Bangalore Bangalored by activists

Banglaore: Bangalore just got Bangalored by Kannada activists.

After Bombay became Mumbai, Madras renamed Chennai and Calcutta changed to Kolkata, the country's IT hub is all set to be rechristened.

Come November 2006 and the city will be known as Bengaluru for the government decided to change the name of the Karnataka capital.

The government has given its nod and is beginning the process by getting the city a new postal address.

Chief Minister N Dharam Singh said on Sunday that he had asked the chief secretary to take steps to rename Bangalore.

The rechristening is a result of prominent Kannada litterateurs rallying for it. At a meeting last week, they requested the government to changed the anglicised name to the Kannada version.

Most Kannadigas have welcomed the change of name and feel that it will not make too much of a difference to institutions and organisations that have the word Bangalore in their name.

The Bangalore University, for instance, is the largest university in India with over 400 affiliated colleges. However, the name change does not seem to be worrying the authorities.

Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University Dr M S Thimmappa says, "The new name will not be difficult to incorporate. The University is called the Bengaluru Vishwavidyalaya in Kannada in any case. Changing the English name to the Kannada name is just a matter of a small modification."

And that's not all. The CM has said that he will take up a plea with the Prime Minister to accord Kannada the status of a classical language.