1) Let's say that your name is Abhijeet and by the grace of god you are slightly fat. Since your early age, friends have been calling you 'Samosa'. Now, do you make that your official name because it 'reflects' your nature? Or, let's say, some guys in UK find it difficult to pronounce your name, they pronounce it as 'Abbey'. Now do you make 'Abbey' your official name?
Can you please tell me how the name 'Bombay' correctly reflects the true nature of this city? This offending name was coined by British and the original name of city is Mumbai. Am I wrong if I expect you to use that name? Am I wrong if I get angry because some of you use the original name deliberately?
I personally believe that the argument to the Bombay/Mumbai thing is more or less personal. I grew up calling the city Bombay and to me, that's what the name will always be. I've no problems if the locals want a change and I support their sentiment. But, trying to force me to call it Mumbai or suddenly branding me as not Maharastrian just because I have a different opinion is not right. It's about personal freedom. I just hope that they don't feel that I don't care about their sentiment but that will naturally be difficult for them to understand
.
Back in the day when the name change idea was mooted, a poll was conducted by TOI. An 84% majority said that they'd like the name to be as it is(You could argue with the survey sample space but still, they were all living in Bombay.). This was disregarded by the then govt and the name change was officiated.
2) I visit Mumbai often and find that nobody wants to speak/use Marathi there.( Pay attention to the word 'wants'. They can speak or learn to speak Marathi if they want to, it's very easy.) Even the boards on the shops are in Gujarati/Hindi/Tamil. I reckon Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra and Marathi is the official language of Maharashtra. If I expect people in Mumbai to speak/use Marathi, am I wrong? (Now don't give me crap like Mumbai is the economical capitol of India, tomorrow you will call every city of Maharashtra economical capitol of India, does it mean that we should abandon Marathi alltogether?)
You don't dare to do this in Tamilnadu, do you? Or do you behave like this here just because people don't say anything?
Again, I may choose not to learn marathi. That is my personal right. If I don't face a problem communicating, it's nobody's business. I'm living in Bangalore for 5 years now. Nobody forced me to learn kannada and I haven't done so(best part is my parents are kannadigas). My children might learn it. I won't stop them. But if I can avoid learning the language, I'll choose to do so as I might get a job in another state. Also, it's about my personal freedom.
Again, when you are a child when people discriminate or laugh at your english, how do you feel? Not good right. A no.of my marathi speaking good friends have told me about this experience and wish they had been introduced to english earlier. Even those politicians the language pundits sympathize with send their children to foreign schools making the whole language thing a joke. Their own kids cannot speak the native language well enough.
3) Let's say that you are living happily in your beautiful home with your family. A guy who is a immigrant and who is dying from hunger, comes to your house and begs to you. You are very kind and allow him stay with you. Now, he brings 1 more friend, 1 more after that and soon 20 of them. Now, as they outnumber you, they claim that the home is theirs and ask you to vacate the house. Will you agree? If you agree, give me your address and I will come to live in your house with my 20 friends. After all we all are 'Indians'/'brothers', right?
It's not as simple as that. Most people coming from outside have the necessary skills to get the job done. The person living happily in his house is most likely working for a so called 'outsider' who it paying him a handsome salary
. This is happening with every city. Not just Bombay.
4) Let's say that you are living peacefully in a small community. Now someone comes to your area, builds illegal shanties, doesn't pay any taxes(and uses all the resources), starts harassing you. Naturally, the capacity of the community to sustain inhabitants is crossed. The strain is so much that your lives are made miserable. Will you still be happy?
I'm not completely against this point. But there is a possibility that the people coming and building illegal shanties could also be people from neighbouring cities in the state seeking employment. However, when you talk of Bombay, you do have a point.
5) Am I wrong if I am a middle-class person and my only wish is to buy a nice home to live? The prices of properties in Mumbai/Pune are rising and who is to blame for this? The (already rich) people who come to these cities with heavy pockets and buy houses at ridiculous prices.
You have a point here. Well to do people coming from outside upset the supply and demand balance especially w.r.t housing esp. for the poorer classes. However, they also provide opportunities to new locally run businesses. Unfortunately, it's supply and demand. We've just too much population and too many people flocking to the cities. Development of smaller cities is a short term solution to this problem. A concious effort to reduce our population is a long term one.
6) Am I wrong if I complain because the students from UP/Delhi/Bihar living here are a menace? These rogues party late, don't respect the law, eve tease the local girls. Recently in Kothrud, they even set fire to a few two wheelers in the society they were living because the residents contacted Police. I recently read that 50% of all the crimes in Pune were by outsiders. What is your view on this?
Not all outsiders are criminals. We can't brand respectable middle class people or even poor people earning a daily wage as criminals. Locals also participate in crime. What about the 50% locals involved in the crime? What should we do with them?
It's OK when Sheela Dixit says that immigrant workers are causing a lot of problems in Delhi, it's OK when Karnataka CM says that he is thinking about giving a reservation quota in IT sector for Kannadigas in Karnataka, it's OK when WB guys harass the national cricket team just because Ganguly was omitted, it's OK when UP guys pelt stones at a bus from Goa because they looked like foreign tourists, it's OK when Hindi speaking people are shot dead in Assam but when Maharastrians say that immigrants are really taking a toll now and their influx should be stopped, you have a problem!
Nobody says it's ok. They are all hypocrites.
Well, I really don't have anything against people from other states. Infact Maharashtra will be the last state to do anything that will be a threat to the unity of our country. I respect Marathi culture, its heritage and its people. And I think you should respect your respective states as well, nothing wrong with that. A lot of Maharashtrians are there in MP(Indore), AP(Hyderabad), have you heard anything against them? A lot of people from other states are in Maharashtra as well.(Gujaratis, Marwaris, South indians.) Did we say anything so far? We didn't, right? But the situation is going out of control now and something must be done. The incidents like this will only stop when the huge influx of people coming to Maharashtra stops. I say again, I don't have any problem with the people already here as long as they respect Maharashtra, its culture, its language.
You know, it's our tendency to again and again compromise our values....like for eg: it's ok for Modi to oppress a few minorities as long as he is all for development. When you are at the receiving end however, you become indignant and defensive.
Beating an innocent person is not the right solution. Legally preventing entry of people in the city what should be done.
You should be honest with yourself. When you compromise your principles, you are compromised. We cannot be completely honest but we should try.
And don't ridicule the 'Jai Maharastra' quote, always remember that it is always said as 'Jai Hind, Jai Maharastra'! Sadly you guys ignored the 'Jai Hind' part which always comes first.
'Jai Hind, Jai Maharastra', Abhijeet.
No comment. But, I will say this. We Indians are proud lot but we don't have a lot to be proud of. We compromise our moral fabric time and again to suit our needs.
P.S. - cool_dude - Pls don't consider my point by point answers personally
. I respect your views. I just have nothing to do right now and I felt the need to feel important by ranting :rofl: .
hyeah: