Americans are fond of naming their cars after cities. Some of the well-known ones are the Chevrolet Colorado, Chevrolet Malibu, Chevrolet Tahoe, Pontiac Montana, Hyundai Tucsan, Hyundai Santa Fe, Dodge Dakota, Dodge Daytona, Ford Gran Torino, Mercury Milan, Mercury Montego and so on. Not surprisingly they ran out of city names. So they borrowed city names from Europe. Actually they had done it well in advance anticipating the automobile revolution that was to come.
So,
now they have a Leeds and a Birmingham in Alabama, Kensington and Manchester in
California, Derby and Avon in Connecticut. There are thousands of such
examples. I am told the European settlers and explorers, who came from various
parts of Europe, to settle down in the land of opportunities brought the names
of their cities along and named their settlements nostalgically. In fact there
are at least ten Birminghams and twenty five Manchesters. Quite clearly, the
postal department had a great lot of difficulty delivering letters when such
confusion abounded. So, they started prefixing “New” before naming cities. Now
we had New Jersey, New Castle, New Britain and New England, New Kent and of
course New York , the Big Apple.
The
Americans did not leave even Indian Cities alone. So, they had a Delhi each in
New York and Louisiana. But before they could create a “New” version of that,
we named our capital “New Delhi”. And, lo and behold, soon enough the Americans
had a New Delhi in Illinois. But we had beaten them for sure this time. They
cannot have a “NEW NEW DELHI”! I wonder why they did not name their cities
Jalandhar or Ulhasnagar. Maybe the Canadians had laid an early claim to these
names. But, what about A New Telugu Desam? Oops, we have brand new names now –
New Telangana and New Seemandhra. I am told software companies in the Bay Area,
SFO are infested with Indians from Andhra. In fact, they say that as soon as
you enter their buildings you are accosted by the aroma of fresh sāmbhar
wafting from their canteens, company canteens that serve the best South Indian
cuisine in the world. Move aside Sarvana Bhavans and Udipi Eateries!
And
now, the biggest blasphemy and most sacrilegious show of unforgivable
irreverence of all. They now have a Salem of their own. A Salem in the state of
Massachusetts! In fact they have nearly thirty Salems located in states from
Alabama to Indiana and Iowa to Wisconsin. Well, I do not blame them for
following the footsteps of a great man.
Now,
coming back to the naming of cars after cities for that is how this tread
started. Any self-respecting Indian would rather buy a car named after Indian
cities than a Hyundai Tucson or a Ford Gran Torino, both now available in
India. So how about
Ambassador
Allahabad
Nano
Naini
Maruti
Mokama
Suzuki
Singur
Hyundai
Hogenakkal
Renault
Ranchi
or
.. .. .. a
Tata
Tata
