So whose Bombay is it anyway?

[Shripad]

sydras dude stop guessing how people are feeling here about the language sitting in bangalore ( or Bengaluru , whatever you prefer ). From your posts its clear you have no idea how the social structure of Mumbai is.

Who says we think about these things here? Noone does. Its very well accepted here that marathi is part of the syllabus. This topic is not even discussed as such here.
Its been like this for ages here. Noone complains about it, neither do we have any demand for it to be removed from the syllabus.

If you are against the regional languages, what are you doing about it?? Have you complained against the same in your state? Or do you see outcry about this in your state or for that matter in Maharashtra? ( You do know that your state has banned Marathi newspapers in border line areas which are Marathi speaking areas and putting up shop boards in Marathi in Belgaum. Now thats action against personal freedom. )

Almost everyone who grew up in Mumbai or Maharashtra anyway learns to speak Marathi automatically. Take an example of people on this board itself. If you talk to Bikey in Marathi you wont even notice he is not maharashtrian.
Same with my friend circle. They talk fluent Marathi with my parents, grandparents when they come over.

You have some wrong impression of Mumbai dude. Noone gives up their culture here. They just blend in, very easily. Easier than anywhere else in this country for that matter. Everyone observes their culture here. In fact people from all lingual background openly participate in other cultural activities.
Take an example of Navratri, xmax, pongal, Eid, Ganpati, Diwali.

Knowing local language only helps in social and professional life. It never harms anyone.
My father speaks fluent Konkani and Gujrathi, better than me. And it helps him professionally to communicate with his patients here. They feel more secured talking to him in their mother tongue. Now noone forced me or him to learn these languages.

This has nothing to do about personal freedom, people who oppose things like this are either doing it because of their own personal ego and mental rigidity or restrictive mentality.

Noone is forcing you to come to Maharashtra and learn Marathi. You either do it willingly, or you eventually end up learning and understanding marathi with long term exposure to local people. Either way unless you make a point of not learning marathi on purpose, you will end up learning it

But if you want to be a part of Maharashtra state board education, be ready for marathi as part of syllabus for few years. IF you want personal freedom go study in different board.

 

[Aces170]

So forcing others to learn marathi will solve their problems? This is the whole point of the language discussion. This forcing of marathi thing..it just distracts the poor maharastrians from their plight. It gives them a false sense of security. And politicians have been exploiting this for a long time.

Don't you see, even if outsiders learn marathi, they will not give up their culture nor will they magically become maharastrian.

Read no one is forcing, we have other options. I have not studied Marathi except for 2 yrs that too in primary school.. + we had an option of not studying it. ..

And if by your personal freedom you mean making this whole freaking city a shithole, then no I will oppose, thats what they are doing literally making the whole place a big public latrine in all senses...

BTW I am a non maharashtrian but family has been in Mumbai since 100 yrs now... I am a gujju, and yes even amongst Gujju Mumbai was known as Mumbai way before the name change. I am not supporting the name change, its stupid, expensive and waste of time, whats a bigger waste is arguing to go back to the old name. But yeah please do not go renaming every goddamn street in mumbai to shivagi etc....

 

[cool_dude]

Well, friends, here I am again. And I must say, I am disappointed by the response. Not because some of you spoke against me, but because you completely deviated from the topic. It's very easy calling something BS, but it takes real courage to face the truth and respond to the questions calmly and in an unbiased way. Therefore, I request all of you to read my post again and answer the questions asked in it. And don't just pick up a sentence and criticize someone for that. Remember, I am interested in your 'views' on this subject, not your 'reviews' of people's grammar.

And because the question of languages was taken up in the discussion, I would like to say something. The people who say that learning a new language doesn't make a difference/has no advantages are either liers or completely foolish. Learning a language not only enables you to communicate but also opens the door to a completely new world. And I am sure people who don't respect other languages don't love even their own. I only know 3 languages, but I am always eager to learn more. I talk to Gujarati, Tamil people and try to learn a few simple words from them.(Even though I am living in MH.) This is like loving your mother, when you do that, you respect other mothers, women in general. But if you are one of those 'Anglicized or Americanized Indians' who went to Convent schools just because it was 'cool', who speak English even in their homes, who read English books because they think their native language books are old and outdated, then I feel really sorry for you friends. Have you ever read a beautiful poem in your native language? Or at least you must have heard a nice joke. How did it feel? Can a similar experience in English compare to this one? No!

Just two quotes for you to ponder :-

Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Any man who does not make himself proficient in at least two languages other than his own is a fool. ~Martin H. Fischer

Now, back to our topic. Many of you said that it is a fundamental right given to an Indian citizen to relocate wherever he likes, but do you know that it has been specifically written in the constitution as 'as long as they don't create problems for natives' ? You always read the first part and conveniently forget the last one, why? Also, why should natives take responsibility for failed and corrupt politicians in immigrant's states? It's their job to demand better jobs/ better facilities/ better lives from them. It's like someone saying 'Hey, look, you have a 2000 Sq Ft home, a flat screen TV and I am living on a footpath, let me come to your home, it's my right!' Will you agree with that? Or is it that as long as you are safe and enjoying, you don't face the blues, you can say whatever you want from the heaven of your home?

Everyone is ready to blame Maharashtrians, but do you ever try to understand their side of the story? A poor Maharashtrian laborer can't get a job here because the North Indian owner of the factory is giving jobs to people from his village, A middle class Maharashtrian can't get a home here because the prices are too high, A person like me who loves Marathi cries alone because he sees his language ill treated like this, A Maharashtrian woman/girls feels threatened because people eve tease her, who is to blame for this?

You say "I am going to use the name Bombay..." and expect us to love you? It's very painful to see our city going to dogs friends. It's very painful to feel an outsider in your own city, it's painful to see this city going away from Maharasthra for which 103 martyrs lost their lives.

Can you feel our pain? I don't think you can.

Still waiting for answers, Abhi.

 

[Chaos]

Read no one is forcing, we have other options. I have not studied Marathi except for 2 yrs that too in primary school.. + we had an option of not studying it. ..

No longer the case. Till the year of 96, the state board allowed an option of choosing between Marathi and n different languages. So one had to learn English, Hindi and your language of choice. After that the rules changed and English and Marathi were made mandatory. One could choose between Hindi and something else. Needless to say many folks I know didn't choose between the languages, they chose a different board i.e. ICSE.

And if by your personal freedom you mean making this whole freaking city a shithole, then no I will oppose, thats what they are doing literally making the whole place a big public latrine in all senses...

The issue here is not of North Indians coming in. I lived in Bandra for 17 years before moving out last year. Everyone knows how sad a certain section of Bandra has turned into... and its not because of any north Indian. They are all freaking illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. This problem is not limited to just bandra but is an issue all over. These people must be driven out. No one does anything to stop the influx of these illegal immigrants.

But no... the government does nothing to stop these people from moving. Infact to capture a large votebank, recently they regularized the slum into an official colony, officially converting the entire stretch of land beside the exhibition grounds into one large hell hole. Also let me reiterate that this is not the only slum of illegal immigrants in the city that got regularized. I know of atleast three or four more.

MNS could better spend their energies on kicking these folks out rather than the North Indians who have every right to live in the city as they themselves. How would the marathi folks in Lucknow feel if they are driven out from there or beaten up for no fault of their own just as retaliation?

BTW I am a non maharashtrian but family has been in Mumbai since 100 yrs now... I am a gujju, and yes even amongst Gujju Mumbai was known as Mumbai way before the name change. I am not supporting the name change, its stupid, expensive and waste of time, whats a bigger waste is arguing to go back to the old name. But yeah please do not go renaming every goddamn street in mumbai to shivagi etc....

I have nothing to say here rather than the fact that if for such a long time, people had the choice to call the city Bombay or Mumbai, well it should remain the same even now. Official records can state whatever it may be but Sena has no right to force anyone to stop calling the city as Bombay. Thats really regressive.

 

[Shripad]

@ chaos,it was not a sudden change. It was progressive change in syllabus. A batch was not suddenly forced to choose marathi.

The option depended on school and it first started at 5th std level.

Depending on school you have options. 100 Marks English, 100Marks Marathi. 50-50 split between 2 languages or complete 100Marks paper on 1.

A batch which had option of leaving out Marathi in secondary school waas allowed to pass 10th without marathi.

Even in ICSE many schools force you to take particular language as addition to English simply bcpz of lack of teachers for other languages.

CBSC students have Hindi.

People who changed to different board bcoz of marathi are in great minority. There arent even many ICSE schools in north suburbs which accounts for 80% of student population of Mumbai.

So your theory that people left this board because of the language is greatly flawed. What you saw in Bandra which is closest suburb to City is not the complete fact.

Even today the no of students from maharashtra board is 95% of the total strength in colleges. And thats not made up number. In our institute we put up different merit lists for ICSE and CBSC students and they are in great minority even today.

 

[Aces170]

No longer the case. Till the year of 96, the state board allowed an option of choosing between Marathi and n different languages. So one had to learn English, Hindi and your language of choice. After that the rules changed and English and Marathi were made mandatory. One could choose between Hindi and something else. Needless to say many folks I know didn't choose between the languages, they chose a different board i.e. ICSE.

Hmm, my point I studied in ICSE school, if you dont want Marathi change schools, or better still do not join an SSC school. We have an option... In no places does an SSC student get a preference over an ICSE, infact till some yrs back it was the other way round.

And Chaos if you think Bandra east is bad, have a look at Premnagar, gives you real life simulation of the lawlessness in Bihar, they do not have any civic sense, and if any one dares to argue there the enitre mob will beat up anyone there. God for the first time I wish the corrupt land sharks emerge as winners in claiming that land....

 

[Chaos]

And because the question of languages was taken up in the discussion, I would like to say something. The people who say that learning a new language doesn't make a difference/has no advantages are either liers or completely foolish. Learning a language not only enables you to communicate but also opens the door to a completely new world. And I am sure people who don't respect other languages don't love even their own. I only know 3 languages, but I am always eager to learn more. I talk to Gujarati, Tamil people and try to learn a few simple words from them.(Even though I am living in MH.) This is like loving your mother, when you do that, you respect other mothers, women in general. But if you are one of those 'Anglicized or Americanized Indians' who went to Convent schools just because it was 'cool', who speak English even in their homes, who read English books because they think their native language books are old and outdated, then I feel really sorry for you friends. Have you ever read a beautiful poem in your native language? Or at least you must have heard a nice joke. How did it feel? Can a similar experience in English compare to this one? No!

This is completely beyond the point. What you state is learning through one's own accord. What I have been stating so far is forced learning enforced by the maharashtra state board. There is a massive difference between the two. I'd not call the Karnataka state board very progressive but atleast it gives a choice to the student to learn either kannada or his own native language. No such option in case of Maharashtra where the option is between Hindi and another language :rofl:. This is retarded. I'd say Hindi is million times more important to learn to survive in India or for that matter Mumbai itself than Marathi for god's sake.

Now, back to our topic. Many of you said that it is a fundamental right given to an Indian citizen to relocate wherever he likes, but do you know that it has been specifically written in the constitution as 'as long as they don't create problems for natives' ? You always read the first part and conveniently forget the last one, why? Also, why should natives take responsibility for failed and corrupt politicians in immigrant's states? It's their job to demand better jobs/ better facilities/ better lives from them. It's like someone saying 'Hey, look, you have a 2000 Sq Ft home, a flat screen TV and I am living on a footpath, let me come to your home, it's my right!' Will you agree with that? Or is it that as long as you are safe and enjoying, you don't face the blues, you can say whatever you want from the heaven of your home?

What you wrote is just bullcrap. There's no provision in the constitution like that. I quote the exact sentence from our fundamental rights.

"Freedom to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India which is also subject to reasonable restrictions by the State in the interest of the general public or for the protection of the scheduled tribes because certain safeguards as are envisaged here seem to be justified to protect indigenous and tribal peoples from exploitation and coercion."

AFAIK there are no restrictions to passage or protected scheduled tribes in the city :rofl:. So anyone can come and settle in it. Your analogy completely falls flat as the city is not your personal property. The city does not belong to its residents. It belongs to the Republic of India and the constitution guarantees the right for any citizen of Republic of India to settle anywhere he or she pleases as stated above.

Everyone is ready to blame Maharashtrians, but do you ever try to understand their side of the story? A poor Maharashtrian laborer can't get a job here because the North Indian owner of the factory is giving jobs to people from his village, A middle class Maharashtrian can't get a home here because the prices are too high,

Again a sad story. There are jobs for everyone as long as you are capable enough. No one would keep employees who are incapable of doing their jobs and no one would be stupid enough to keep workers from one's own village if they are worse off than local folks. Its a dog eat dog world. You have to be better than the next person in your work if you want to keep your job.

About property prices... its the same story in any city that has grown. Be it mumbai or bangalore or hyderabad or pune. Its senseless to complain. You can always buy a house... probably not in Pali Hill or Juhu but definitely in Thane. Whining about it is not gonna get anyone a house.

A person like me who loves Marathi cries alone because he sees his language ill treated like this, A Maharashtrian woman/girls feels threatened because people eve tease her, who is to blame for this?

AFAIK all the crimes against women in Mumbai that were well publicized in newspapers nationwide in the past year... especially the ones committed by the cops were all the handiwork of local Maharashtrians. Crimes can be committed by anyone and its not restricted to non maharashtrians.

You say "I am going to use the name Bombay..." and expect us to love you? It's very painful to see our city going to dogs friends. It's very painful to feel an outsider in your own city, it's painful to see this city going away from Maharasthra for which 103 martyrs lost their lives.

Can you feel our pain? I don't think you can.

Still waiting for answers, Abhi.

I stated it earlier too... the City doesn't belong to you or any third person. It belongs to the Republic of India. If you see the city going to the dogs, why don't you do something instead of whining about it? Anyway the name issue has been spoken of quite a bit and I don't think there's any use blabbering on it all over again.

I'm outta here!

 

[Chaos]

@ chaos,it was not a sudden change. It was progressive change in syllabus. A batch was not suddenly forced to choose marathi.

Any batch after 96 *HAD* to study marathi. No exceptions.

The option depended on school and it first started at 5th std level.

Depending on school you have options. 100 Marks English, 100Marks Marathi. 50-50 split between 2 languages or complete 100Marks paper on 1.

A batch which had option of leaving out Marathi in secondary school waas allowed to pass 10th without marathi.

There were no such options beyond 1996. One had to have a full paper in Marathi. If the state board has a complete and non flexible preference for the local language over the national language, if thats not regionalism, I have no idea what is!

Even in ICSE many schools force you to take particular language as addition to English simply bcpz of lack of teachers for other languages.

ICSE schools only have English and Hindi as the compulsory languages which to me is perfectly okay. One is universal and the second is our national language.

CBSC students have Hindi.

Yes they do... cos its our national language and you can just about survive anywhere in India if you know a bit of hindi.

My manager is Japanese and the first language he tried to learn after coming to bangalore is not kannada. It was Hindi cos as a foreigner, he knew what would give him the most benefit.

People who changed to different board bcoz of marathi are in great minority. There arent even many ICSE schools in north suburbs which accounts for 80% of student population of Mumbai.

So your theory that people left this board because of the language is greatly flawed. What you saw in Bandra which is closest suburb to City is not the complete fact.

Well its not flawed cos my parents shifted my brother to an ICSE school exactly for this reason. Half of his class left the state board school that very year because no one wanted Marathi to be forced onto them. Anyway as I said earlier... the entire concept of making Marathi mandatory and Hindi optional reeks of regionalism.

Even today the no of students from maharashtra board is 95% of the total strength in colleges. And thats not made up number. In our institute we put up different merit lists for ICSE and CBSC students and they are in great minority even today.

Thats upto the institute. State board makes up the majority as the maximum number of schools follow the state board. There's nothing spectacularly different about it. ICSE or CBSE needs teachers to be a lot more trained and to be way more improvising. Hence the fewer number of students. Frankly the syllabus in ICSE is way way way more forward looking in the outlook than Maharashtra State Board. This is not my view... its my mom's view who's been in teaching for well over 20 years now and has been in atleast half a dozen schools teaching different syllabi.

 

[BIKeINSTEIN]

20 ppl(labourers/villagers) sharing a small room (even as small as 6'x6' at times :O)- is indeed taxing the resources- and this is common in almost every damn room of every damn slum in Mumbai.

Don't believe it- (10 ppl sleep during the day and 10 during the night)- visit Dharavi, Sion, Antop hill, and other slums.

 

[Aces170]

Now, back to our topic. Many of you said that it is a fundamental right given to an Indian citizen to relocate wherever he likes, but do you know that it has been specifically written in the constitution as 'as long as they don't create problems for natives' ? You always read the first part and conveniently forget the last one, why? Also, why should natives take responsibility for failed and corrupt politicians in immigrant's states? It's their job to demand better jobs/ better facilities/ better lives from them. It's like someone saying 'Hey, look, you have a 2000 Sq Ft home, a flat screen TV and I am living on a footpath, let me come to your home, it's my right!' Will you agree with that? Or is it that as long as you are safe and enjoying, you don't face the blues, you can say whatever you want from the heaven of your home?

Everyone is ready to blame Maharashtrians, but do you ever try to understand their side of the story? A poor Maharashtrian laborer can't get a job here because the North Indian owner of the factory is giving jobs to people from his village, A middle class Maharashtrian can't get a home here because the prices are too high, A person like me who loves Marathi cries alone because he sees his language ill treated like this, A Maharashtrian woman/girls feels threatened because people eve tease her, who is to blame for this?

You say "I am going to use the name Bombay..." and expect us to love you? It's very painful to see our city going to dogs friends. It's very painful to feel an outsider in your own city, it's painful to see this city going away from Maharasthra for which 103 martyrs lost their lives.

Can you feel our pain? I don't think you can.

Pointless post, sure you like langs learn them I absolutely hate them, nearly flunked a yr despite getting an avg 0f 70 due to Hindi.

And yes all eve teasers only target Maharashtra's women, an irony that the molesters prosecuted in the Mariott case were.....

Most of your points are baseless, stop defending maharashtrians they dont require any defence. the argument is the lawlessness state coming into being due to immigration from certain parts, and how it is affecting everyday life of a citizen of Mumbai, maharastrian or otherwise...

 

[Shripad]

chaos again u r missing the point. After 96 yes marathi was must, but those batches were studying marathi from atleast 5th std already.

And thats what i said, 100Marks Eng, 100 Marks Marathi. 50-50 split between 3rd language or complete 100 Marks paper.

Here Hindi is not must. Marathi is. Hindi was must for 3 years 5-7th std.

Fro 8th you have option either to study hindi, or take other language like Sanskrit, French etc etc.

So instead of must hindi for secondary school, they made marathi must and hindi an option.

U dont have problem with Hindi, then why problem with Marathi. Afterall people of this board gets exposure to both.

And Marathi as 2nd language paper is damn easy paper to have in your boards.

For me Marathi was 1st Language, English 2nd and Sanskrit 3rd.

So Marathi is not some additional burden on students. No of subjects still remain the same. And after all its Maharashtra State Board. Maharashtra's official language is Marathi. Used widely in local governance. So its job and duty of the board to train its students, the language used for local governance.

 

[BIKeINSTEIN]

A decade or more back, this is what i had encountered. :no:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was travelling in a second class compartment to Borivali and it was packed with Bhayyas.
As teh station neared, the usual pushing/shoving increased and unfortunately my mum happened to be right at the dorr with me behind her.
As the platform appeared, ppl started shouting to get down even before the trains had slowed down, forget stopping.
I had to hold back the entire rush/pressure on one side with outstretched arms by gripping the bar and the edge of the door.
When i calmly asked them to take it easy as a lady was at the door- one fcker said,"Isko Dekho, Ladies ko dekh raha hai."

So i asked my mum to get down as soon as the train stopped and slip to the sides away from the door.
When she did that, i fell back against the wall and let the crowd rush through, sneaking the chance to kick out that bastid.
Maybe i would have tried to rough up that rascal but hadn't my mum hurried me away.
And i am a totally non-violent kinda person- but this is how and why some ppl lose it at times.

Note: Some tapori type Maharshtrian boys/men from Girgaon/Virar kinda localities do get a bit lewd with girls when in packs or drunk, but i don't recall anyone misbehaving with senior women (maybe coz they have some respect atleast for their mothers.)
But just like terrorists belong to no community, so do goons/taporis.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On an another ocassion, i was walking on the platform back home and 2 hawkers in dhotis muttered such crap amongst themselves and snickered disgustingly on 2 college girls waiting for the train, i wanted to wait for the train and push them onto the tracks.
(and the girls were only wearing jeans and shirt/tee. not even body hugging stuff or any skin exposed.)

I seriously doubt if these ppl have any 'Maa/Behen/Beti' at home.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And 10 or more years down the line, Mumbai has only gone to the *people like these*.
(dogs and pigs can't be insulted by naming them in this context- and animals are anyways better than humans imho. )

 

[snoopfrog]

everyone was outraged when this sort of nonsense flared up in britain a year or so back with indians and pakistanis being the targets of disgruntled mobs. Exactly the same case here.

 

[blr_p]

But no... the government does nothing to stop these people from moving. Infact to capture a large votebank, recently they regularized the slum into an official colony, officially converting the entire stretch of land beside the exhibition grounds into one large hell hole. Also let me reiterate that this is not the only slum of illegal immigrants in the city that got regularized. I know of atleast three or four more.

I don't understand how a foreigner can vote, and even less when that foreigner is an illegal ??

anyone care to shed some light on this

Most countries around the world restrict the right to vote to only thier citizens, it can't be any different here.

Tho i'm sure its happening for the votebank reasons, but surely if they can vote then they are no different to any other citizen so how can they be thrown out

 

[superczar]

ICSE schools only have English and Hindi as the compulsory languages which to me is perfectly okay. One is universal and the second is our national language

minor factual correction actually English is the only compulsory specific language course in ICSE AFAIK, The second language can be Hindi or Bengali or Marathi for that matter

And yes all eve teasers only target Maharashtra's women, an irony that the molesters prosecuted in the Mariott case were.....

Not sure if i understoof what you meant Aces

 

[Chaos]

I don't understand how a foreigner can vote, and even less when that foreigner is an illegal ??

anyone care to shed some light on this

Most countries around the world restrict the right to vote to only thier citizens, it can't be any different here.

Tho i'm sure its happening for the votebank reasons, but surely if they can vote then they are no different to any other citizen so how can they be thrown out

Heh once these slums get regularised, their residents are all handed out a ration card and voter's id . All happens underhand.

 

[raul]

Take what's happened in Assam, the government looks the other way while bangladeshis flood the state in such numbers that the locals are outnumbered and the politicians encourage this because of votebank politics. Thats the level politicians can sink too.

Now regarding Mumbai there are rules and regulations but the state looks the other way why slums come up, why? Even after all court decisions regarding new slums.

Does the term 'land grab' come to mind, these slums are little more than landgrab plots by greedy politicians, bureaucrats and builders, yes thats the lobby that lords over Mumbai and is solely responsible for the mess it is currently.

And the same people that are whipping up a controversy about 'North Indians'. Go figure. Then the Slum redevelopment scheme comes up and everyone makes pot loads of money from prime lands where these slums have been 'allowed' to come up.

I said this before and I will say this again, the problems of Mumbai, overpopulation and overcrowding cannot be solved in narrow terms of maharashtrians and non-maharashtrians, that's extraordinarily naive, not going to solve the problem because it doesn't even begin to identify it, infact totally misses it by falling into the exploitative trap the politicians have laid out so they can continue their loot unchecked. Divide and rule. Where have we heard that before.

 

[Aces170]

Not sure if i understoof what you meant Aces

His quotes on maharashtrian women being eve teased... Regionality is the last thing on these perverts mind...

 

[sydras]

sydras dude stop guessing how people are feeling here about the language sitting in bangalore ( or Bengaluru , whatever you prefer ). From your posts its clear you have no idea how the social structure of Mumbai is.

And you are clear on the structure? I've lived in Bombay long enough to know how people feel..22 yrs to be exact. Your opinion of me does not change that fact. I did not even want to get into the language debate but here goes.

Time and again, I've stated in my previous posts that we should not focus on language but issues . But, you "funky" seem to have some prejudice when it comes to regional languages. You perceive it as being very easy to learn another language. Not the case my friend.

Let me cite an example. There are so many brilliant people from vernacular schools who feel completely left out when they enroll in professional courses. I've seen people like these. The reason being that they weren't introduced to english at a young age and hence they are disadvantaged. Why I'm saying this is because you expect one to learn marathi at an age where it's not easily possible for to do so.

Who says we think about these things here? Noone does. Its very well accepted here that marathi is part of the syllabus. This topic is not even discussed as such here.
Its been like this for ages here. Noone complains about it, neither do we have any demand for it to be removed from the syllabus.

And when did I make a demand for it to be removed? Oh and btw, back in my schooling days I had the option of french vs marathi. Marathi was forced on the batch after me. It was some 13 years ago. That's probably why it isn't discussed. People don't even know about it anymore.

If you are against the regional languages, what are you doing about it?? Have you complained against the same in your state? Or do you see outcry about this in your state or for that matter in Maharashtra? ( You do know that your state has banned Marathi newspapers in border line areas which are Marathi speaking areas and putting up shop boards in Marathi in Belgaum. Now thats action against personal freedom. )

Now, you are trying to make me sound prejudiced when the fact is that you are prejudiced in the exact opposite way. You want to force people to learn marathi and are making me sound as if I'm against it.

Almost everyone who grew up in Mumbai or Maharashtra anyway learns to speak Marathi automatically. Take an example of people on this board itself. If you talk to Bikey in Marathi you wont even notice he is not maharashtrian.
Same with my friend circle. They talk fluent Marathi with my parents, grandparents when they come over.

I must've missed that memo . As far as my experience goes, I've never had to use marathi even once with my friends. Hindi sufficed just fine. And I did not grow up in some haughty taughty neighbourhood. I grew up in the Andheri suburb. It wasn't the chawls but it wasn't exactly the king's palace.
In fact, It has pinched me more that I don't know kannada in B'lore than the time I've been in Bombay.

You have some wrong impression of Mumbai dude. Noone gives up their culture here. They just blend in, very easily. Easier than anywhere else in this country for that matter. Everyone observes their culture here. In fact people from all lingual background openly participate in other cultural activities.
Take an example of Navratri, xmax, pongal, Eid, Ganpati, Diwali.

Knowing local language only helps in social and professional life. It never harms anyone.
My father speaks fluent Konkani and Gujrathi, better than me. And it helps him professionally to communicate with his patients here. They feel more secured talking to him in their mother tongue. Now noone forced me or him to learn these languages.

I don't dispute that. I don't know how you derived that I've the wrong impression though.

This has nothing to do about personal freedom, people who oppose things like this are either doing it because of their own personal ego and mental rigidity or restrictive mentality.

Noone is forcing you to come to Maharashtra and learn Marathi. You either do it willingly, or you eventually end up learning and understanding marathi with long term exposure to local people. Either way unless you make a point of not learning marathi on purpose, you will end up learning it

But if you want to be a part of Maharashtra state board education, be ready for marathi as part of syllabus for few years. IF you want personal freedom go study in different board.

I guess by that you mean that what the MNS did has nothing to do with personal freedom then. I guess hitting someone on the grounds that he does not know marathi or that he is an outsider is ok then.

You can teach marathi in school if you want. I never said don't.

 

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Take what's happened in Assam, the government looks the other way while bangladeshis flood the state in such numbers that the locals are outnumbered and the politicians encourage this because of votebank politics. Thats the level politicians can sink too.

Now regarding Mumbai there are rules and regulations but the state looks the other way why slums come up, why? Even after all court decisions regarding new slums.

Does the term 'land grab' come to mind, these slums are little more than landgrab plots by greedy politicians, bureaucrats and builders, yes thats the lobby that lords over Mumbai and is solely responsible for the mess it is currently.

And the same people that are whipping up a controversy about 'North Indians'. Go figure. Then the Slum redevelopment scheme comes up and everyone makes pot loads of money from prime lands where these slums have been 'allowed' to come up.

I said this before and I will say this again, the problems of Mumbai, overpopulation and overcrowding cannot be solved in narrow terms of maharashtrians and non-maharashtrians, that's extraordinarily naive, not going to solve the problem because it doesn't even begin to identify it, infact totally misses it by falling into the exploitative trap the politicians have laid out so they can continue their loot unchecked. Divide and rule. Where have we heard that before.

Bravo!..i think you nailed the problem :clap:

must admit couching it in terms of FOR or AGAINST was brilliant, not that there's anything new in this smokescreen.

Who says these politians are fools, when they nearly always end up making us look that way.

Easier to allow illegals to vote here cos there ain't no welfare system they can sponge off from

You are willing to work hard and take shit, then India can truly be the promised land.