Me Maharastrian aka “Marathi Manoos”, who are you? Asked one of the auto drivers in Pune, I thought for a second and said”Me Bharat Manoos”, he shrugged and said would take double the actual fare.

At mid-night I didn’t had much of a choice and quickly acquiesced to his unwarranted demand. In the whole journey of few minutes I was perplexed trying to answer the questions which had just thwarted me, made me insecure and brought an unfathomable fear. How about being in the same situation surrounded by regional fanatics, would I have replied the same answer or would have begged to spare me against the horrendous situation? Indubitably the latter would have been the outcome. Further it gave me a feeling that is this place is in India? That time I had just questions with no answers.

From past few years Pune has taken care of me as if I am her baby, she has given be place to work, place to live and place  to grow in my career to achieve my dreams. But today I am leaving Pune with heavy heart, these poignant moments with reminiscence is high with friends at the airport bidding farewell, would surely miss the time spent here with friends mostly “Marathi manoos” be it work place or our social group they have certainly made a difference today. They were warm, friendly, and affable and truly understanding barring few exceptions, but exceptions are always there. Remember even in science (mostly chemistry) there were always few exceptions beyond explanation. We had to memorize them since they were exceptions and extreme focus was given on them simply because they were the favorites among all questions.

Are we giving the same importance to these exceptions in society as well? No doubt they are the most popular among all of us, courtesy our relentless media.

These few exceptions ignite such fear, acts of violence and vandalism with an intention to bring schisms in the social fabric of our country. Their divisive agenda is for their own personal gains, it has always brought misery mostly to their own people than others. But again am I doing the same thing trying to distinguish between Marathi and non-Marathi? Seems their ideology has certainly made an imprint on my psyche.

 By nature people in Maharashtra are calm, docile and largely traditional confining themselves to their own place, they rarely migrate to some other place, but then there was never a need to do so. Today however people in IT are moving to different places settling in different parts of the world, but then their numbers is less. However the question is “Are outsiders creating problems for them?” and then “Who are these outsiders?” the answer would be Biharis and UPites traditionally termed as “Bhaiya”. They migrate mostly in search of jobs and opportunities, mostly when their survival is difficult they are forced to leave their ground. But then Maharashtra is not the only place, the whole of North India, N.C.R Region, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat you would find these migrants doing the most menial jobs which locals won’t even look at. Not sure about other place but surely in Mumbai and Pune one would rarely find a Maratha in such jobs, such pride they carry in being a Maratha.

When I drive a Car or two-wheeler nobody is concerned about my regional belongings but when I sit at Pan Shop, at ATMs and showrooms as security guards people would halt for a second trying to know my background, though this was not visible few years ago when I made beeline to this cosmopolitan culture. Isn’t this ironic?

There were two things in Pune which made me feel about my nationality, that I am an Indian. First, the "Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav" — the collective communal celebration of the festival of Lord Ganesha, the 10-day festival culminates in a carnival-like procession along the busy thoroughfares of the city with drums and other paraphernalia, their music still echoes in my mind. This festival was started in Pune in 1894 by staunch nationalist and one of the tallest leaders in the history of India’s struggle for freedom Bal Gangadhar Tilak to arouse the national feeling and to awaken the spirit of Swaraj (Self rule) from the shackles of imperialistic rule. It further instills the fervor and enthusiasm with such realization that my nationality is much more strong, passionate and rooted than anything else.

Second the statue of Shivaji one of the bravest Maratha ruler who took head on against mighty Mughal rule, it brings pride and I consider myself privileged to be in Maratha land which has produced the most valiant and intrepid fighters in the course of Indian Medieval History.

Is it the same place which played a decisive role in India’s freedom struggle?

The “son of the soil” concept is very old and bears a strong relevance to any place, it simply means that locals should get priority in jobs and other opportunities mostly in affairs managed by state, prerogative is given to them and to ensure this state facilitates reservation for state domiciles and locals in jobs and other openings, this is visible in the most developed countries even in United States so there is nothing wrong in this. Every state in India has such provision and priority is given at state run educational institutions and jobs, then “Where lies the problem?”

One of the contentions of these regional fanatics is that migration of people from different areas would dilute their culture, traditions and long preserved values. Is this the way to resolve this problem i.e. resorting to violence and unconstitutional means? If this is the problem why not arrange cultural programs, encourage people’s participation and highlight the past our inherited cultural glory to younger generation. For a country like India diversity is its strength and we have learned to live together since eons, this concept could be new to west but not to us, then why so much hue and cry by regional outfits? It is for us to understand that their petty gains won’t serve society as whole as it is divisive not integrative. At the same time migrants should respect regional culture, their values and should not engage in any such activities which might attract wrath of the locals. But are there any such instances where such problems have arose, I haven’t heard so far.

Major disputation is that influx of people from different places in Mumbai and other cities have strained their limited infrastructure. A recent survey showed that Mumbai has maximum migration from rural areas from Maharashtra itself since independence and Biharis are less in numbers, then one would say “Mumbai is for Maharashtra” so this claim is incorrect. In both the cases problem still remains the same as infrastructure would still be inadequate. Isn’t?

Another problem I came across that I should at least know Marathi since I am in Maharashtra, I truly respect the feelings of the people who believe so, but I have an argument, we as an human being do things more out of need than interest, the people in Mumbai and Pune know Hindi quite well so migrants from North India doesn’t feel the need to learn the native language however, had I been living in a small village of Latur where Marathi is the only means of communication in this case one has to learn Marathi there is nothing wrong and no denying from this fact. Lot of people learn since they have interest to learn new language , in this fast pace life we hardly have time to understand these linguistic differences as the life revolves around our basic and insurmountable needs.

Rather than looking at issues of development, housing, sanitation, health care focus is at some where else. The heads of these outfits live in their palatial mansions with their children studying in Bombay Scottish and St Xavier’s institute, why not change the name to Mumbai Scottish since it doesn’t go with the lopsided ideology.  Sometimes I feel that what if these outfits start thinking about existing problems which people are facing. According to 2001 census Maharashtra has most number of Scheduled Tribes in the country after Madhya Pradesh with huge social and economic disparity; apart from Western Maharashtra rest of the state have myriads of development and socio-economic problems like farmer suicides in Vidharba region, problems in coastal Konkan region, why do they never make their way into news- headlines?, Why are we oblivious of these facts? Aren’t these Marathi manoos who live in most deprived and squalid conditions, have we ever thought about them?

The other day I was speaking to my mentor who has a very good understanding of Maharashtra politics, curiously I asked him “How do I get into politics and become famous in short span of time?” it is the most difficult question according to me as I don’t have any political lineage. He smiled saying this is very easy, today’s politics is about creating nuisance value “Why don’t you go and block the Mumbai Pune express highway  with a contention that only Marathi people should have access to this highway, take some unemployed youths give them little money and they would rally around you the whole day?”

What a wonderful idea, he certainly had a point as I could become famous overnight even before Police comes to know about it media would start flashing their breaking news with my machinations and schemes. I can become another face like Muthalik of Rama Sena or an accomplice with our esteemed shiv sainiks.

This approach of divide and rule is not new mostly a colonial legacy, but educated people need to understand that social harmony, integrity and solidarity in society can be maintained only if we understand the true meaning of our nationality. Being Indian should be an epitome, a paragon which needs to be inculcated in us not only for our growth but for our identity, and then only we can take against mighty America and unrelenting China. We can also take a leaf out of Japanese belief.

Mumbai and Pune are hub of financial and IT industry because people from all over the country come here. They work day and night tirelessly to give these places its status and importance. A headquarter has significance  only when it has attached and sub ordinate field offices, the business in Mumbai comes not only from Mumbai but from all over the country, if the country  is divided Mumbai would also lose its sheen and significance over a period of time. As far as the problem of migration is concerned the onus should be on both central and respective state governments, they have to realize and increase the pace of the development addressing the insufficient and ineptitude policies to generate employment. However these problems won’t be solved in a day and full proof strategic task needs to be envisioned against the regional imbalance which is a stumbling block in our growth and development.

In the end I can only say “Vasudeva Kutumbakam” i.e. “The entire world is my family: the whole universe is my own”, I cannot say about the whole world but these words bear a great significance to our country which is diverse and has come together as “Union of States”.

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written by Santosh, February 16, 2010

Regional parties play a prominent role in this process of polarization to gain political advantage. The status thus obtained in the political spectrum empowers them to arm twist the center into submission to their unreasonable demands. For building up a cohesive nation it is essential that regional parties be disallowed to contest elections. A political party status be given to outfits that has a presence in at least 4 states. The powers that be needs to give it a serious thought for this kind of divisive politics is highly infectious and could prove detrimental to growth and prosperity of all Indians.

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written by Pavalamani Pragasam, February 16, 2010

A clear and intelligent analysis!

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written by Domarp, February 16, 2010

@Santosh: Thanks for your input sir, I agree with your demand however the emergence of regional parties was due the very fact that the national leaders were not able to address the local problems but mostly due to parochial interests of some heavy weight regional politicians,with the advent of time this has proved detrimental to the state itself, in order to keep themselves alive them have embroiled themselves in divisive agenda.

@PP Thanks for your input ma'am

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written by umbrella, February 16, 2010

Linguistic division of states is the root cause of all these problems. why we r still sticking with this outrageous division..i dont know! Like we r still following some age old laws ..colonial leftover without any thought for changing it to our ways! For that we need a powerful govt at the centre and an intelligent leader. Do we have these 2 essential powerful tools..???...

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Bharat-Manoos
written by brijesh, February 16, 2010

the flaw is in the psyche:: we have a sudden surge of nationalism and patriotism when something like 26/11 happens..n wen the dust subsides we revert to our old manoos-isms.."To err is human..but to repeat is Foolishness"
--as for the blog..its by far the best one

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written by Administrator, February 16, 2010

@ Brijesh,

In every quarter of life lets say office, hostels I have observed people bonding with their native fellows. Yes, rightly said. Its in our psyche.

The order is like this Family(Relations)-->Area-->Language(State)-->Country-->Humanity (Global)

Its natural as per human psychology to feel insecure by outsiders. But the violence and reservation on that basis is undesirable for prosperity of a country. Probably, its the price for our multi linguistic culture.

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written by Kshitiz, February 16, 2010

A strong indicator of economic activity in region is it's air traffic activity and its hotel bookings.Mumbai had remained unchallenged till now and was the financial hub of the country but if statistics are anything to go by the past few years have seen Delhi and Bangalore witness more air traffic activity and hotel bookings indivisually and not just collectively. The latter being designated as only the IT hub of India. Pune is still far behind.
Also, Mumbai was just a small fishing village. It were the Britishers who made it the capital of Bombay Presidency and a major port town that triggered economic activity.The Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis are not Marathi Manoos.They had all come from different parts of the country to contribute and benefit from opportunities that Mumbai provided.
You take all the non marathi corporates and government offices... you block all the non marathi ships from entering mumbai and you block the non marathi commandoes from saving the Marathi City and we'll see what is left of the city that is called Mumbai. Sorry, to sound agitated but I really wonder that the people who want to tear our country apart must be joking sometimes for they know that even if there are no terror attacks and no invasions we have enough of animosity amongst our own selves that we would do the job for them.
Be is New York or Mumbai, a city earns its greatness and strength when it becomes a melting pot of various cultures and when it is ready to provide opportunities and shelter and growth to people who come to its fold.

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written by Domarp, February 18, 2010

@Umbrella : No doubt linguistic division has certainly aggravated the problem, in order to give regional identities somewhere a national identity is in state of oblivion..in fact initially after independence division of states was against linguistic basis..however government succumbed to local demands...locals demands even today drive the politics of our country,coalition era has certainly weakens our politico-administrative set-up of the country

@Brijesh: No doubt somewhere there is problem in the psyche, but this would eventually weaken if we migrate and learn to live together....hope to see one Indian nation where "Bharat Mansoos" drives our psyche

@Kshitiz: Strong point made....however my contention is that politicization of the whole issue and clamoring regional demands has instilled the fear of insecurity among locals...today even most literate locals supports the cause of these outfits..how would they feel if they are given the same treatment if there is a need to migrate...

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written by Sushant, February 18, 2010

Prmaod...i'm an infrequent FB user saw ur post today only and couldn't stop myself from penning down something.i have a few points to make which you might feel are strange.I braodly classify them into two categories"Where we are wrong" and "Where they are wrong"
1)Where we are wrong".Its always good to look within ourselves before pointing fingers at others.I also lived in a city which prided itself in its cosmo culture and was not my hometurf.I am an educated person.My mental faculties are definitely better than street hawkers and vegetable vendors.If i am asked to learn a new language,it'll be much easier for me than it will be for a autowallah.but what happens is Autowallah learns hindi for my convenience and his bread and butter.The point I'm trying to make is that the north indians(not to offend anyone as i'm also a north indian and i come from hindi heartland) dont seem to digest this fact that there can be some places in our country where people dont eat roti and speak hindi.The flimsy premise given by them is "HINDI IS OUR NATIONAL LANGUAGE".Well let me put this straight."HINDI IS NOT OUR NATIONAL LANGUAGE,IT IS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF UNION GOVMT.OF INDIA, SO IS KANNADA,ORIYA BENGALI,TAMIL,MARATHI ETC.ETC......"Web is full of ample sources to verify this fact(rajbhasha.nic.in)
I have tremendous respect for those auto guys and those vegetable vendors who learn hindi with great difficulty only to make you feel comfortable in cities like bangalore, chennai and trivandrum.My only question is"Is this attitude fair".

2)"Where they are wrong".A teacher of mine used to say"agar har koi collector ban jayega to chaprasi kaun banega".What made mumbai the financial capital of india.Is it only the businessmen,the bankers and the developers....Could they have done these things all alone.Do they mean to say that the taxiwallahs,the washermen of mahalaxmi,the daily wage labourers of dharawi have not contributed anything to the economy.Try doing everything w/o them.Do a reality check "T" brothers.They too are agents of economy development like the marathi manoos.migrant influx and cheaplabour are a real thing prevalent worldwide, the very thing ehich is earning bread and butter for me.Which cosmopolitan city doesn't have slums be it Paris,NY,New Jersey....

I pray to God that good sense prevails with Mumbaikars and they dont fall trap to these politically bankrupt rabblerousers

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written by Domarp, February 18, 2010

@Sushant:
I respect your views but i think you took a wrong note of whole discussion,i respect all the languages and have great inclination to learn them...in fact have a huge desire to learn Tamil,but as said need is more important than anything else, the autowallas do because it is easier for them to do their business and i have a great respect for them,most people is Pune and Mumbai know Hindi as Hindi is quite close to Marathi having the same devnagari script, even many words are same and needless to mention our Bollywood which is another big reason, i never said that i don't want to learn Marathi in fact today i understand Marathi quite well..it is not the question that "I being educated can learn any new language easily",the need is the sole driver ,people in IT learn new software languages and technologies due to need and to get edge over others...you would be surprised to know that Tamil and Sanskrit are most ancient language in Indian culture even older than Hindi,today only four languages have status of classical language(more than 1500 years old) Sanskrit,Tamil,Telugu and Kannada not Hindi..Hindu is official language along with 21 others as mentioned in eighth schedule of the Indian constitution...only difference that it is most widely spoken in the country..I do not have any intention of demean any language or culture but have an argument that integration of diverse country like India is possible only when there is social assimilation of people from different culture,caste,creed and religion...this can only bring the much needed social cohesion to consolidate the solidarity of the nation in terms of its social and cultural milieu.

In my article this is also obvious that Mumbai is big and cynosure for all because at every level people contribute to its growth not only businessmen and bankers..people like autowallas, taxiwalas and vendors have an equal contribution in Mumbai's growth. As mentioned migrants do the jobs which locals are averse to.

Thanks for the input and healthy argument

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