AIZAWL

You call it Aizawal
I call it Aizawl
You call it Aizwal
I repeat "Aizawl!"
AIZAWL with an AW
Not an AWA nor a WA
But A-I-Z-A-W-L
You have no problem spelling and pronouncing words with an AW combination
Like prawn and lawn and brawn and yawn
Or pawn and dawn and fawn and spawn
Like draw and thaw and claw and raw
Or hawk and squawk and crawl and scrawl
So why oh why is it so damn difficult to spell and pronounce AIZAWL?

Like how you say brawl or shawl or trawl
My city has a name with a meaning
A meaning that changes when you say Aizwal or Aizawal

A meaning that disappears with the simple switching of two letters
Or the addition of an extra one
Just like how Kolkata loses meaning if I spell it as Kolakta
Or how Delhi isn't Delhi if I spell it as Dehli
Or even how Mumbai can never be spelt as Mubmai

Once again, it's A-I-Z-A-W-L
Aizawl


- Jacqueline Zote