But setting emotions aside, how practical is this decision? Has it really been thought through or is it just the euphoria of people saying 'what a wonderful way to celebrate the World Classical Tamil Conference' ? What does it mean to the people who live and work on these roads? A change of business cards and letterheads at the very least. What about driving licenses, passports and a whole lot of other important documents - do they have to be changed as well? Will there be a cut-off date for these changes to be made? Remember the havoc that the re-numbering caused? Even now most addresses state 'new no. / old no.' . Will we have to start stating 'new road name / old road name' ? I shudder to imagine it!
What are your thoughts on this issue? Do you live/ work on a road whose name was changed (Avvai Shanmugam Road / Lloyds Road, Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar Road / Chamier's Road) ? Has it affected you at all? Please leave your comments or email me at childofchennai@gmail.com .
I agree. I also do not understand how people are so insecure as to want to wipe out history. These are British names,would changing them erase our history? If we do not like that history let's tear down a whole lot of lovely old monuments as well, remove the cuisine of that era from all our hotels and restaurants and smash up the railway system or whatever else the British Raj added to our landscape. This is all about a bunch of politicians wanting to leave their stamp on us and our lives. Not through improvement and positive progress but in these ways. And of course the best way to get people to "appreciate" the Tamil language is to leave non-Tamils standing outside shops wondering what on earth they are called since the English names have gone from many boards!! If there are any people out there who want to stage a protest, count me in!!
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