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Many of the major cities in India were named by the British (or as Bombay was, were anglisized versions of Portugese). Bombay simply means Good Bay (Bom bai) ..
After independace, some in the political establishment took to re-naming everything. Personally, id always seen this as an attempt to deny the imperial past, but you could also see it as an attempt to simply make India Indian again (even though India never actuall existed pre imperialism as a single state). Many of the roads in Bombay are still refered to by the original English names, even though they have had an Indian name for many years.
The final part in this was changing the names of Madras, Calcutta, Bombay. There is currently a move to change the name of Delhi to Dilhi because that was the original name (or so I am informed).
Many complain that road names etc have been simply named after corrupt officials, or as ways of buying support from influential individuals .. and its for that reason that you still find many children of the generation that achieved independance believe India was better under the British.
The youth today though find the whole thing a little odd, they do not carry the concerns of the older generation, and see themselves very much as equals with the west, although American and British culture has become increasingly taken up, which I know worry's the older generation a lot. I think the youth of India are much more confident than the last generation.
After independace, some in the political establishment took to re-naming everything. Personally, id always seen this as an attempt to deny the imperial past, but you could also see it as an attempt to simply make India Indian again (even though India never actuall existed pre imperialism as a single state). Many of the roads in Bombay are still refered to by the original English names, even though they have had an Indian name for many years.
The final part in this was changing the names of Madras, Calcutta, Bombay. There is currently a move to change the name of Delhi to Dilhi because that was the original name (or so I am informed).
Many complain that road names etc have been simply named after corrupt officials, or as ways of buying support from influential individuals .. and its for that reason that you still find many children of the generation that achieved independance believe India was better under the British.
The youth today though find the whole thing a little odd, they do not carry the concerns of the older generation, and see themselves very much as equals with the west, although American and British culture has become increasingly taken up, which I know worry's the older generation a lot. I think the youth of India are much more confident than the last generation.
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