Why wait for polls: Some village names in India are so embarrassing, they should be changed immediately

There might not be much in a name, but there’s a lot in a re-name. Ask the Rajasthan government, currently being called all sorts of names.

In its wisdom, the BJP government in Rajasthan has decided to rename several villages in the state. Co-incidentally, all of these were “Muslim-sounding” names. Co-incidentally, Rajasthan will soon go to polls.

Vasundhara Raje might be hoping that her revisionist zeal will be twice blest, blessing she who renames and that which is renamed. But away from the heat and light of politics, there are villages and towns across India that wait for this gentle rain of mercy to fall on them.  

We have all had that classmate whose name sounded like either their parents didn’t love them enough, or did not have the foresight to predict the ingenuity of middle school bullies. So, the poor child either plodded on, name massacred in a million ways, stoic in his suffering. Or, at some point, decided to own his name, flaunting the nom like a plume.

So it is with several villages and towns across the country, where just to name is to shame. While the residents of some of these places have actually asked for a name change, others seem to have accepted their fates. In either case, it would be an act of kindness if some zealous political party where to notice them, and change these names once and for all.

Sample, for example, Poo in Himachal Pradesh. Also spelt as Pooh, this beautiful town is known for its almonds and apricots, and vineyards. But what does the name convey? Bodily excrement, an excitable character immortalised by Kareena Kapoor, a cartoon bear China doesn’t like. And while many might pooh-pooh the idea of a name being embarrassing, the beautiful town, and its people, probably deserve better.  

Then there’s this village in Punjab, which the Baba who once interrogated a Black Sheep probably visited. The village, about 40 minutes from Jalandhar, is called Kala Bakra, or black goat. The mild racism aside, it’s not known if the rather unusual name gets its residents’ goats.

And if the caprine comes, can the bovine be far behind? In Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh lies Bhainsa, the village of the buffalo. Whether the residents reared buffalos or just really liked them is not known, but today, when being a cow is such a fraught experience, the village is content being a bhainsa.

Not all places are similarly placid, of course. Near Mohali in Punjab lies Khuni Majra, literally the bloody village. This Times of India  report quotes a legend that the Sikh warrior Banda Bahadur defeated Wazir Khan, the governor of Sirhind, here, and that glory ended in the rather gory name. The village’s current residents are a more peaceful lot, and want its name to be reverted to the earlier Dharam Garh.

While this village was besieged by battle, another, many miles away, seems affected by the bottle. Daru in Jharkhand might make you want to raise a toast to it, but the last time the village hit the news was no cause for cheers. In May 2017, three cattle-traders were lynched in this village.

Uttar Pradesh is a huge, densely populated state, and not every name can have the beauty of a “Prayag” or a “Varanasi”. But this particular village really ran out of luck, when, for reasons unknown, it was named Panauti (misfortune). Imagine living in a place where every address is a road to bad luck.

Another village named in a curiously cavalier manner is Suar (pig), also in Uttar Pradesh. Wonder what the popular expletives in this village are.

But while there are deprecatory names, there are the ambitious ones. A town near Rayagada in Odisha is called Singapur Road. It might be far cry from its swankier namesake — the railway bridge connecting it to Raayagada was washed away last monsoon — but the town is definitely on the right road.

And while lesser mortals might have been embarrassed about living in a village called Kuttiwal, (village of the bitch), in Bathinda, its former MLA remained doggedly proud of it. He even added the village’s name to his own — Gurjant Singh Kuttiwal. 

At the rear end of this list comes a name that in all probability has a different meaning in the languages of the state to which it belongs, but sounds singularly unfortunate — or fortunate, it’s a matter of perspective — in English.

Cumbum is a town in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu. And while the name might have given the gift of laughter to many a pubescent mind, it also got the city noticed by PornHub, one of the biggest porn websites in the world, and made it eligible for free premium access to their content.

Still asking what’s in a name?

Also read: Bye bye, Mughalsarai — new name, same old debate