Why some old names survive and where they live on after they are forced out of official usage are interesting questions to contemplate. In many cases, the renaming does not fail entirely and both names co-exist, though in separate spheres. The case of Allahabad will be like that. The name Prayag is hardly new. The popular children's monthly, Balsakha, published by the famous Indian Press, was using Prayag in its postal address in the 1950s. The post-Partition ethos had found resonance in Balsakha's editorial policy of cultural nationalism. When you went to the post office to send Balsakha's annual subscription by money order, the postal clerk advised you to put Allahabad in brackets after Prayag. But Allahabad had a larger sphere of use, and that included many other publications of the Indian Press itself. The city was richly diverse, with colonial institutions of repute and a literary renaissance which covered high poetry and socially radical fiction in Hindi. In such an ethos, both Allahabad and Prayag could live with comfort. Now, the renamers want Prayagraj. Thanks to the Indian Railways, Prayagraj already exists, as the name of a train originating in Delhi. I doubt if the city itself will now wriggle into a train's identity.