City changes name...

Bangalore - The Indian IT hub of Bangalore is about to be rebranded as Bengaluru in recognition of the original name of Benda Kaal Ooru - that's "boiled beans town" in the local Kannada lingo. This rather unsavoury name came about when a king named Vira Ballala lost his way on a hunting expedition and was eventually offered boiled beans by an old lady. In recognition of this act of kindness, he named the place Benda Kaal Ooru. The Brits couldn't pronounced Benda Kaal Ooru, they simplified the name to Bangalore. There may still be hope for the Bangalore lobby - the name change is not yet official and must be cleared by the state legislature, the federal government and India's president before the Bengalurians can legally refer to themselves as such. That is why the new airport is called 'Bangaluru International Airport'.

Besides Bangalore, 'Bombay' was changed to 'Mumbai' and 'Madras' to 'Chennai'.
I always wonder when a city or country changes her name whether it is for the better? and why do they changed - could it be due to past colonials rulers who do not care about the local culture.

'Saigon' changed to 'Ho Chi Minh City' - many dwellers and tourist still used Saigon in daily conversation.

The British occupied the country of Burma and when the Military Junta tooked over they changed the country's name to 'Myanmar'. Even the capital was changed from 'Rangoon' to 'Yangon'.

The British also gave the name 'Peking' and 'Canton' but China changed it to 'Beijing' and 'Guangzhou'.

It was fortunate that Singaporeans love their Singapore and Singlish otherwise it will be Singapura or Singapureans...