Saturday, January 19, 2008

Bom or Mum ?

Question: Where are you from

My answer: Mumbai

Question: so why do you call it Bombay - its Mumbai right?


or

Comment : its Mumbai- not Bombay remember....

My answer: Well... I grew up calling it Bombay.. so....


80 percent of the times when I am talking to a non-Indian for the first time I am asked this question.
Somehow if am not talking in Marathi I still tend to think of it as good old Bombay. I like both names and don't prefer one over the other

- the way I look at it - if you are passionate about something and love it so much don't you have more than one name for it :)

7 comments:

chinar said...

hehe, nice post...

Ketaki said...

No you dont. My birth certificate says I was born in Bombay.
Bombay it shall be...

PS - I get asked that too! They wonder more about Chennai and how far it is from Madras. Do you have any answers there?

komal said...

thnks chinaclay :)

ketaki- yes I do come across the 'wonder' about Chennai vs Madras.
They can rationalize mumbai saying with an English accent it would sound like Bombay - but they and I are stumped about chennai and madras

ecofatigue said...

Bombay is my unconscious prompt reply, always. Mumbai still takes effort, while conversing in English especially, as you have mentioned. And staying here, I have been corrected sternly twice about it by people, who seem more passionate about the name than the city!

komal said...

hehe...maybe you should steer the conversation to Shakesphere said - 'whats in a name?'...

ecofatigue said...

shakespere!!...oh no!!.no no no to western culture ;)

komal said...

hehe - just realized that both of us spelt it wrong : shakespeare