Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The monster within

Today, the 12th of February 2008, is a day of great loss for me .... loss of the pride of being a Mumbaikar .... loss of the pride of being a marathi manoos .... a loss which is unfathomable for anyone who does identify himself/herself with the wrongly pronounced, self-proclaimed saviours of marathi asmita!

I have been observing the situation in Mumbai for last few days from the far away land that I am in. The anguish that I am feeling sitting here cannot be expressed in words. My heart burns for those helpless people who are being made victim of some frustrated 'political' so-called 'leaders(?)'.

More so, because, I am a self-respecting Maharashtrian and I hate what is being carried out first in Mumbai and now also in some other parts of Maharashtra and that too in my name! I do not want to be associated with such gross violations of the fundamental rights of my own fellow citizens. I hate every word that is being spoken in the name of marathi manoos. I think that it is an insult to me in particular and I know for sure that this is so for every self-respecting marathi person. What sort of a marathi leader is this who asks to beat his own brethren! What sort of a leader is this who asks his followers to be doubly foolish and act unconstitutionally when someone does something as foolish as that Abu did! He should have been so condemned for his life and cornered with political tact that his position should have been made apologetic. But, here we have a leader who says if a certain Abu is a mad guy, let us all be three times as mad and foolish as he is! Isn't this ridiculous??

It is also apparent that this is a well orchastrated drama. Generally, when people make violent reactions to something serious, it is because something gross has happened and it is always a spontaneous reaction. Here, that Abu guy spoke something on 3rd February and here we are even 10 days later spreading violence in the name of innocent and consistently progressive marathi manoos. What a leader! Wah!!

Again, there is this other leader, Uddhav Thackeray! He is fighting to get all the 4th grade and worker level jobs to skilled and mostly middle class marathi population of Mumbai who really do not need the jobs that he is stopping the north indians from achieving! Is there any sense to what he is targeting? One day, his party says something and the next day, it makes a volte-face. Why do you have to make the opportunistic politics that you play be so apparent that aam janta can see right through it! When will these politicians start caring about our motherland? They talk of the martyrs for Maharashtra and hence, opposition to the division of Maharashtra. But, what the fuck have they developed Maharashtra so far? What is it that Uddhav or Raj Thackeray have done other than give war cries? Why disturb the peace of people all the time? Is this the job of a leader? Or is it to facilitate the development of its populace and making their life less miserable? Here we have, so-called leaders who are making our lives even more miserable by the day! I am so ashamed by these cancers in our society .... we don't need terrorists to kill us - we are our own terrorists! If they had taken pains by diverting even half of the efforts they spend on disturbing Mumbai, they would have brought a smile to lakhs of farmers in Vidarbha. Neither the Thankerays or the Abus care for them! No one cares for the hassled people from Marathwada ... why are these regions not being seen by the politicians? Why are the woes of these bretheren of mine falling on deaf ears of chronically deaf politicians? Why does only power and money get them to hear anything??

I really question myself.... just who is bhumiputra? Definitely not me; and I am Marathi ok!

The only sons of this soil of Mumbai are the koli folks. Everyone else, including the Thackerays are outsiders. If anyone should go first, let the Thackerays get out of Mumbai. If they want to be leaders, let them lead the way and then ask others to get out. Just for getting the facts straight, it is this very populace of daily wage earners who have kept the efficient commercial system of services going in Mumbai. If not for them, the services would have been equally costly as in any European society with tougher labour laws.

I am not wanting to be critical of the Thackerays for no reasons. I have respect for what Shiv Sena achieved for some Marathi people, especially for those hit by the sale of now defunct mills of Mumbai. Also, I am in awe of how successfully it launched a very constructive scheme of Jhunka-Bhakar stalls all over Maharashtra. It is really appreciable. But, what has gotten to this organisation that it is now resorting to creating trouble at the drop of a hat? I have to say that it is the politicians who are becoming the villains of modern day common man - eager to disrupt his peaceful life - at the first available opportunity and reap maximum media mileage by claiming what a great job they did! I have this to say to all the Abus and the Thackerays of this wonderful city called Mumbai - "You are all losers and you do a lousy job of leading people. In fact, you are highly regressive and a shame on the Indian and especially, Mumbai populace".

Just coming back to my Marathi leaders who are hell bent on getting rid of non-Marathis out of Mumbai, I want to attach the map of the Maratha kingdom here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:India1760_1905.jpg

It was the first truly secular kingdom in the entire Indian history - ridding the lands of India from the oppressive and barbaric rule of the Muslim rulers who were essentially, non-Indians. The Maratha kingdom extended from Uttar Pradesh in the north to Thanjavur in the south. It brought the first semblance of secularism to the world at a time when the churches and muslim dargahs ruled the way its leaders acted and waged wars. Marathi was a truly national language and yours truly Marathi manoos was a truly secular and all-encompassing, justice-friendly saviour of this great nation. If this so-called leaders of Marathi manoos take some pain of knowing what our history is, they will be able to instill some 'real' pride in the Marathis and give them their rightful place in the history and future of this nation. My message to them is "Stop making us the villains - we are the original heroes!"

They have not taken pains to even imbibe the teachings of the great Shivaji Maharaj into their lives. He was a saviour of all the religions and a mercy ruler. He was intolerant of violence against the under-privileged and the defenceless! Here the Shiv Sainiks and also the MaNaSes are targetting the defenceless. They are making the vulnerable pay the price of being the vulnerables. Is this what we are??

It is high time that my people - the Mumbaikars - start dictating to all the politicians across the religious divide their rightful place - Dump them! Show them that they should be working to make Mumbai liveable and help make the lives of Mumbaikars bearable and not miserable!

Tell leaders like the Abus that Mumbai is of a Mumbaikar and not of a north Indian or a Muslim or a Hindu. He is such a stupid leader and still, if he draws crowds, we Mumbaikars should be ashamed of ourselves. Leaders like him should be so humiliated by the Mumbaikar that he should be forced to leave politics. Also, whenever Shiv Sena disrupts normal life, they should be booed by the public and media alike. They should be made to feel complete lack of support from the populace. Its high time that the politicians be stopped from illegitimately holding Mumbai to ransom. Impose on them strict punishments - I would love to see them reeling under the public pressure to perform for Mumbai's benefits rather than hold the Mumbaikars to ransom.

Here is praying that Mumbai shows the way for the India of tomorrow and leads the way in getting these un-worthy politicians to behave! Long-live Mumbai....

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Bheegi Bheegi Raton Mein

Nostalgia has a way of catching you unawares in the midst of something important - the more important the work the more intense the feeling of nostalgia!
One such nostalgic moment hit me just now. I happened to somehow end up on Adnan Sami's Bheegi Bheegi Raton Mein - probably his first superhit song in Hindustan. And all the college days came flooding!
The college canteen was the place where this song used to be blaring on SONY 1600W music system - probably the favourite of the canteen contractor. Though, as I figured out later, it was the only album CD he had at that time. Alright, let me mention here that these were the days when even the CDs used to cost a bomb - I mean in the range of about 150 to 250 bucks a piece.
My classroom invariably used to be located somewhere near one of the windowless walls of the canteen. By windowless, I mean, the windows' panes were not there - either by design or they were disposed off as wasteful expense by the college authorities for the free passage of 'air' or under the pretext of maintaining habitable 'atmosphere' - one of the valid reasons those days. This was not unusual ok! There was a strong iron grill on all four sides of the canteen!! Strong. Very strong indeed. It would bend, but, it never broke. Its abiding principle was - vaaken pan modnar nahi! (which literally means, I shall bend but not break!)
I had the most royal engineering college life possible - neither the authorities nor us ever cared about the business of studying, except, when we failed our exams (which was also not uncommon). I presume that this was another of those important,defining times in my character development which taught me to stand up every time I fell down! This has stood me in good stead in life hence.
Coming back to Bheegi Bheegi Raton Mein, the song was played so many times that in spite of not liking it at first, I ended up having each word of it learnt by heart! Or should I say, by force!?! Adnan Sami - a big, fat guy -with a heavy set voice, (sounding as if a 50 kg voice was hitting my ear drums) blaring on a 1600 W system, while the professor was breaking his head trying to make us understand the thermodynamic heat cycles! That was some picture. (Ironically, the professor used to consult the notes that we used to provide him with from some coaching classes run by a retired, famous professor.)
The song iconized for us all those moments in canteen when we used to watch the lovely, junior gals (and secretly loved them) and the taporigiri we used to indulge in or the lafdas that were solved in its premises - all with this song as a backdrop! The gals, especially, loved the song when we used to sing it - thinking in our minds that good ol' adnan was our chela. The tables in the canteen, from strong mechanical hands banging on it, had given way to strong benches from the classrooms which the canteen contractor had begotten - his reason being "nahito bhi chhokralog class mein kidhar baithata hai? at least idhar to shanti se baithega na!" - gospel words I say.
The song was also blaring when I was first infatuated in my life by a senior gal. Of course, the flight of my dare in this regard was standing near her for 5 minutes during annual function without uttering a single word! Then, kitne aaye kitne gaye! I have not kept count. Jaroorat hi nahi thi as the story or should I say, stories, never changed. So many love stories of the college dudes and dudettes were formed on this one song and also, broken on the same - only to start another one the next time the song was played!
The song was blaring when the first real lafda in my college life took place - some barbie first year uncrowned college queen kissed her the then boyfriend sitting in the ruins of an under-construction college tower in the "broad daylight" and watched by a big crowd. No one knew what transpired in next few moments as there was chaos everywhere as if riots had broken out! The boy happened to be tied rakhi on by that same gal in two hours after this feat was achieved - didn't I say relationships changed dynamically then?
Come to think of it, like the supreme atman of the Hindu scriptures, during my college days, this song was omnipresent. We have all loved, hated, revered, ignored and romanced this song. To take me back to that era, I just listened to it three times back to back and I have just put it in contnuous re-play loop to be played till I get bored of doing what I am doing and go out of this room. Some trance it gives me - and I hope to some others like me.
Anyways, this is me signing off, greeting you happy nostalgic moments!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

The trigger!

I never thought that I will miss anything in my life. That I was perfectly conditioned to not feel bad at anything - loss or otherwise. How wrong was I!
Just happened to read a blog by a certain "megs k" on rediff.com saying that she misses her childhood days. To borrow her words, I miss those days when life was simple and sweet just because we were living. Something struck and tugged at my hearts - I shot off a reply in appreciation of her blog and telling an absolute stranger megs k what I am missing!
Childhood memories tend to do that to you it seems, especially when you get to the nervous quarter century of your life... they flood you with the overwhelming realities of life which tend to take some key elements out of life as if they were outcasts - discovery and exhilaration being the front runners in that race!
Life becomes a race - a race almost every one runs. Though, most don't want to run it. Another irony!! Life is like this for me - innumerable anomalies and ironies strung together and confusion added to good effect, as if, to make it more interesting - which I understand is the one exact thing life is - interesting!!
Why do we then want orderliness everywhere? Why do we want to make sense out of things that need not be sensible? Why can't we accept things as they are? Why do we try to remodel everything in that one cast or a die? Why should we make life boring?? Just why?