Palace on wheels

"grusl" wrote in message
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"William Black" wrote in message
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"grusl" wrote in message
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"William Black" wrote in message
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"Markku Grönroos" wrote in message
. fi...

"William Black" kirjoitti
...


In Bombay the Hindu nationalists are busy erasing the British from
history,
The city is called Mumbai today.

Not by the people who live there.


Chennai managed to entrench itself. Kolkata too, maybe. Not the others.
There was an ill-fated attempt a few years ago to rename Delhi as Dilli.

My experience is that the penny dropped when people from the UK started
looking blank when the new names were mentioned and Indian businessmen
started getting twitchy about inwards investment to what was looking more
and more as a hotbed of loony Hindu nationalism.


And in Bombay/Mumbai's case, not merely loony rightwing Hindu nationalism,
but loony right-wing Marathi provincialism

I noticed, they passed a law just before I returned to the UK this year
saying all the legal documents and court cases and business licenses have to
be in Marathi. That should kill off employment for a few tens of
thousands...

It appears to me that in any kind of business or professional milieu in
Bombay, the name I choose to use first in a sentence will be the opposite
of what everyone else in the room calls it in later references.

If there's anyone official about everyone calls it 'Mumbai' because the poor
babus can get the sack for not doing so.

I find that calling the place by the area name (Fort, Breach Candy, Bandra
and etc) works until you know who is about...

Everyone local can usually spot a Shiv Sanic sp it fifty paces without any
problem...

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

"William Black" wrote in message
...

"grusl" wrote in message
...

"William Black" wrote in message
...

"grusl" wrote in message
...

"William Black" wrote in message
...

"Markku Grönroos" wrote in message
. fi...

"William Black" kirjoitti
...


In Bombay the Hindu nationalists are busy erasing the British from
history,
The city is called Mumbai today.

Not by the people who live there.


Chennai managed to entrench itself. Kolkata too, maybe. Not the others.
There was an ill-fated attempt a few years ago to rename Delhi as
Dilli.

My experience is that the penny dropped when people from the UK started
looking blank when the new names were mentioned and Indian businessmen
started getting twitchy about inwards investment to what was looking
more and more as a hotbed of loony Hindu nationalism.


And in Bombay/Mumbai's case, not merely loony rightwing Hindu
nationalism, but loony right-wing Marathi provincialism

I noticed, they passed a law just before I returned to the UK this year
saying all the legal documents and court cases and business licenses have
to be in Marathi. That should kill off employment for a few tens of
thousands...

It appears to me that in any kind of business or professional milieu in
Bombay, the name I choose to use first in a sentence will be the opposite
of what everyone else in the room calls it in later references.

If there's anyone official about everyone calls it 'Mumbai' because the
poor babus can get the sack for not doing so.

I find that calling the place by the area name (Fort, Breach Candy,
Bandra and etc) works until you know who is about...

Everyone local can usually spot a Shiv Sanic sp it fifty paces without
any problem...


Sainik. It means soldier.

I keep hearing a sort of "Pompey" pronunciation that could pass for either.
Maybe it's my ears.

Cheers,
George W Russell
Bangalore

"grusl" kirjoitti
.. .


I keep hearing a sort of "Pompey" pronunciation that could pass for
either. Maybe it's my ears.

A bit like Pompeii?

"grusl" wrote in message
...

"William Black" wrote in message
...

I find that calling the place by the area name (Fort, Breach Candy,
Bandra and etc) works until you know who is about...

Everyone local can usually spot a Shiv Sanic sp it fifty paces without
any problem...


Sainik. It means soldier.

And right nasty *******s they are too...

I keep hearing a sort of "Pompey" pronunciation that could pass for
either. Maybe it's my ears.

I think it depends on the native language of the speaker.

Indians who speak English as a first language tend to pronounce the 'B' at
the front, as do people from the northern states, but the various other
languages tend to pronounce it slightly differently.

Anyone who says 'Mumbai' distinctly is making a political point...

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

"William Black" kirjoitti
.. .


Anyone who says 'Mumbai' distinctly is making a political point...

The word seems to be in common use by both Indians and non-Indians. The city
can be called Mumbai without any cunning demonstrative tone.

"Markku Grönroos" wrote in message
. fi...

"William Black" kirjoitti
.. .


Anyone who says 'Mumbai' distinctly is making a political point...

The word seems to be in common use by both Indians and non-Indians. The
city can be called Mumbai without any cunning demonstrative tone.

We've just had a longish conversation about that.

Try reading back along the thread.

The two people with actual real life experience of this say that it can be a
problem.

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

"William Black" wrote in message
...

"Markku Grönroos" wrote in message
. fi...

"William Black" kirjoitti
.. .


Anyone who says 'Mumbai' distinctly is making a political point...

The word seems to be in common use by both Indians and non-Indians. The
city can be called Mumbai without any cunning demonstrative tone.

We've just had a longish conversation about that.

Try reading back along the thread.

The two people with actual real life experience of this say that it can be
a problem.


I would agree that most non-Indians would use either name without any
political motive. As a rule, younger people would say Mumbai, just like they
would say Beijing instead of Peking. (However, the use of Peking by
foreigners is usually calculated).

I was surprised to see Canton (instead of Guangzhou) in The New Yorker the
other week, although that magazine does spell both cooperate and reelect
with an umlaut.

Cheers,
George W Russell
Bangalore

"grusl" wrote in message
...

Sainik. It means soldier.

I keep hearing a sort of "Pompey" pronunciation that could pass for
either. Maybe it's my ears.


You are probably referring to "Bambai".

Mumbadevi is the original temple of the goddess in Bombay from which the
name Mumbai was derived.
Bambai is how Bombay it is referred to in Hindi, just like Delhi is Dilli.
Bambaiyya - native of Bambai.
Mumbai is how it is referred to in Marathi.
Mumbaikar - native of Mumbai.

For me, it's always Bombay.

"Markku Grönroos" wrote in message
. fi...

"William Black" kirjoitti
.. .


Anyone who says 'Mumbai' distinctly is making a political point...

The word seems to be in common use by both Indians and non-Indians. The
city can be called Mumbai without any cunning demonstrative tone.

Before the political drama, it used to be called
- Bombay in English
- Mumbai in Marathi &
- Bambai in Hindi

"Alan S" wrote in message
...

Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alan_s/
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com
Latest: On Indian Roads

Alan,
The information about indian cases on your travelouge
isn't correct.

From the site
There seems to be one major manufacturer of cars in
India - Tata. For about half a century one car was the
flagship of the fleet, the Ambassador.

Tata Motors got into car manufacturing very recently
- the late 90's. Till then they were mainly manufacturing
trucks.

The Ambassador is manufactured by Hindustan
Motors. Ambassador(by HM) & the Padmini(manufactured
by Premier Motos) used to be the only 2 cars you could
see in India earlier. In the 80's, Maruti Suzuki, a joint venture
between the Indian Govt & Suzuki came in & turned the market
on it's head. Maruti is still #1 in the local car market. Tata
Motors is probably #2. Hyundai may be #3. Rest of the market
is Honda, Toyota, Chevy, Ford, Hindustan Motors, Mahindra etc.
Also Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, Nissan etc.

Tata Motors got into the car market mainly in the
late 90's with the Indica which is very popular

Hindustan Motors still sells around 50-60 thousand
new Ambassadors every year which still looks the
same from outside. They also manufacture & sell
the Mitsubishi Lancer/Cedia etc.

Premier doesn't sell cars anymore.