Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The Story of BOMBAY STATE


This is the story of BOMBAY STATE AND MYSORE STATE. No, there was no Maharashtra then. There was just one huge BOMBAY state which included the entire present day Maharashtra and places like Karwar (my good old gaon), Dharwad, Belgaum and Bijapur, alongwith some parts of Gujarat and Deccan.

In 1957, it was decided to have Linguistic States. Since Dharwad, Belgaum and Bijapur had Kannada speaking population, it was decided to merge them with the then MYSORE state. The people in Karwar majorly spoke Konkani then (some spoke Marathi too). But due to geographical convenience it was decided to hand it over to MYSORE state. (Karwar is on the tip of present Karnataka and very close to present day Maharashtra and Goa). The new state then came to be known as KARNATAKA. (So, I have strong Mumbai roots… ha ha!)

What happened to BOMBAY STATE then? When the funda of linguistic states was being chalked out, Morarjee Desai was the Chief Minister of Bombay. He, being a Gujarati, decided to club apni Mumbai city with GUJARAT state. And the new State (after handing over the Kannada speaking regions to old Mysore State), was to be called MAHARASHTRA minus Bombay (or Mumbai) city. Marathis were obviously furious when they heard this. They launched an agitation under the 'Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti' against the merger of Mumbai city with Gujarat state. Many Mumbaikars lost their lives fighting for the cause. Finally their demands were considered and a new state MAHARASHTRA was formed on 1st May, 1960 with Mumbai city included in it. That is the day we celebrate 'Maharashtra Day' every year.

All of you have seen Hutatma Chowk or Flora Fountain. Next time see it more closely. It was built in remembrance of those people who lost their lives fighting in the agitation to retain Mumbai in Maharashtra state. The agitators were fired at near Flora Fountain and the place was later renamed as Hutatma Chowk, meaning "Martyr's Crossroad". Their names are encrypted there. It’s a pity we have forgotten those Mumbaikars. If it weren't for them, Mumbai would have been part of Gujarat and we'd all be Gujaratis now. Would we then have a GNS (Gujarat Navnirman Sena) instead ?


Courtesy: My Dad, who's stayed in Mumbai nearly all his life and knows the city inside out and has seen it grow and change over the years

In support of MNS

I came across this mail as a forward and think it is apt to share with all. Read on.....
Yes, we all should support Raj Thackeray and take his initiative ahead by doing more...
1. We should teach our kids that if he is second in class, don't study harder.. just beat up the student coming first and throw him out of the school
2. Parliament should have only Delhiites as it is located in delhi
3. Prime-minister, president and all other leaders should only be from Delhi
4. No Hindi movie should be made in Bombay.. Only Marathi.
5. At every state border, buses, trains, flights should be stoppedand staff changed to local men
6. All Maharashtrians working abroad or in other states should be sent back as they are SNATCHING employment from Locals
7. Lord Shiv, Ganesha and Parvati should not be worshiped in our state as they belong to north (Himalayas)
8. Visits to Taj Mahal should be restricted to people from UP only
9. Relief for farmers in Maharashtra should not come from centre because that is the money collected as Tax from whole of India, so whyshould it be given to someone in Maharashtra?
10. Let's support Kashmiri Militants because they are right in killing and injuring innocent people for the benefit of their state and community..
11. Let's throw all MNCs out of Maharashtra, why should they earn from us? We will open our own Maharashtra Microsoft, MH Pepsi and MH Marutisof the world
12. Let's stop using cellphones, emails, TV, foreign Movies and dramas. James Bond should speak Marathi
13. We should be ready to die hungry or buy food at 10 times higher price but should not accept imports from other states
14. We should not allow any industry to be setup in Maharashtra because all machinery comes from outside
15. We should STOP using local trains... Trains are not manufactured by Marathi manoos and Railway Minister is a Bihari
16. Ensure that all our children are born, grow, live and die without ever stepping out of Maharasthra, then they will become true Marathis
------------------------------------------
That article was in a lighter vein. But I have my own thoughts to add.
While on the topic of Marathi manoos, I would like to know many things.......
  • Whether the word 'Marathi manoos' stands only for Hindu Marathis or includes the Christians, Muslims and other religion people from the state as well ?
  • Whether North/ South Indians staying in the State for more than 50 years or ever since in Independence can be called Marathi manoos?
  • Should people from the old Bombay State (which many are not aware of these days) call themselves Marathi too? What was done to retain the state?
  • What should Marathi people living and working in other States do now? Should they come back?
  • Can Marathi manoos go and study in IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Indore and the likes ? (Of course, the Marathi students there might already be bearing the brunt of Raj's campaign without any fault of theirs')
  • Now that we cannot tolerate people from other states moving within their own country and coming to Maharashtra, can we voice our concerns when we are discriminated in some other country?
  • Why is the hatred towards UPites and Biharis only? Why not Gujaratis? Of course, we know why! (Mumbai's economy runs mostly because of them!)
  • Will the campaign target people from other states also one by one?
  • Lastly, should we call ourselves Maharashtrians first, then Indians? Or only Maharashtians ?
For those who do not know, I was born and brought up in Mumbai. My parents came to Mumbai many years back from Karwar (Northern border of Karnataka), which touches Mararashtra and Goa. Karwar was part of the Old Bombay State, which included some parts of Gujarat, Marathi speaking Marathwada region of Hyderabad, the northern Konkani / Marathi speaking region of Karnataka. A lot of famous Marathis are originally from Karwar, but proudly call themselves Marathis now. The once famous Marathi actress, Jayshree Gadkar is a Karwari herself. The Goud Saraswat Brahmins are settled in Goa and Karwar, which are just 3-4 hours away (by road and 1 hour by train) from each other. They have also started calling themselves Marathis over a period of time. Sometime recently, the Marathi speaking people of Belgaum had launched a campaign to be included in Marashtra.
I am a Marathi. I can speak, read and write Marathi. But I am an Indian first. If everyone starts thinking limited, moving in limited areas and being intolerant towards others, we will be going back to the Stone Age. That's how people used to live millions of years back. Living for their areas, their states, their countries and waging Wars to acquire more land or expand country. They had limited knowledge of the outside world. Those countries which started to gain knowledge, started moving to other lands and started 'discovering' places, though they existed since millions of years. Slowly people started moving to lesser known places and knowing the world. Then transportation and communication means improved over period of time and world started shrinking in terms of accessibility. We started moving towards 'Globalisation' and the world became a small place. We boast of being able to have breakfast in one country, lunch in another and dinner in a third country !
But suddenly, we seem to be disliking all this. We are going back to primitive time by talking of my land; your land. Talking of throwing off people who discovered and moved to newer areas. Slowly, we might go back to our own clamped shells, just peeking out to check if all's fine. Then we'll shrink not as a world, but within ourselves and into our own primitive regions. And our children will say - 'Once upon a time, they say that the world was a small place and people would move freely to wherever they liked!'

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

So much to write abt.....

Lot of things happening around me these days....
'Fraud autorickshawalla', 'midnight drama in Ladies First Class compartment', 'situation after 11 pm in Mumbai Local', 'tension in Mumbai due to Raj's arrest', 'Leelavati hospital on Amitabh's birthday'.
Have lots to write on. I wish I was a full time journalist. Then I would've written to my heart's content.
But very busy with work these days and some important event coming up at home keeping me busy throughout the week.
Maybe I'll write during the weekend if I get time.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Forgive Us All, Dear God - A Prayer



What's happening in the world ?
There's hatred everywhere.
Some people kill people of the other faith and in retaliation, they kill some people from the first faith.
This will never stop.
Revenge, hatred. It will go on.....

Now it's not only the world. It's happening in India as well.
Bombs in the metros.
Killing of innocents. What for ?
According to the Qur'an, killing a person unjustly is the same as killing all of humanity, and saving a person is the same as saving all humanity.

Now there's killing of Christians in Orrisa.
Burning orphanages, which is the shelter for the homeless.
It takes a lot of effort to build a home for someone else. To break it, is the biggest sin.
Communal violence in Assam.

Hatred for each other.
Labelling each other.
Having misconceptions.
Who is it helping anyways?
The politicians, of course.
As they prepare for the elections.
Else, we people have nothing to gain out of this violence and hatred.
We are just destroying ourselves.
We all want Peace.
Let us strive for Peace.
Oh God! Forgive us All.
And show us the Right Path.

Friday, October 03, 2008