Does the name ‘India’ show our love for the long lost colonial brothers? Will ‘Bharat’ make less of a zealot? Do Calcutta and Kolkata make any difference? Except that the city of joy is less charming now thanks to nobody but changing times. Will Cherrapunjee lessen the history and heritage of Sohra? Was Shakespeare right when he said ‘What’s in a name’?
The answers to these questions can be highly variable and influenced by personal viewpoint rather than introspection. However, the subject of name change has time and again evoked a tsunami of emotions and stoked sentiments, be it in the mainland or the North East. In Meghalaya in particular, demand for naming certain areas and popular locations after local heroes has recurred over the years, the recent being Lady Hydari Park in Shillong and Sohra.
Last November, a group of activists from the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) defaced the signboards of Cherrapunji post office and Rama Krishna (RKM) Mission and changed the name of the place to Sohra. Six activists were detained for spray-painting the signboards. The pressure group demanded that all government offices, business establishments, resorts and shops should use Sohra instead of Cherrapunjee.
A month later, another group of KSU activists defaced the signboard of Lady Hydari Park and changed it to Ka Phan Nonglait Park.
The park was named after the wife of the first Indian governor of undivided Assam under the British rule, Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari.
“There is history behind the name and we cannot deny that. It reminds one about old Shillong and the prominent people here,” says a well-informed citizen who feels changing the name would deface a part of history.
But Phan Nonglait is also part of the local history, says KSU president Lambokstarwell Marngar. “Phan Nonglait was the first Khasi woman to fight against the British in the early 1800s. She is a local legend but has not been recognised. So the demand for the name change is justified. Also, the recent defacing of the signboard there was not unfounded because the government had issued a notification in this regard in 2003-04. As usual, it was not implemented and we just wanted to send a reminder,” says the KSU chief.
But is the administration contemplating a change? East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner PS Dkhar says he could not speak on the matter as it is the General Administration Department (GAD) that will decide on it.
“It has to be examined first by the State Naming Authority, which is headed by the minister of GAD. But the minister (Comingone Ymbon) has resigned,” is the discreet reply of PW Ingty, the additional chief secretary of the department.
A visit to the park on Saturday gave a different picture. The authority there denied any incident of defacing. In fact, it was told that the park never had a board but only a map of the place with the name written on it.
Google, for some reason, has taken a safe stand by using both the identities of the popular location and a search against both names yields the same result under different monikers.
About Sohra, Marngar says the issue has been going on for some time now but in this case too, the government forgot to implement it after notifying in February 1987. “The name Cherrapunjee was coined by the British. Now that we are no more under colonial rule we should revert to the indigenous name. This applies to all such English names,” he adds as he shows the document.
Swami Anuragananda, secretary of Rama Krishna Mission in Cherrapunjee, seconds the view. “We are no more a slave nation. So I completely agree with the demand for a change in name,” he says.
On why the institution has not changed its name as per the notification, Swami Anuragananda says RKM has already approved the change from Cherrapunjee to Sohra. “We have to follow a procedure and inform our head office at Belur Math (in West Bengal). The proposition was approved three months before the KSU activists came and defaced the board. They did not speak to me before taking the step. We are in the process of bringing about the change,” he adds.
Ingty, however, says he is unaware of any government notification on both the issues and says the proposals should come from the deputy commissioner or the sub-divisional officer.
While RKM is taking steps to usher in the change, many areas and locations in and around the city are yet to embrace local identities as the heterogeneous population in Shillong prefers to call them by the well-known names. For instance, State Central Library is often referred to as U Soso Tham Library but the popularity of ‘Central Library’ pips the latter.
Shillong would not have been the same had it not been for the confusion that the name ‘Iewduh’ created for the British. The western rulers wanted to call the Scotland of the East ‘Iewduh’ but faced a practical problem. Back in the 1800s, Tokyo was known as ‘Edo’ and the imperial rulers saw a possibility of confusion and settled for ‘Shillong’, which came from U Lum Shyllong, or modern day Shillong Peak, a popular tourist destination.
Many old timers say during the British rule, the Laban area was the designated place for the natives to stay and even today villagers refer to Shillong city as ‘Laban’.
The examples in the name game are aplenty. While many places welcomed the change, uncertainty lingers in most cases. Bara Bazaar remains the same even to a large section of the local population while the indigenous name is Iewduh. The Police Bazar point is Khyndailad to only locals but for the numerous tourists and outsiders, it is still the old charming ‘PB point’.
Marngar says the 1987 notification also mentioned other places, including Iewduh. According to the document, Nayabungalow was changed to Umsning, Barapani to Umiam, Lalcharai to Mawlein, Lalchanbasti to Nongmensong, Umtru to Umtrew and Baghmara Bazar to Bong Bazar.
“We are demanding change in names of places not just in East Khasi Hills but in other districts too. Local heroes, prominent personalities and legends should be recognised,” the KSU president adds.
Last year, the state Cabinet changed the name of Rilbong Chowk to Clifford Nongrum Square after Keishing Clifford Nongrum, who laid his life while fighting militants in Jammu and Kashmir in 1999.
The Cabinet also named the road surrounding Thomas Jones Synod College in Jowai as Thomas Jones Road and Garampani in West Jaintia Hills as Saphai.
Garikhana was renamed as Lumdyngjri but the old prevailed over the new.
“Motinagar was once known as Lumpanga, meaning the hill with nice air. But the local name is rarely used and the place is popular as Motinagar,” says an old resident of the area.
Another example of the popular name overshadowing the traditional one is that of Ward’s Lake. It was named after Sir William Ward, who was the chief commissioner of undivided Assam. But locals would call it Nan Polok, or Pollock’s Lake, after the name of Fitzwilliam Thomas Pollock, the engineer who designed the lake in 1890s.
Similarly, Nohsngithiang Falls is popularly known among tourists as well as the non-Khasi population in the state as Mawsmai Falls.
Meghalaya is also not a local name and a section of the local population feels it should be changed to Hynniewtrep though no demand has been raised so far. But Hynniewtrep again would mean only Khasi Hills and not Garo Hills.
Logic or local sentiment?
Meghalaya, or Shillong, is not a singular case where names have gained priority over real issues. Many places in India, and around the world, have embraced local names to satiate local sentiments. But the question remains whether there is any logic behind such demands. Marngar says besides respecting the local sentiment, there is “definitely” logic behind these changes. “Before raising a demand for name change, we go back to history and do a lot of research. The logic is simple, to end the colonial connection and establish a local connect,” he explains.
While many agree to the ‘logic’, some believe that the demand should not be generalised. “In certain cases where an individual had initiated a project that was later named after the person, then it should be called by that name, even if it is not a local one,” says Michael Syiem, president of Forever Young Club.
True that after seven decades of independence, the colonial hangover should have dissipated but organisations or political parties flagging such demands should also remember that besides the name, it is the people there and their concerted action which give an identity to the place. Or else, Shillong might one day become Hynniewtrep but poverty, crime, lack of civic sense, under-development and political nuisance will persist if the mindset is not changed simultaneously.
~ Willie Gordon Suting
& Nabamita Mitra
