My Wife's 'maana-hua' bhai, Nikhil Dixit's wife Sweta, works for Hindustan Times. She was covering the issue which recently was raked up by Raj Thackeray & was infamous for causing all the political uporaor in the state, not to mention un-necessary simmering hatred amongst fellow indians, violence in the state. The damage to life and property following this incident always gets under-played, somehow, which i find ridiculous at times.
Anyways, Sweta sent me a questionnaire which i had to respond: Although my 2 page responses had to be cut down, bcos of space constraints, here's the whole thing un-edited:
1. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Your age, profession, the number of years you have been abroad, a little bit about your family background, education and years in Maharashtra?
I am 31 year old IT professional & although I have been out of India for almost 6 years now ( 2 in Singapore & 4 in US ), like almost most Indians, I have been in touch with most of the happenings, back there in India. I do usually go back there almost every 2-3 years, on a 2-3 week vacation. I have been happily married for almost 6 years now and have a 2 year old daughter.
Both my parents (retired now) have been bankers all their lives, which they served for almost 25+ years of their lives. I have an elder sister who is 3 years elder to me, happily married with a 10 year old son. She works in a real estate company & my brother-in-law works for a multi-national gear manufacturing company.
I have a B.E(Computers) degree from a New Mumbai COE, 1998. I have been a Mumbai-ite, since my birth and I feel, if anyone who lives and survives in Mumbai, can do so in any part of the world.
2. What is your reaction to what is happening in Maharashtra?
3. Do you agree with Raj Thackeray or the Shiv Sena when they say that the influx of migrants into Mumbai should be curbed? Could you please explain with reasons?
I will answer qsn 2 & 3 together.
Now, I think this is in context with “anti-biharis” / “anti-northIndians” etc. This, IMHO, is really weird.
Syed Ali Geelani did this same thing in Kashmir last year and he never got the same kind of mileage from the media. Why is Raj Thackeray being covered so much? Just because all is happening in the commercial capital of the country? Something I can’t understand. You, the media, any answers please? Or is it just for the same lame reason? “This stuff is Printable” !!! Eh, but at what cost to the nation? Does anyone frigging care?
On a different note, pardon me if I am wrong but isn’t Maharashtra one of the states in India? Or is it a country in itself? D-uh ! So why should a citizen of India be marginalized & targeted against migrating from one state to another? Isn’t that his right to move freely in his/her country, in search of work, better prospects or maybe, even to start a new life?
“Influx of migrants into Mumbai”.. wasn’t that the question? It sounds contradictory in itself. I will ask people who work in the Mumbai daily “Indian Express”, for example. Are all of them Maharashtrians? Doesn’t the girl sitting across your cubicle a Hyderabadi, or the guy who you had crush on.. a Bengali or maybe the receptionist who the guys all drool over.. isn’t she a Gujrati? What are we talking about here? How did they get here in the first place and more importantly, why shouldn’t they? Everyone has a bill to pay !!! Everyone has desires, aspirations & wants to be better in life.
How did all these people from varying languages come to Mumbai? Didn’t their parents migrate years ago? Does anyone of us know @ their family tree lineage farther than their grandfather’s name? Raj Thackeray’s grandfather, Mr Prabodhan Thackeray, himself migrated from some part of erstwhile Madhya Pradesh to Maharashtra. Did Raj even read his grandfather’s book?
Having said that, there will be 2 sides to every coin ; with the good, comes the bad and the ugly tags along. But then, what is the law there for? There are other ways to deal with the other side of heaven i.e the anti-social elements.
Yes, I can understand these strong reactions BUT ONLY when it comes to illegal immigrants from the eastern and western borders of our country ; when these illegal immigrants spark off a radical or separatist thought in our youth, that’s the thing that needs to be addressed on a war footing… not this thing which questions our own countrymen.
What i don’t understand is how easily people who cause such mayhem, damage to life and property because of such extremist opinions owe no accountability to our nation’s laws? Isn’t depriving a fellow Indian, residing in any remote village of India, the right to stay anywhere in his country, anti-nationlistic? Isn’t branding North-Indians the way it was done anti-nationalistic? Are Maharashtrians only residing in Maharashtra?
I shudder to think just what sort of a divide has this whole fiasco created amongst people’s minds and this is what the extremists, from across the border, want to happen. The same country which has posed as FRIENDS, time and again for their own benefit, but who are in fact FIENDS. If you look at it, it’s been there all the time. Part of Kashmir is already separate sinc the early nineties, Punjab faced the Khalistan movement that was fortunately quelled, something is imminent soon @ the whole of North East, most Southern states have been notorious in their defiance to accept Hindi as a national language & have blocked it in several schools.. so some one please tell me, how can we claim to be a secular nation, to the world? The wood of the tree, to me, is intact from the outside but there’s a spark inside it’s trunk. The smoke is there to be seen. The fire is just, a matter of time now.
4. Have you faced hostilities from the people of the country you are in? How have you dealt with such a situation?
I can talk @ us in particular. We haven’t faced any physical hostilities but yes, there have been more subtle ones. Be it in the form of not getting easily accepted in that country’s culture, which I think is understandable to an extent. But if one makes conscious efforts towards it, then it should be appreciated. In that way, Singapore was difficult but the US has been more accommodative, in that regard. In fact, it’s much better in that regard.
5. What is your opinion on the demands of political parties to make Marathi the language of business in Mumbai? There are demands for Marathi signboards, court proceedings in Marathi, etc. Do you think this can work in a city like Mumbai?
I think to convert each and every thing to Marathi is a bit of over-doing it. I mean, there are 100’s of important things to dwelve into, instead of that… like having good infrastructure, bringing more people above the poverty line, providing basic education, food, clothing, shelter to children who can’t afford it, helping orphans stand on their own. i.e. something has to be done at the grass root levels. NGO should be given yearly grants for all such activities.
The problem with India, IMHO, is that corruption is more at the grass-root level. Maybe the govt does allocate money for such activities but by the time, it reaches the concerned after years and years of frustration, it’s probably a miniscule amount.
Besides, all this will be observed by the world and believe me, it will not be taken in a good sense. The time which we are in, it just doesn’t allow us the luxury to go for something new as in today’s world of awareness, time sensitivity and crisp business, any red tape will be seen as an obstacle and hence, it will have monetary effect on the business relationship standards of that country.
6. Do you support the argument that a certain number of jobs in a city or state should be reserved for locals?
I personally think there should be NO reservations for jobs. Jobs should be given on capabilities and merit ONLY. But we all know that can’t happen in our country. Not unless we go from Parliamentary to Presidential Democracy!!! And that, I don’t see happening!!!
Until then, we all have heard the term @ vote-bank politics. I personally feel that no political party would have the balls to take such a step.
Anyways, if reservations are to be kept, then there MUST be a provision that IF those jobs are not filled by that state people, in that time-period, then it should be open to all. And yes, there should be a specific time period for which the jobs should remain open to the localites i.e for the first 4 months of the job opening or so. Because, you know, things happen but ONLY When you set a DEAD-LINE…! (like the one you are currently on, Sweta) ;-)
It’s been more than 60 years since our independence. Our erstwhile leaders of the nation, who initiated this reservation, also said that this quota reservation should not be forever. I think the time has come to tone down the reservations and NOT INCREASE It. Maybe decrease it by 2%-5% per decade over the next 3 decades, if they need to have it.
7. How do you ensure your children/family stays in touch with Marathi and Maharashtrian culture? Could you also briefly list the activities of the Mandal?
What Mandal are we talking @? I am sorry but did you mean Maharashtrian mandal in US. The place where we live (Stamford, Connecticut) is about an 1 hour by train from New York, which is where this mandal is but I have never been there.
Our daughter is just 2 years old. We usually speak to her in English but we are never really far from talking in Marathi with her as well. In time, we will try to inculcate some of our traditions & cultural things into her.
But herez the thing. It’s upto an individual or a family to absorb the good things you feel about your culture & someone else’s and run with it ahead in your life. Life will allow everyone to reflect on what good things did culture help everyone learn.
8. Is there anything else you would like to say on the issue?
You tell me. Do you want me to say something specific on anything specific or have I covered everything ?
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