Changing road names

I'm not sure why the thought of the 50 odd road names being changed to commemorate Tamil scholars, distresses me so much. I'm not knowledgeable about the origin of their present names or which europeans they commemorate. What I do know is that these are the roads we grew up on. Harrington road, Sterling road, Taylor's road - each name evokes images and memories. I don't see how I will ever learn to call them anything else. It was hard enough to switch to saying 'Chennai'. I wonder if we, the people, will ever get a say - when decisions like this are made for us.

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 .