Isnt Calcutta already Kolkata?

I guess most people in Kolkata are aware of this but the leading English daily in the city, The Telegraph has kept on mentioning the name of the city as Calcutta rather than the current name, Kolkata.



Now, I'm not among the ones who resent the name Calcutta. But the thing is, it just seems a bit odd that when the world has started recognising the new name of the city, one of our own, and lets say, loved newspapers simply refuses to accept that fact. I mean, there's no city in the world which is called Calcutta now!

I wonder if there's actually a reason behind this...


Image - the Telegraph, Calcutta. 9th January, 2010

Strange accents

I was watching this movie Defiance the other day. It was an okayish kinda movie. However one thing which kept bothering me was the fact that all the actors were speaking English and that too in a strange accent.

Defiance is a movie on the plight of the Jews during World War II and takes place in the then politically disturbed Poland. Now the official language of Poland is Polish (obviously!), maybe some spoke German as well. Anyway point is, none of them spoke anything remotely close to a language called English. Of course in the movie the language couldnt be Polish or German simply coz its from Hollywood and mainly aimed at the American viewers. So, English had to be used so that its more...lets say, 'accessible' to people. Fair enough. But why on earth do actors have to speak in stereotyped German/Polish accented English? If they want to use English (and they are using English), why not use a proper American or British accent for the benefit of viewers? Not that I hate/disregard other accents, but the fact is, the American and British accents are the most widely recognised. I just hope some sense sets in here. This 'out-of-place' accent makes the actors and the director look stupid!


Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net