An axe to grind, an axe to fall
Raj Thackeray has just been arrested and is being driven to Vikroli for the court hearing. Now what? Let’s see. This titbit has enjoyed much more publicity in the past week in Mumbai than the falling temperatures, the art festival and all such mundane things as national news.
The television channels are running a continuous clip of him getting into the van and some twenty-odd (?) policemen getting in after him. One supposes even they are relieved to be able to air something other than,
*MNS chief to be arrested.*
and
*Raj Thackeray may be arrested.*
Viewers are also advised to be cautious since the city is on tenter-hooks, anticipating protests from his supporters. Well, we’ve been waiting for the axe to fall for a week now. Had this been pulled too long, we may as well have been bloody witnesses to protests against inaction.
It’s nearing five now and there’s no telling whether the roads now will fill up with angry protesters, violent mobs or petrified citizens on their way back.
The one thing I’m thinking now is – do the paranoid anti-terrorism campaigning superpowers know this feeling? Perhaps not – constant unease doesn’t make the same headlines that sporadic terror does.
The auto-rickshawalla who ferried me today interrupted my morning reverie with
Why are the shops not open yet? Has something happened in the night?
Of course he was from Uttar Pradesh, an uttar bharatiya, probably the one group that’s even more terrorized by organized politics than the Muslim community right now.
Congratulations, Mr.Thackeray, you’ve guaranteed yourself top-of-mind recall in the Mumbai mind for awhile to come. Uh, until someone else decides to play Big Bully in the Island Playground, that is.
Hmmm….interesting shift in politics….now we are discriminating not by religion but over geography. Way to go Rat Thackery and Scum Sena.
And my dear Ideasmith…..please dont take a rickshaw driven by a north Indian. You may become the target of angry mobs…{sarcastic yawn follows!!!}
I am not a Maharastrian but I have been to Mumbai on many occassions yet I do find it disturbing that the local culture is not really present here any more. People from other states come here and speak Hindi and never learn the local language and this formula is also repeated in other metros apart from two metros where the effect is minimal. Also the fact that the locals are given second preference in every walk of life is quite disguisting.
@ Arzan: Yes, that’s a valuable observation. Does it remind you of the marketing strategy of segmentation-targetting-positioning? It does, to me. Do you know yesterday I had hell of a time getting a cab back home from office and the only one who finally agreed was an uttar bhartiya ‘bhaiyya’. I don’t know where the other cabbies were from but a good number of them refused and even laughed in my face when I asked them to go.
@ Arzan: Yes, that’s a valuable observation. Does it remind you of the marketing strategy of segmentation-targetting-positioning? It does, to me. Do you know yesterday I had hell of a time getting a cab back home from office and the only one who finally agreed was an uttar bhartiya ‘bhaiyya’. I don’t know where the other cabbies were from but a good number of them refused and even laughed in my face when I asked them to go.
@ Ram: Is that necessarily a bad thing? I think that points to the essence of a cosmopolitan metro – the fact that it is not ‘owned’ by any one ethnic/religious group. It is true that Marathi in any form (let alone the pure form) isn’t spoken much in Mumbai. Even the Hindi is a curious mixture incorporating English, Gujarati, Marathi and some Mumbai-specific lingo…which is probably why it deserves a name of its own – Bambaiyya. Personally I think it adds to the individual culture of the city and it isn’t something to be ashamed of. I’m not sure why you think locals are given second preferance since there’s no valid reason why a person who wants a job shouldn’t have access to it, irrespective of where he/she is from. That may mean non-locals as well and I think it’s a fair deal..it doesn’t mean that locals get a raw deal, it just means there’s greater competition. This is a city of opportunity and it belongs to anyone who calls it home. Thank you for commenting!
Mumbai in Question ?
http://karnatique.blogspot.com/2008/02/mumbai-in-question.html