Spelling
Why do we not change the English spelling of our towns the way they are pronounced in the vernacular? For instance why do we still write 'Comilla' for 'Cumilla' ? Mr. S Rasul ( 30.06) and Mr MM Rahman(2.07) also gave many instances of how we changed Dacca into Dhaka and the Indians changed Calcutta to Kolkata and Bombay to Mumbai and Madras to Chennai etc.
I think from their correspondences it is clear that such name or spelling changes can only be achieved by government gazette notification or some other esteemed publication ( say Bangla Academy) officially notifying these changes. It cannot simply be undertaken by the general public as this would give rise to utter chaos. For instance Cumilla can be spelled also as Kumilla, or Koomilla, or Coomillah, or Koomillah etc. The English spelling during the time of Chaucer and Olde Englishe were similarly chaotic and standardisation were brought in after the invention of printing machines, by the print setting houses for their own ease which was soon followed by the people. Even now English has many varied and accepted English and American spellings and pronunciations for many words.
In this connection I would suggest standardising the English spelling of indigenous names of people also.
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