Readers: 0 | Updated: 2008

Mumbai-jumbo

Translate Into:
Christopher Hitchens writes: When Salman Rushdie wrote, in The Moor's Last Sigh in 1995, that "those who hated India, those who sought to ruin it, would need to ruin Bombay," he was alluding to the Hindu chauvinists who had tried to exert their own monopoly in the city and who had forcibly renamed it--after a Hindu goddess--Mumbai. We all now collude with this, in the same way that most newspapers and TV stations do the Burmese junta's work for it by using the fake name Myanmar. (Bombay's hospital and stock exchange, both targets of terrorists, are still called by their right name by most people, just as Bollywood retains its "B.") As does the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, if memory serves, and the High Court. I referred to "Bombay" (with one alliterative exception) throughout my syndicated column at the weekend and I note that certain publications automatically changed it to "Mumbai". What's interesting, as Mr Hitchens notes, is the reflexive multicultural cringe that automatically assumes any new, less familiar (and thus less "western") name must be more "authentic". It is, like most things in our world, a political decision, and should be evaluated accordingly. And Bombay will always be Bombay to me.

From The Blogs

Yanko Design

2008
Kickin’ it Mumbai Style…
Like frogs sitting on lily pads, so goes the experience when visiting the Blue Frog Lounge in Mumbai, India. Architectural firm Serie, have created an entertainment space that is both attractive and s... 查看全文

Yanko Design

2008
Kickin’ it Mumbai Style…
Like frogs sitting on lily pads, so goes the experience when visiting the Blue Frog Lounge in Mumbai, India. Architectural firm Serie, have created an entertainment space that is both attractive and s... 查看全文

Boing Boing

2008
Maximum City: exhausting and beautiful love-note to Mumbai
Suketu Mehta's "Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found" is one of those books (like Mike Davis's City of Quartz, Peter Ackroyd's London: The Biography or Will Eisner's New York: Life in the Big City) tha... 查看全文

Boing Boing

2008
Maximum City: exhausting and beautiful love-note to Mumbai
Suketu Mehta's "Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found" is one of those books (like Mike Davis's City of Quartz, Peter Ackroyd's London: The Biography or Will Eisner's New York: Life in the Big City) tha... 查看全文

b5media Lifestyles Channel Feed

2008
Lessons for Widows from a Jumbo Jet! [Widows Quest]
Bereavement makes you feel that you will never flyagain, you know   the feelings that I mean..that feeling of being in love and being loved. You feel that you are almost flying, you will free..you fee... 查看全文

Autoblog

2008
Zip it! Mumbai holds a no-honking day
Filed under: Etc., IndiaFor the aggressive driver, the horn can prove to be a powerful ally, but it can also annoy the snot out of everybody around them. In Mumbai, India, the noise pollution emanatin... 查看全文

core77.com's design blog

2008
FUND THIS PRODUCT: Lifestraws for Mumbai, a Project H Design initiative
Lifestraw--the cigar-sized personal point-of-use water filtration device produced by Vestergaard Frandsen--has captured the imagination of everyone who's seen it, and now it has a Family System counte... 查看全文

core77.com's design blog

2008
FUND THIS PRODUCT: Lifestraws for Mumbai, a Project H Design initiative
Lifestraw--the cigar-sized personal point-of-use water filtration device produced by Vestergaard Frandsen--has captured the imagination of everyone who's seen it, and now it has a Family System counte... 查看全文

Global Voices Online

2008
India: A Goddess in Mumbai
A photo essay on Mumbai Magic - In Mumbai, a small community from Andhra Pradesh worships the Goddess Mariamman every summer, seeking protection from smallpox, chickenpox and all forms of disease. 查看全文

New_Concept

2008
NCE265Jumbo versus the police
Jumbo versus the police   Last Christmas, the circus owner, Jimmy Gates, decided to take some presen... 查看全文
More Articles