Name changing

Cities in India have been undergone name changes in the last decade. For example, Bombay is Mumbai, Madras is Chennai, Calcutta is Kolkata. I didn’t have too much of a problem with this, until I heard that Allahabad is going to change their name. The reason behind it (read the article, it’s short) is that Allahabad is a name given by the Muslim rulers at the time to the city which was supposedly at one point “Prayag Raj.” What upsets me is that Allahabad means the land of God. True, it has Islamic connotations by using the Arabic word Allah rather than one of the many Indic names for God, but I feel that the name Allahabad has some historical value to it. It reminds us that there was a time when India was part of the Mogul empire. It was a wonderful time for arts to blossum and for … well okay, I guess the Hindus got pisses since there was a bunch of Muslims running around, but who cares. That was then. Allahabad sounds cool. Land of God is a good name, for any people, unless you absolutely hate God. It also reflects the ammount of Arabic and Persian influences in Indian culture. Half the words I use in Hindi are some type of Arabic or Persian words. On a more personal note, my computer has been named Allahabad (because I thought the name sounded cool), there is no way in hell I’m changing it to Prayag Raj.