Opinion Mahatma was right

A night view of Gurgaon, Haryana. The name of the city was changed to Gurugram by the state government on Tuesday (Express Photo by Manoj Kumar)

India’s most upwardly mobile, highrise-dotted suburb, hitherto known as Gurgaon or Jaggery Village, now revels in the name of Gurugram or Heavy Village. India, which is now sardonically known as Instagram, wonders if this is a leg up, a come-down, or a fitful scuttle sideways. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar effected the change of name by official firman, apparently in response to popular demand. Did the extremely successful professionals, academics, entrepreneurs and newspaper editors who populate Gurgaon really elect to be known as Gurugrammers? It seems incredible. What next? Will Telangana yearn to be Telegram? Will Modinagar be modified to Modigram?

No one seems to have canvassed the opinions of the oldest agrarian communities of the region, who actually grew sugarcane and made the jaggery from which the name of the village derives. The few that remain must be one surprised bunch to find the fertile earth swept from beneath their feet to be replaced by holy land which once quivered under the masterful tread of Dronacharya. These people have had their identity displaced once before, when they profitably relinquished their cattle and ploughs for Pajeros and property dealerships. Now, they have to deal with the possibility of epic ancestors who drove chariots about.

Advertisement

The group which has invested most deeply in Gurgaon is the worst hit — the entrepreneurs, outsourcing businesses and some 250 Fortune 500 companies which have made the capital’s satellite town their home. How are they explaining this Gurugram affair to principals and clients the world over? How are they teaching them to pronounce the new name? Gurgaon, Gurugram — indicating the same thing, yet different. And the government, which branded the city as an IT and business hub? How chastening it must be to learn that the Mahatma was right — that India still lives in its villages.