'We can't become Stevanians'

New Delhi: As the row over the pronunciation of the name of St Stephen’s College becomes intense, its alumni have different views on the issue. For industrialist Siddharth Shriram, who graduated in English literature in 1967, there is no need for a dictionary. "There is no controversy. It has been St Stephen’s for decades and I like it and I live it and I love it that way.I don’t need a dictionary." From Shashi Tharoor, the man who’s vying to be the UN secretary-general, came a more correct response — that names could be pronounced in different ways. "But Stephanians clearly can’t become Stevanians," said Tharoor, who passed out of college in the Seventies.Chandan Mitra, publisher and politician, was shocked at Wilson’s move. "To order a pronunciation change is strange," he said. "I am not going to change the way I say it." Another scribe Swapan Dasgupta, also from the same generation, reacted more strongly. "It’s too late in the day for me to change the way I speak of the college I went to." How could it be, he asked, that for so many decades people had mispronounced its name?Kabir Bedi, of a slightly older vintage than Dasgupta, Mitra and Tharoor, put it down to the vagaries of language. "Most people know it as St Stephen’s. And since it’s spelt with a ‘ph’, most would pronounce it like that. But the English language is full of illogicalities (sic)." However, some say the difference in pronunciation could be because of the influence of European English in our country. A few Stephanians from the ‘60s and the ‘70s said Wilson was right. These include Union minister for panchayati raj Mani Shankar Aiyar (1958-61), election commissioner S Y Qureshi (1964-69) and sociologist Ramchandra Guha.