. After all, the sudden rush of patriotic fervour has been deliberately copied from the Americans. Calcutta was a British creation and served the interests of the British Empire. The current crop of politicians and intelligentsia has had no other influence than to make it known as the dirtiest and one of the most corrupt cities on the face of this planet.

Arguably Calcutta has had a chequered history while in the employ of our British masters. The foreign yoke has but only changed hands. The British no longer influence our thoughts and actions. Americans do. Communists notwithstanding, Calcutta had to go the "Kolkata" way to create a false sense of pride in the origins of the Bengali race and culture.

But is this syndrome reflected only in the Bengali socio-political fabric? The answer is a resounding "no". One need only look at Mumbai, Chennai and now the ludicrous sounding "Bengaluru". No relation of Bengal - that was the erstwhile city of Bangalore! Shocking!