Tuesday -21st october 2008.
i get up in the morning to a message of my sweet boss ( he is one of the few good ones left in the world...touch wood) that Raj Thackeray has been arrested. I put on the T V to see what i feared. MNS party workers ( are they party workers or anti social elements) vandalising a taxi, burning tyres on the roads. My mom asked me to stay put and not to go to work. But knowing how brave or in her words stupid i was she gave up.
I my house at the normal time to catch my private bus to work( am few of the lucky ones who travel in relative comfort but through the dreaded POWAI!!!!! route). to find out that none of the buses are working. The poor drivers of these buses are north indians and they were afraid to venture out with their vehicles...i finally had to travel by a best bus (which i managed to find after a lot of trouble) to work and reached office a hour late and on my last fumes on the verge of collapse (a great way to start work isnt it).
Leaving from work i decided to leave early and again took a BEST bus back to work. I reached home in record time but the bus left me a few kilometers from thane(where i stay) where riots had started. I tried catching a rick and lo behold the rickshaw driver asked me 150 rs......i told him i want to go home and not buy ur rick.....finally i decided to walk and after walking for 30 minutes reached home......
Sitting at home as i write....i feel bad not for myself but for the poor bus drivers of my private bus service who are afraid of their life....for the poor biharis who were beaten up by MNS hooligans....for the taxis and rickshawalas of mumbai who had their livelihood taken away from them....WHO GAVE A SINGLE PERSON to determine my life....is this the country our freedom fighters fought for....where a person is not forced to earn his livelihood just because he is from a different state.....
There are times when i feel ashamed that i am a indian and tuesday was one of those days.....the leader of MNS stays in a upmarket locale, drives a mercedes, his kids have taken german as a subject in college and he says he is fighting for the marathi manoos.....i say if he wants to fight for the marathi manooos but have u asked the marathi manoos what he wants....he wants peace, he wants that to reach home on time, he wants safety of mind, body and soul.....
i feed sad to conclude that we as indians have given a person who believes in the sadistic nature of politics the right to rule our lives....if a young politician thinks this way i wonder what others do.....please think about this the next time you vote...
DO YOU WANNA VOTE FOR A YOUNG POLITICIAN WHO FIGHTS FOR THE MARATHIS MANOOS OR FOR MUMBAI.........
bye tilll the next time......
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
from where do u copy such article. They really sound like original
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI would like to share with u Me, Marathi _Good write up by Shoba De(MUST READ)
Correct me if I am wrong, Raj... but I consider myself an assal
Marathi manoos. Born in Maharashtra to Maharashtrian parents etc.
Proud to be Marathi (even though my language skills in my mother
tongue are embarrassingly dodgy). I don't know how to make the
perfect puran poli but I do love aamti..
This is clearly not enough anymore. Going by the checklist, I could
be disqualified on several scores. I am married to a Bong, who has
lived and worked in Mumbai for over 30 years (but alas, has not been
appointed ambassador to the state of West Bengal yet!). He attends
Durga Puja regularly and prefers maacher jhol to vangi bhaat.
Fortunately, we don't have a daughter-in-law to name a college after,
either in Kolkata or Mumbai.... And our children (like yours) did not
attend Marathi-medium schools.. We employ people based on their
competence, not caste or region. And I have never asked the vegetable
vendor, breadwalla, taxi driver, dhobi, sweeper, elevator attendant,
security guard, pizza delivery boy or any of the other people who
make my life easier, which part of India they come from.
This is Mumbai, meri jaan! Who cares where anyone comes from? Dhanda
is all that matters.. Mumbai is India 's most powerful magnet. Once
you get here, you never leave. Don't believe me? Ask those innocent
bhajjiwallas and doodhwallas who were beaten up and stoned by your
men last week. Even with blood-soaked bandages around their heads,
and broken hearts, they are staying put. As they should.
Aaah, the natak of your dramatised 'arrest' was not lost on anybody.
Had Rakhi Sawant's slapping stunt not grabbed those eyeballs on
Valentine's Day, viewers would still be stuck with the image of a
nattily dressed you (mmmm...loved the styling), clambering in and out
of the police van. If Rakhi cleverly stage-managed the incident, what
should one say about your brilliant coup? Overnight, Raj Thackeray
was elevated from being the discarded Thackeray to a national figure.
In one well-orchestrated move, you went from being a neglected nephew
of an ageing tiger, to a sharp-clawed, teeth-baring cub with an
independent act of his own. The circus acquired a brand new star attraction — you!
It was never easy being a Thackeray. Ask Balasaheb. If he targeted
south Indians in the '60s, you smartly headed north. Same agenda,
diametrically different directions. By questioning the bona fides of
those who have made Maharashtra their home, both of you tapped into
the vulnerabilities of the average Marathi manoos. It is worth asking
the very people whose interests you are protecting, whether they
really want to do the dirty work currently being handled by the
northies.
Will the Marathi manoos agree to put in 18 hours a day plying taxis,
selling veggies, washing clothes and so on? Who's stopping them from
turning into vendors of milk, food grains, and other commodities?
Perhaps, the Marathi manoos considers such occupations demeaning? The
truth is, these jobs have always gone abegging, and there have been
any number of hungry, unemployed people from other states ready and
willing to grab them. Kick the 'outsiders' out at your own peril, and
see what happens...
Why do farmers commit suicide in such numbers only in Maharashtra ?
The answer, dear Raj, may surprise you.
In your defence, let me say you received the worst press — biased at
best, and shrill to boot. Most of the semi-hysterical reporters from
prestigious news channels were embarrassingly ill-informed as they
blabbered incoherently each time a leaf moved outside the
magistrate's court!
Surely, you are not complaining? Everything seems to be going
according to the master plan. You have 'made it' in one swift move.
And women are finding you kinda cute in that sleeveless baby blue
pullover. Great copy, great photo ops. What more does a neta want? To
keep Mayawati and Lalu out of Maharashtra ? Now, that's a tall order!
hey kanchan....
ReplyDeletecompletely agree with u....hope people see thru the tamasha.....