Mamata wants to scrap 'west' from West Bengal and Bengalis are fuming on Twitter

West Bengal may be in an alphabetical soup. Literally.

With chief minister Mamata Banerjee having decided to scrap the "west" out of West Bengal and likewise "paschim" from Paschim Banga (the name in Bengali), Bengalis, and Indians in general, will have to deal with one more disorienting blow to their address-related inertia.

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Banerjee's decision, couched in the legislative language of her state cabinet meeting minutes, is about orchestrating a coup d'état of sort and coming right in the beginning of the name list of Indian states. From West Bengal to Bengal would mean a jump from W to B, a lightyear in bureaucratic babu-speak, and Didi is all set to achieve that shortcut to efficiency.

"In order to place our demands better in various central meetings, we have decided to rename our state as Bangla or Bengal. We will hold a special assembly session for this purpose on August 26," informed state education minister Partha Chatterjee after the cabinet meeting.

Mamata Banerjee, no doubt, wants to override the months of wait that the "w" - 26th on the list of states - has been subjecting West Bengal to, with state officials and even the ministers complaining of unbelievably long delays they have faced for meetings with the "Centre", even at basic bureaucratic levels.

The (West) Bengal state government has decided to call for a special Assembly session to discuss this issue on August 26. Once a resolution is passed in the state Assembly, it will be sent to the Central government for consideration.

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Mamata is done scraping the bottom of the barrel, evidently.

But Bengalis are no stranger to such renaming stints. Calcutta - the centre of the imperial British India and its long-cherished capital - was summarily rechristened Kolkata to be more in tune with the subaltern Bongs themselves, not the high-flying Park Street or Golf Green elites.

Though, this crème de la crème brown sahib-ed Bong cabal fights back, when pushed to a corner. Recently, the Calcutta High Court shored up a unanimous refusal to be renamed "Kolkata High Court", as a last ditch effort to hold on to a more cosmopolitan, pre-shopping mall past. 

But even then, the criticisms never go away. While the Anglophiles fret and frown, the ordinary middle and poorer class Bengali, often the migrant from West Bengal's sprawling villages fighting land acquisition drive and lack of opportunities, latch on to their newfound Kolkata - the city of the twice born "glocal" native.

For the economic top layer though, it's a tough sentimental education it still scoffs at.