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YC Interviews in India

blog.ycombinator.com

41–50 of 83 posts

Re: YC Interviews in India

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bangalore is the English name. My city is called Dublin in English and Baile Átha Cliath in our native language of Irish. As an Irishman I understand better than most the resentment towards the English but really this is not a battle worth fighting. Both names are correct in their respective languages.

Bengaluru is now the official name in the English language. Bangalore is the British Empire 's English name. It is a relic of colonization that is worth leaving behind. This battle is completely worth fighting. If Ireland officially lists Dublin as Baile Atha Cliath for addresses, the airport, and for international English references, I will use that. This is not about two different languages, but of erasure.

> It is a relic of colonization that is worth leaving behind.

Should the name India be changed to Hindustan or Bharat as well?

Instead of wasting tax payer money on changing names maybe the govt should focus on actual issues.

Re: YC Interviews in India

#42
post #2

Bengalūru, it has been 14 year since the name changed officially would appreciate if people stopped using the anglicized name of our city.

I live here and hate the new name. It feels dumb to say it, whereas Bangalore sounds very modern. Kind of like Dilli vs Delhi.

Who knew you could also feel dumb by calling a city a certain name, and feel modern by calling it another?

Re: YC Interviews in India

#43
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

please look at it for "all time" (that google has data for) Bangalore: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=IN-KA&... Bengaluru: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=IN-KA&... This is a post-colonial battle still being fought, and India's wish to shed its colonial shackles deserves to be respected.

My one year Google Trend time range was deliberate. When both 'Bangalore' and 'Bengaluru' is equally familiar with public AND 'Bengaluru' is being pushed by govt institutions, we need to see which name is still in trend with locals. 'Bangalore' name should have been at zero if all the locals were using the new name. If the time range is increased to the time when Bengaluru was not yet a familiar term then it is quite…

I know it was deliberate, and deliberately hiding the story.

Certainly several locals will prefer the name they grew up with. Some find it rolls off the tongue better when speaking English, or just because they used Bangalore for many years already. No such change will ever have 100% coverage in such a short time, yet I think it's worth consciously respecting. Locals will use both interchangeably because it's often used informally, but I think for anything official, it's important to use the correct and official name, which is Bengaluru. Such as here, this is not an informal post by YC but an official announcement.

Re: YC Interviews in India

#44
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bengaluru is now the official name in the English language. Bangalore is the British Empire 's English name. It is a relic of colonization that is worth leaving behind. This battle is completely worth fighting. If Ireland officially lists Dublin as Baile Atha Cliath for addresses, the airport, and for international English references, I will use that. This is not about two different languages, but of erasure.

> It is a relic of colonization that is worth leaving behind. Should the name India be changed to Hindustan or Bharat as well? Instead of wasting tax payer money on changing names maybe the govt should focus on actual issues.

It is the prerogative of the nation and its people to choose official naming for international usage. If India, like Myanmar (formerly Burma) wanted to choose a native name as their English representation through a formal process, it is disrespectful bordering on hostile to ignore that, especially as a foreign entity like YC. Nobody is saying anyone should change any names, but once they have, it is important it is respected.

This is a complicated initiative, but it's clear that most people do not recognize the impact or meaning of a choice like this. It is considered equally hostile and rude to, for example:

- refer to a divorcee by their ex family name after an official name change

- refer to a transgender person by the name they had previously after an official name change

It's up to the individual what their name is, and making a name official is clearly indicating what they would like to be referred to. It really shouldn't be that much trouble for outside entities to respect that.

Re: YC Interviews in India

#45
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bengaluru is now the official name in the English language. Bangalore is the British Empire 's English name. It is a relic of colonization that is worth leaving behind. This battle is completely worth fighting. If Ireland officially lists Dublin as Baile Atha Cliath for addresses, the airport, and for international English references, I will use that. This is not about two different languages, but of erasure.

> It is a relic of colonization that is worth leaving behind. Should the name India be changed to Hindustan or Bharat as well? Instead of wasting tax payer money on changing names maybe the govt should focus on actual issues.

Europeans used the word India long before Britishers colonized India. So it's not really a good analogy. Bombay -> Mumbai is a far better one. However, I do agree that spending taxpayers' money on changing each colonial name is not worth it.

1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_India

Re: YC Interviews in India

#46
post #2

Bengalūru, it has been 14 year since the name changed officially would appreciate if people stopped using the anglicized name of our city.

I live here and hate the new name. It feels dumb to say it, whereas Bangalore sounds very modern. Kind of like Dilli vs Delhi.

I live here too. I like the 'new' name, it has grown on me. I think it's endearing and friendly -- like a petname. "Namma Bengaluru" vs stiff-upper-lip British Bangalore.

Putting my personal opinion aside, it's definitely not catching on: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=Bengaluru,bangalo...

I still call it Bangalore in any formal setting.

Re: YC Interviews in India

#47

Good to see YC expand. I’m curious, though, if innovation ramps up in the startup space in both China and India, will there be a decrease in demand for immigration to the states? My own experience across the visa spectrum is some want to move here permanently, some want to make their stake here and return back to their home country, some want to come here and build new businesses. I don’t mean it as A discussion abou…

imho from talking to many first time founders there is already a decrease in demand/aspiration to move to the states

part political climate, part living cost in sf/bay, part network becoming more global etc

Re: YC Interviews in India

#48
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Bangalore' vs 'Bengaluru' by people of Karnataka - the state of which Bangalore is capital of. Bangalore : https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=IN-KA&q=bangalo... Bengaluru : https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=IN-KA&q=bengalu...

please look at it for "all time" (that google has data for) Bangalore: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=IN-KA&... Bengaluru: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=IN-KA&... This is a post-colonial battle still being fought, and India's wish to shed its colonial shackles deserves to be respected.

You have to put both terms in together to be able to compare them in the same scale:

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=IN-KA&...

Re: YC Interviews in India

#49
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is a relic of colonization that is worth leaving behind. Should the name India be changed to Hindustan or Bharat as well? Instead of wasting tax payer money on changing names maybe the govt should focus on actual issues.

It is the prerogative of the nation and its people to choose official naming for international usage. If India, like Myanmar (formerly Burma) wanted to choose a native name as their English representation through a formal process, it is disrespectful bordering on hostile to ignore that, especially as a foreign entity like YC. Nobody is saying anyone should change any names, but once they have, it is important it is r…

Its been 70 years since the British left, if these were important issues that people thought strongly about it would have come up sooner. This rather recent renaming agenda should be called out for what it is -- a convenient and manufactured political diversion to draw attention away form the governments failings and lackluster performance.

Many of these cities/towns indeed had pre-British names but for better or for worse, its the British that made them into the cities that they are, for example Calcutta, it was 3 not very notable villages prior to the British.

The argument for renaming will carry a lot more heft if these were notable names prior to the British. In some cases they were but not all.

Re: YC Interviews in India

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live here and hate the new name. It feels dumb to say it, whereas Bangalore sounds very modern. Kind of like Dilli vs Delhi.

I live here too. I like the 'new' name, it has grown on me. I think it's endearing and friendly -- like a petname. "Namma Bengaluru" vs stiff-upper-lip British Bangalore. Putting my personal opinion aside, it's definitely not catching on: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=Bengaluru,bangalo... I still call it Bangalore in any formal setting.

> I still call it Bangalore in any formal setting.

It's kind of funny because I use Bengaluru in any official/formal setting but Bangalore when I'm talking with friends.

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