Bangalore, India
The city of Bangalore is changing its name to Bengaluru, the Karnataka state government said this week. The new name is closer to the original, Kannada-language name, Benda Kaal Ooru, which means “town of boiled beans.” Tradition holds that the town was founded on the site where a king, tired from the hunt, was given a simple meal of beans. But Benda Kaal Ooru is hard to pronounce, so Kannada speakers who have been lobbying for the change said they would accept Bengaluru. Travel agents opposed the renaming. “Bangalore is a lovely name,” said Rajinder Pai of the Travel Agents Association of India. “Why confuse tourists?”
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