Mumbai and its Immigrants
Over the centuries, human population is in flux and people move from the hinterland to urban megapolii. Nowhere in India is it more prominent than in Bombay. As much as the Shiv Sena would like to claim that Bombay is all about the “Marathi Manoos”…knowing the Shiv Sena, I would say it is “despite” the MM.
There is no larger melting pot than Mumbai and Biharis rub shoulders on the local trains with Gujjubhais. South Indians (or as we love to call them all….Madrasis)jostle with Punjabis for the same square inch of pavement, to walk, to work and what not.
Migrants over centuries built this city, and that is the crux of this nice article by Bachi Karkaria in the TOI.
More than any other metropolis, Mumbai is native-neutral, whatever the Shiv Sena may like to project. Migration is a continuous-process industry here, and the city would be non-existent without migrants. This is exactly the opposite of the pattern in Chennai and Kolkata, places firmly rooted in their mono-chauvinism.
……Yet, contrary to Jug Suraiya’s premise, this does not make for a disparate anonymity where you can get away with murder or molestation. Quite the opposite. You learn to adapt, and live in the togetherness of strangers. In fact, communal angularities have full rein in the company of your own kind. Outside it, it is imperative that you emery them down. This is why the Goan makes good outside Goa;, the Bengali does better outside the stifling cultural terrorism of Kolkata; the Punjabi is so much quieter outside Delhi. As a Parsi, I could have claimed Mumbai as my patrimony, but I was a migrant too from the communal outpost of Kolkata, and the first thing that struck me was that the resident of the baugs and colonies was almost a different species from the Parsis back home.
Continue reading the entire article here.
Hello,
I miss my Bombay, having shifted to Bangalore a few years ago. I am so glad I landed on this blog. I can almost sniff the sea breeze, including the smell of the Mahim creek – which I now strangely crave for, the smell of pao bhaji being stirred on the road near Haji Ali, the vada pav’s being deep friend at Churchgate. The rush to catch the departing train, strangers pulling you up to safety – knowing that you have to reach your office on time. The monsoon, the flooded roads, staying overnight at the office, because there are no trains. Shopping for books at Fountain or strolling along Fashion street. Joggers Park, which became a cat walk in a few months. Aaah, the memories of Bombay.
Miss the cramped spaces of Pali Village….
I suppose my dad was spot on when he said that you arent quite a man till you lived and made it in mumbai…..
Spent around 14 months in my last job and mumbai has more than lived up to my expectations ….never had a ‘normal’ night out there … :-)
Always something more to do…even if it meant hanging out in Janta bar and eavesdropping to bookies during cricket matches :d
And now back to my reality in Dubai :-)