Surprised!
So was I.
I never thought a normal sounding name like Narendra Modi would make it to this series. But while a lot of my rants on this blog have been about North Indians messing up South Indian names. This one is about South Indians messing up a north (west actually) Indian name. And the reason for that is unfathomable.
The name Narendra is pronounced correctly by most South Indians. But the surname is pronounced by almost all south Indians as mow D. or as मोडी. Perplexing!
Now Tamil language is the only south indian language that does not have the correct letter to denote the 'd' in Modi. Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam have the correct letter. But still no one gets it right. Not even news channels in these languages.
So here is the detailed pronunciation advice - specially targetted at South Indians. You cannot get your prime minister's name wrong.
nuh rain the ruh mow thee (using respelling)
nareendra moodii (using pronunciation key)
नरेंद्र मोदी (using Devanagari)
The surname is also additionally being given in the four south Indian languages
Tamil மோதீ. The 'd' is pronounced in Tamizh as it is pronounced in பொதிகை or குழந்தை or தருமம் or மகாநதி or அகராதி or பாதீ
All other south Indian languages have a specific letter for 'd'. Hence
Telugu మోదీ
Kannada ಮೋದೀ
Malayalam മോദി
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