Street-names
are as much a part and parcel of Sri Lanka’s heritage as any other
aspect of our intangible culture. Changing names simply because they are thought
to be a colonial hangover is a futile one born of an inferiority complex. One
might as well insist that all our Pereras, Fernandos and De Silvas change their
Lusitanian names for vernacular ones, or fill up the canals built by the Dutch
or dismantle the railways laid by the British. Whether we like it or not, the
colonial past is part of our national heritage. Likewise, street names, like
place names in general, reflect the history of these places, and are, in a
sense, heritage.
Unfortunately,
the misplaced nationalist fervour that gripped the country shortly after
independence and took it back by several decades also had an impact on our
street names. This was especially in Colombo where a good many streets with
short and sweet names which had come down from colonial times had to face the ignominy
of being saddled with long unpronounceable jaw-breaking names So hard on the
tongue are they that people are known to curse under their very breath the
personalities after whom they have been named.
No really great
man would want his name forced down another’s throat, but unfortunately this
was not what happened in the zeal of nationalist snobbery. Hero-worshippers of
every ilk and others of a pettier mindset obsessed with their ancestors
canvassed hard to have a road named after someone or the other. The culture
vultures raised their ugly heads during the previous regime to put the country
a few more decades back. Fortunately most people do not bother with the new
names at all, preferring to use the old ones instead, such as Union Place for
Colvin R.De Silva Mawatha, Alexandra
Place for C.W.W.Kannangara Mawatha, Green Path for
Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha and Flower
Road for Earnest De Silva Mawatha. Thus renaming
streets after personalities, be they politicians, religious figures or artistes
is really counter-productive. In fact they take a toll on their legacy.
The rot,
needless to say, began in 1956 and shortly after a good many streets were
renamed in keeping with the nationalist agenda of the then government. That was
when Flower Road
became Sir Ernest De Silva Mawatha, Turret
Road became Srimath Anagarika Dharmapala Mawatha
and Stanley Place
became Piyadasa Sirisena Mawatha. The 1960s saw another spate of renaming with
Armour Street becoming Sri Sumanatissa Mawatha, Bloemendahl Road becoming K.Cyril
C Perera Mawatha, Darley Road becoming T.B.Jayah Mawatha, High Street becoming
W.A.De Silva Mawatha, Thurston Road becoming Cumaranatunga Munidasa Mawatha and
Wolfendahl Street becoming Sri Ratnajothi Saravanamuttu Mawatha Thankfully the
1970s, 1980s and 1990s were relatively free of the scourge though there was the
unfortunate exception of Messenger Street in Maradana becoming M.J.M Lafir
Mawatha in 1981.
That odious
trend commenced once again with the previous regime, beginning from 2009 with Reid Avenue
becoming Philip Gunawardane Mawatha and Norris Canal Road becoming Professor
Nandadasa Kodagoda Mawatha. Guildford
Crescent became Dr. Premasiri Khemadasa Mawatha in
2010 and Havelock Road
became Sri Sambuddathva Jayanthi Mawatha in 2011.
That was when
streets were even being named after living people. A notable example was
Dickman’s Road becoming Dr.Lester James Pieris Mawatha. Here was a man I
respected very much for his contribution to the arts, but was sad to note that
his ego had got the better of him when he consented to have that road named
after him, or who knows even canvassed to get it named after him. Then there
was Thimbirigasyaya Road
in Narahenpita, now called Muruththettuwe Ananda Nahimi Mawatha after the chief
incumbent of the Abhayarama
Temple located down the
road. Interestingly he happens to be the President of the Public Services
United Nurses Union. It seems the road was so named because the powers that be
wished to curry his favour. Those with bloated egos desiring roads to be named
after them deserve no respect from their fellow men and this should be conveyed
to them in the strongest terms.
Leafing through
Geoff Ells recent book on the origin of the city’s place names, Colombo
Jumbo, I was surprised to learn that Union Place was so called because in
the olden days, Slave Island, formerly an island, was connected by a road to
the mainland by filling in a section somewhere where the present Union Place
stands. I had earlier believed that it was the place where the trade unions of
old picketed for the rights of the working class as they do even today. There
is so much history the original place name preserves. Unfortunately it has been
renamed after a political personality who had nothing to do with the place,
except perhaps participating in the picketing activity that went on there. It
is nevertheless heartening to note that hardly anyone, whether ordinary people
or the commercial establishments lining the street, uses the new name. Old
habits die hard and hopefully never will. After all, only a moron would take
the trouble of using the new five-barreled name in lieu of the much simpler
earlier one.
Yet another
notable instance is Mosque Lane
in Hulftsdorp which has been given the ludicrous name of Ghouse Mohideen
Mawatha. The original name, needless to say, signified a religious edifice, a
house of God, and a very important and historical one at that, the Colombo
Grand Mosque. And now we find that it has been desecrated by the name of an
individual whose only ‘merit’ was serving as a trustee of the mosque committee
in the 40s and 50s.
Let’s pray
those bad days are no more. But what if some moron started this nonsense again.
What, one may ask could we do about it? The answer is plenty, provided there’s
a strong civil movement with the residents of the road in question having all
it takes to oppose the change. The residents of Bagatelle Road led by Former Supreme
Court Judge, Dr.A.R.B. Amarasinghe took a bold stand when it was proposed to
rename it Dr. Wijayananda Dahanayake Mawatha. This proposal, no doubt at the
whims of a bureaucratic ignoramus, had emerged despite the fact that the former
premier had never lived there. Galle
whence he hailed would have been a more appropriate place to have a road named
after him. Thankfully the change never took place because the residents stood
united in the face of the proposed move. In this case, objections, if any, from
residents of either side of the road, were requested to be submitted. But I was
informed by a trustworthy resident of Guildford
Crescent that they were never informed of the
proposed name change to Premasiri Khemadasa Mawatha. Many are still said to be
furious about it and will not content themselves till their road reverts to its
original name.
Besides
sentimental reasons - for Bagatelle
Road has a very long history - Judge Amarasinghe
cited practical reasons how street name changes affect people. And not just
their addresses which are the sole means of guiding people to one’s residence
and which have a long history of association with a particular place. Such
changes also have legal implications since addresses figure in legal documents
like treasury bonds, title deeds, lease agreements and mortgage bonds. Further
they are registered with the Central Depositary System dealing with stocks and
shares, Inland Revenue and Municipal Assessment Authorities.
Furthermore,
renaming roads will not at all be conducive to the promotion of tourism,
especially at a time when the country is keen on attracting foreign tourists.
The short English names are easily pronounced and remembered by foreign
tourists, wherever they come from. Moreover changing names due to some
inferiority complex about a colonial past will send the wrong signals even to
foreign investors, who might have second thoughts about investing in a country
that is obsessed with regressing to a state detrimental to progress as it once
did with disastrous consequences. To an intelligent mind, the mood of a nation
could be ascertained by something as trivial as a street name change.
Furthermore,
people are sentimental beings and changes like this cause residents immense
pain of mind. They are very possessive of the places where they live and will
not brook outside interference if they can help it. Indeed this is trespass of
another kind. If not for their being on the wrong side of the law, they might
even go on a spray paint campaign. Moreover nobody in their right mind is going
to switch to these new names in preference to the old ones they are used to.
And since such names are painfully long, they’ll just be confined to the name
boards or municipal council minutes.
As such, it is
best at least at this late stage that there be a concerted campaign to impose a
moratorium on renaming street names, or better still introduce blanket legislation
to revert back to the original street names, which are after all part of our
heritage.
