This is a (needlessly) controversial topic, but every language has its own way of pronunciation for geographical names. Sometimes, the entire name is different. India is Al Hind in Arabic. London is Londres in French. China is Cheen in Hindi. Deutschland is Germany in English. There are thousands of examples.
Each of these names and pronunciations developed organically and have very interesting etymologies and rich historical background. This is the diversity that makes humankind beautiful, isn’t it? What’s with this newfound hate for Hindi and the chest-beating?
Yes, if the government forced you to call it ‘Keral’, like they are going about with their stupid and completely unnecessary name changes all around, I can understand your angst, and even get behind it. But a native speaker of a language calling a place what it is called in that language is hardly something to take umbrage about. Let’s all lighten up, shall we?
This kind of continuous bristling with righteous indignation about perceived slights by our fellow Indians is totally unnecessary. That way lies division.
P.S.: Even more spirited discussion (about schwa deletions and xenonyms) takes place on the original post on Facebook. You can catch all the action here.
