The old world charm of Madras ...

So it's official now.Bangalore is Bengalooru.It joins the ranks of cities like Mumbai,Kolkata,puducherry etc...
I am not going to analyze the decision taken by our well informed and globalization savvy leaders here, but lets go a bit off beat from the routine talk.

Chennai grabs my attention and stands exception in this.The reason being that the new (yes, I know it has been 10 years since,but still) name doesn't rhyme with the old name unlike others.

Check out for yourselves.All other cities in the list have a name striking similar to their old ones.This is perhaps also the reason why the adaptation of the word Chennai has been far greater & widespread than that of any other city.
I am almost sure that Bangalore will continue being called Bangalore at least for a while.

So I decided to go about trying a small test this time around.I boarded a bus bound for Chennai
from a smaller interior Tamil nadu city called 'Villupuram' and asked the conductor - 'One Madras'.
And my hunch proved almost right.He looked up ,straightened his specs and had a
good look at me.But yes,the old name did work.

I am also observing that some of the institutions have been immune to this change. IIT still
calls itself IIT - Madras . The ET's (Economic times) supplement is still called Madras Plus. And lots of other similar institutions have simply refused to bulge.

Perhaps the charm of the colonial name of Madras still captures nostalgic imagination...