A lot in a road's name, say heritage lovers

VADODARA : The curious manner in which the name of the road christened after Maharaja Chamarajendra Wodeyar from Mysore, a close friend of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, was changed, has appalled heritage lovers in the city. They now plan to take up the issue with the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC).
While Sayajirao named the road leading to his palace as Chamaraja Road, a road in Mysore was named as the Sayyaji Rao Road.The board at the Chamarajendra Road today reads Shri Maharshi Dayanand Rajmarg while the road in Mysore retains Sayaji's name.
Great grandnephew of Sayajirao, Jeetendrasinh Gaekwad, said that his great grandfather Anandrao Kashirao Gaekwad had gone to receive Chamaraja at Ahmedabad. "The visit marked the beginning of several collaborations between the two states. At a function at the present hockey ground, the declaration to name the road after Chamaraja was made," he said. He added that the name needed to be retained as the visit inspired beginnings of new institutions and systems.
Nawabzada Shariq Saiyed from the family that served the Gaekwadi courts asked, "How will history survive? Are we not interested in retaining the glory of the city? I see no need to make such changes of historical names," he said.
Said art conservator Chandrakant Patil, "I remember seeing the old name plate there. It is now missing. When so much concern is being shown about heritage, it is sad that this happened."
Student Krishna Shah who has started the only website on the city's heritage said that such situations should be avoided. "The city will lose its original character if this keeps happening," he said.