Residents go the whole hog to rename Pannimadai

Coimbatore: So, what’s in a name, as the bard asked. Apparently, plenty.
Children of Pannimadai are getting a lesson on the nomenclature of their village, along with the school lessons. They are taught to call their village ‘Panneermadai’ (panneer being rose water), not Pannimadai (panni is the Tamil word for pig).

The residents of the panchayat, on the outskirts of the district, had passed resolutions in the panchayat council to change the name and even petitioned the authorities several times to rename their village. Since there was no response from the officials, the villagers are now beginning to make the change themselves, though the original name continues in records and official documents.

The village was originally called Panneermadai as it had a small pond that had water as fragrant as rose water, the residents claimed.

Teachers at the high school in the village have started to train students to write the village’s name as Paneermadai. “Let the change begin with the students. We have started to insist them to use Paneermadai even in essays. I have heard that the name came because of a flourishing rose market in the area,” a teacher told TOI.

While a government-installed board at the entrance of the village says Pannimadai, some of the commercial establishments have boards saying Panneermadai.

“It has been a struggle for the last 12 years. We even took the issue to the high court. The court turned us down and advised to follow a step-by-step process. We continuously petitioned the collector after passing resolutions at the village panchayat committee. Once, we got a response from the CM’s cell that wanted us to provide evidence to prove the existence of ponds and streams. We replied in last February and petitioned the collector last October. We wouldn’t give up until we get the name changed,” local resident M Dhandapani said.

D Saravanakumar, a former panchayat president, said he had been working on the issue for the last seven years. The villagers are ashamed even to print the name in wedding invitations, he said.

However, a government official told TOI that there is no evidence in records of a Panneermadai. “People have started to think the name to be offensive and unpleasant. But our registers do not have any evidence and everywhere it continues to be Pannimadai,” he said.

Villagers argue that the government should not wait for the records, but rename it immediately. “Even the nearby village Kasthurinayakanpudur is called Dippanur now. Coimbatore’s original name is ‘Kovalampudur’. So what stops renaming our village?” asked M Selvaraj, a former panchayat councillor.