William Shakespeare, in Romeo and Juliet, story, has asked the question, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.” According to him, names are given as a rule or custom to distinguish things or people, but by itself it does not have any meaning.
But according to government departments, a name can make or unmake the whole identity of a person, community or race. In fact there is everything in the name which is a ‘Necessity’ and without it there is no recognition to a human being in this world.
From birth till death name is essential. If a person does not have a nativity document with his name on it; then, some humorously say, that he is not born at all. So, a name is a ‘Must’ to enter into any legal transaction.
Some groups want to change the names of places. But men who love History do not like to change chronological names. But in ‘Groupism’ where the mass motivation of strong energy comes into force; individuals lose their intelligence and surrender to the brains of the group leader. Such a group demands to change the names of places from Margao to Mathgram, Chandor to Chandrapur and Vasco da Gama to Sambhaji Nagar. Perhaps, they look at the past and find that men, who lived in those old days, had mighty qualities. But many individuals do not want to fall into the trap of changing names. They are happy with the present names of places; they do not want to think of the past with clouded thoughts and spoil the present peace. All they want is to live an undisturbed life as one family; as a global family. According to them, there are many different issues and screaming problems in the state that need urgent attention. They ask, which comes first changing names of places or the problem of our forests getting destroyed, coastlines getting eroded; and drugs and crimes of varying nature that are existing in the State? Which is important and which is not. One cannot attain peace merely by escaping responsibility with the distraction of name changing. We have to discharge our responsibilities, our obligatory duty which is the best quality of action. We all have duties – to our family, society, country, humanity and to ourselves.
Our ‘Mankulle Goa’ has been the great melting pot of cultures and faiths, where Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Silks and others live in such harmony, sharing lives and festivals. And likewise we want to keep the names given to our towns and cities by our ancestors. Let the names be as they are, intact. The Supreme Court verdict settled the dispute of the activists who want to do the renaming of historical places.
If after seeing the destruction of our environment in our backyard, we should not attempt to destroy existing name of historical places. The whole world is one family. Let us judge ourselves by our intentions and other people by their actions. “Om Shanti, Shanti” which means, “God let there be peace, peace everywhere.”
