A year after renaming, 'Gurgaon' still lives on

A walk down the crowded Sadar Bazar in the old town or a stroll through the upscale Cyber City is enough to tell a visitor that the place still quintessentially remains Gurgaon.
This thriving city of Haryana, nicknamed the 'BPO capital' of the country, was rechristened as 'Gurugram' exactly a year ago, but people are still comfortable with the old moniker, while referring to railway station and bus stand or schools and markets.
Shiv Shakti Ranjan, a software professional, who has worked for two Gurgaon-based multi-national companies in the last six years, says, "It doesn't even feel that the name has been changed."

"The companies are still using Gurgaon in their address, and in the conversations too, nobody uses Gurugram. It hasn't caught on and I don't think it ever will," he said.
Legend has it that Gurgaon derived its name from Guru Dronacharya, the master of archery in the Mahabharata who tutored the Pandavas.
"Renaming is all about politics but Gurgaon is a brand name. Though people have nearly looked the other way and never adopted the new name, the 'brand Gurgaon' has been affected.

"After all, Mumbai was called so in Marathi, Calcutta as Kolkata in Bengali by people, but this city was never really called Gurugram. It is a completely alien label and, a label that doesn't go with the essence and ethos of this amazing city, as evident in its non-acceptance in one year," said a resident, who did not wish to be named.

Incidentally, a famous shop in Sadar Bazar, 'Calcutta Emporium', still uses 'Gurgaon' in its nameplate and address on its receipt.
The shop was established well before West Bengal's capital was renamed as Kolkata in the 1990s, but its owner still sticking to the two old names, indicates the reluctance of adopting new identities, albeit "without consent" and practicality of carrying on with old ones.
Gunjan, who works in Delhi and lives near old Gurgaon, travels daily from here in a car or via metro, says that even the highway signages still show the place as Gurgaon, barring a few street labels put up by the authorities.

In Jacobpura area, a charitable trust hospital, a sewing machine store, a gift shop and woman's boutique, and every other store and establishments still carry the old nameplates, though the blue Haryana Roadways buses can bee seen plying with 'Gurugram' written on the livery.
'St. Crispin's Senior Secondary School, New Railway Road Gurgaon' reads the full address of the school near Sadar Bazar, where the name 'Gurugram' is nowhere to be seen.
"Even the name of the Gurgaon railway station is still spelt the same way. We all use Gurgaon in our conversations, and I haven't come across anyone using Gurugram," Gunjan says.

Amisha, another resident, who shuttles between Delhi and Gurgaon for work, says, "We were trolled on social media last April when the government decided to rename the city. Even today, my friends playfully tease me that 'You are from Gurugram, then why you call it Gurgaon. We just laugh it off."
"One year is a decent period, but the fact that if people have not accepted the new name by now, I don't think they will ever do. Besides, I have learnt to live with the Gurugram-Instagram sort of jokes.
"Also, on Facebook, all the malls and multiplexes can be checked in as 'at Gurgaon' only. So, if one checks in at Leela Hotel, it doesn't show Gurugram, on Facebook. Everyone is quite comfortable with Gurgaon," she said.