Raj Thackeray Aani Marathi
I’m not Maharashtrian, at least not genetically, but I am firmly attached to the state. My family ended up in Bombay because of partition. They lost everything and began again. Displaced persons in a city that offered a combination of compassion, staggering kindness and cruelty, almost of all of them developed a deep and abiding love for it. My father went away on scholarship to Europe to study and says he couldn’t sleep well because he couldn’t hear the Bombay sea. Almost all the women of the family learned to speak Marathi. All the men understand it perfectly, but feel embarrassed about speaking it. An uncle married a Maharashtrian. It was in their house that I spent a lot of my childhood. I was cooed at, chastised, loved, in Marathi. To this day, I do not know my “mother tongue.” With my aunt I had to remember to say “khup” (a lot) and not “lai” as Tanu bai, another Maharashtrian mother figure of my childhood had taught me!
When we were in fifth standard we began learning Marathi in school. The classes were the most stultifyingly boring I have ever attended in my life. The text book, the teacher-everything was so dry, anyone without any previous exposure to the language would have had any nascent interest in it killed immediately. When I was in the eighth standard I started learning French at the Alliance Francaise. The approach was entirely different-based on the fun and beauty of the language, a fun and beauty that Marathi certainly doesn’t lack. I did three languages for my board exams, both in class ten and twelve. The thought of choosing Marathi, though the option existed, did not even cross my mind. I chose French-simply on the basis that those classes were more enjoyable and taught better. It took a move to London, a yearning for the sound of one of the languages of my childhood, a chance encounter with a Marathi speaker who taught while he was doing something else, for me to start studying the language seriously again. I am making it interesting for me to learn, but I am an adult and children need their teachers to do that for them.
This time while I was in Mumbai, Mr. Raj Thackeray’s grumblings about people not speaking Marathi etc etc were still reverberating. He can throw as many tantrums as he likes. His hoodlums can cause trouble. He can wag his finger at the people all he likes, and stick it ominously in the air all he likes (what is it with Indian politicians and the finger anyway?) But that is not the way to make people want to learn a language.
I wish Mr. Thackeray would DO something for Marathi. DO something that doesn’t involve hectoring and abusing North Indians. Do something that makes kids want to run to their Marathi class, because it’s fun. Make Marathi medium schools world class. Send the teachers on courses so they learn how to teach the language. Promote Marathi literature and poetry. Expose people to the joys of Marathi music. Hold festivals. Spend money on these things, rather than on more statues of Shivaji that will be mute spectators to the demise of the language, starting with the schools.
Raj Thackerey has been pathetic of late… I dont know why suddenly India is into all kinds of regional issues… Bihar is under flood, in Karnataka & Orissa they are attacking christians, Bengal is into Singur-Nano issue, Delhi-Ahmedabad into bomb blasts…
Off these all, what I hate the most is regional parties’ anti social attitude and religion/caste politics!
We are not getting anywhere…
Ajith
PS: Just happened to visit this blog via jocalling -> winnowed route…
Welcome here. India has always been into “regional issues”, but nationalism and regionalism soon become excuses for chauvinism!
i agree…
me pan pseudo marathi manoos aahe
love the language and despise cheap regional politics
nice read
I think the concern for Marathi these guys are displaying is also pseudo!
I think most people learn a language based on its utility. A few noble people learn a language for its beauty and literature. If English is popular, it’s not because it is more beautiful than other languages, but because it is the most useful language to know. For this reason, Alliance Francaise and Max Mueller Bhavan will always have a limited impact in Mumbai and other parts of India. If the Thackerays could develop the whole of Maharashtra a la Mumbai with the wholesale participation of Maharashtrians, a lot of Indians would be learning Marathi. Good bye. I’m off to my Mandarin class. Vinod Joseph
Well, if it’s compulsory to learn it might as well make it interesting, no?
I miss bombay…marathi etc etc. I love the way “ya” is added to every name…
The only fluent thing I know in marathi is the woodworths gripe water ad … its my earliest memory of marathi
Chinchya?!
Hi there,
I completely agree with the fact that politicians are better off spending their time and money in doing constructive things such as improving the facilities at Marathi medium schools, revising the syllabus and teaching methods followed while teaching Marathi, popularizing Marathi folk arts, and in general contributing to the betterment of the language and people.
However, in India, almost all situations are “Win-Lose” situations, ie, if I have to win, someone has to lose. And therefore, it is easier for politicians or for that matter any Indian, to ensure that somebody else loses out first. After that, they ll start working towards making their teams win. Actually most of them lose their own steam by the time the other guy loses, and therefore, the question of his own team winning does not hold good at all.
Wow, did I make any sense in that above comment at all, or was I just rambling. Hopefully I got the point across
Cheers……Jam
You did!
I am a second class Mumbaikar. I have been here since i was 2 years old. Oh! why was i two years too late. But no, Even if my Parents and my grandparents were born here i would still be a Second class citizen… according to the Thackeray family… inspite of my Dad being older than Raj, and my grandad than Balasaheb. Where did these people come from? How have they managed to shake the roots of cosmopolitan Bombay. There was a time when i used to “show around” my marathi colleagues from the interior parts of maharashtra- what a beautiful city my Bombay was! Today the same guy.. from Gadchiroli or Buldana is more welcome in Bombay than i or my father am? I am no great person nor was my dad. We have not contributed excessively to Bombay (to prove our Mumbainess). But That colleague of mine from Gadchiroli was fed up with Bombay in 3 days and was waiting to leave for home. (not because they spoke more Marathi back home… Language was never the issue). But i still loved Bombay. But i still am a second class citizen. I studied marathi as a language in school grew up with marathi friends. But i still am a second class citizen. I fell in love with a pretty girl (who i found out was marathi) and got married. She doesnt speak my mothertongue.. though i speak fluent marathi. But i still am a second class citizen. The only identity i have when i go to my parents’ village is that i am “from Bombay”… along with the awe inspired looks i get. It used to be a matter of pride. But after 28 years of that pride, Along comes Raj thackeray and his band and brands me an outcast. …..I still am a second class citizen. …Raj, you were not there when we were helping each other in the floods, you were not there when we were lifting our brothers bodies out of the bloody train blasts, you were not there in the ganpati visarjans where we danced our hearts out. Because i was just an ordinary true blooded Mumbaikar back then.Until you came by and branded me …second class citizen of Bombay!
Exactly!
1.
Well, I’m not a Maharashtrian, but a Mumbaikar! I did learn Marathi in school, and luckily, had the best Marathi teacher. She was patient, suffering immense pain and frustration while I said “thyaacha shaalecha vahi”. I guess I could pass of as a Maharashtrian (I’ve escaped many a fines as a Marathi manoos), and it is the only language I studied besides English.
2.
I do not agree with Raj Thakerey and his firebrand politics. I don’t agree with the way he goes about doing things – terrorizing people. I don’t agree with forcing people to speak Marathi and a whole lot of things that Shiv Sena does. And I think
But, as a Mumbaikar, there are some concerns. The huge influx of people from all over the country and the disproportionate amount of taxpayers money that comes back to the city. In no other city do we have so many people coming and not going home. The city is being stretched to its limits. I think that should be a concern, and if it is addressed, then maybe people like Thakeray won’t be able to use it for his political mileage.
3.
If the government really wants to stop someone like Thakeray, they can. Right now, people like Thakeray are growing powerful using the sentiments of people. But, still the government will make no effort to improve the pathetic condition Marathi medium schools are in, the government will make no effort to nip Thakeray when he sets out doing things that he does.
4.
I don’t think it’s fair to compare Mumbai with other cities. No other city has been pushed to a point where such feelings for people from outside the state can be bred. Mumbai is severely restricted by space and resources. I am sure that if Chennai or Bangalore were pushed the way Mumbai was, the response would be similar.
People come to cities to make a living. They wouldn’t if their condition wasn’t so pathetic. I would escape from a village to a city-to wherever I could go that provided me the most opportunity. But of course, none of the parties will actually address the fact of rural poverty, instead turning “insiders” against “outsiders”, whatever those categories mean…
Bangalore is feeling pushed-it is experiencing what Mumbai has experienced for a long time and Shiv Sena/MNS type chauvinism is raising it’s head there as well.
I don’t think his concerns are pseudo but he definitely has a knack and penchant for exploiting media to further his own agenda. And, for that, he clearly considers everything game. Who can forget Kini case?!!
Somewhere on Rediff there is an article – a very recent one – that explains how media built Raj.
I don’t like the strong arm tactics one bit but at the same time I won’t pretend that MNS or Shiv Sena haven’t done anything at the grassroot level. They are corrupt and goondas just like Congress but they lack the polish and suave nature.
They are all goondas, including Congress, and Raj can be pretty suave when he wants to be. The situation depends on who is the loudest goonda of the moment. I wish they would do something more at grassroot level which is improve the quality of the schools and hospitals Maharashtrians have access to. Unfortunately they seem to prefer violence, turning people against each other and threats to doing anything concrete.
I don’t know why everybody started hating maharashtra suddenly. What Raj did was absolutely wrong & court should punish him accordingly. But if we look around what we found there are lot many people are like Raj. For example DMK, Telugu Desam, Kannada Rakshika Vedike, Assam Gon Parishad, Gurkha Mukti Morcha. All have same agenda only execution strategy is different.
Raj, I don’t know what gave you the impressiont hat everyone hates Maharashtra. I thought I made love for it clear in this post. Yes, I agree there parties like the MNS in other states.
Now about the article writer. I strongly suspect that he took French class not because he like french or want to learn French but because French or German or Sanskut gives more marks in less study hrs. I myself took Sanskrit in place of Hindi. That does not mean that I hate Hindi but these marks are more important when taking admission in 11th Class.
I am the writer of this post. I am a “she” not a “he” as is fairly obvious all over this blog. Your “strong suspicions” are absolutely incorrect. I loved French and it was difficult to score in the subject. But I happen to be good at languages and I topped the exams.
Also now a days people started learning Mandarin (chinese) so to get advantage in job as lot of jobs for foreigners in China are available today. 5 yrs back no one was interested in chinese. In above comments sombody rightly pointed out that people learning languages more because of utility and less for liking.
That’s true. But Marathi is compulsory, at least for a few years, and for those years at least they can do a better job of improving the teaching of the language, as well as strive to make Marathi medium schools better.
You guys may not be knowing history. Andra was the first state to be formed on language. Jawaharlal Nehru was oppsing it as future issue to national integration.
This guy (girl) knows some history…
But state formation on language was done to make state govt. understandable to local people. So all these states formed after are suppose to run in local languages & it is not anti-nationalism or regionalism. So if you move from one state another state ,as a obidiant citizen, you must do every effort to learn local language. It is just following rules. but problem is if you don’t learn marathi one can easily servive in maharashtra on hindi & english (Same is about other states also). Maharashtra was last state formed on language basis. During that struggle Balasaheb Thackarey’s father was very active so this issue is very dear for Thackerays. During that time 110 marathi activist lost their live so flora fountain called as Hutatma Chowk. That is why this issue is also dear for lot of marathi people. No where in world were people would dies in independent country to save their language like this.
Again more history.Maharashtra Govt. made law in 70′s that name of all businesses to be display in Marathi. Some people fought againt this law in court. Supreme Court ruled that law is valid but only asked Govt. to remove the clause that Marathi sign board should be bigger than other language sign board. There is fine & also 6 months jail for violaters. Actaully shop keepers were breaking the law by not displaying the name of shop in marathi. Sometimes some laws are ridiculas like this but solution is to change the law not to break it. Govt. of Maharashtra did not forced this law in early as it is not much problem that what Raj taken advantage. That is why police not able to arrest Raj Thackeray as he just asked to follow the law. Unfortunately our national media did not explained all this things to all non-marathi’s & this is unneccessary making Raj villian in Non-marathi & hero in marathi.
People need to understand the true intentions of all polititions. Internet is good mediam to make others aware of politics of all issues. We should use it properly
I am an Andhra born in Mumbai studied in a Maharashtrian institution. I love Marathi. Though we speak Telugu at home, I would not mind acknowledging Marathi as my mother-tongue because I am steeped in that culture and know how to read and write Marathi, whereas I can barely recognize the Telugu script. This does not mean I do not love Telugu. Who would not love the language of Saint Thyagaraja. I saw the rise of Bal Thackarey and his Shiv Sena. His nephew (sister’s son)used to be my eldest brother’s best friend and I still remember how he would joke about his uncle and then suddenly one day out of the blue my brother received a letter from him repeating the uncle’s ideas about how all south Indians were ‘outcasts’ in the great city. A valuable friendship was the first casualty of the Sainiks. I am ashamed at the small-mindedness that is exhibited by people who label themselves ‘leaders’
The languages of India are like a great inheritance. We should have a central institution to do research, to find out how culture and tradition is linked to language. How about giving a grade advantage to all students whose mother-tongue is not Marathi whenever they opt for the language. Giving incentives would be a great way of encouraging non-Maharashtrians to learn the language. How about special awards for excellence to such students What has happened to our country? Why cannot we revel in the wonderful mosaic of so many dialects? Our country should be a haven for linguists. Instead it has turned into this toxic communal venom that threatens to erode everything good in our society.
I am proud of the fact that I can appreciate abhangs, and katha-kathans and short-stories and bhava-geet as well as ghazals, and Carnatic kritis and so much more.
Very sad to know that Bal Thackeray’s nephew behaved that way. It’s been South Indians, Gujaratis, North Indians…Completely agree with what you say about our languages being a great inheritance. It is a beautiful comment. Thanks!
Interesting post…If only Mr. Thackeray would understand…that in principle…he is degrading the language and the community rather than upholding its virtue…as yrs go by…People may not associate Marathi as the language of a community rich in its folk and cultural heritage, its festivals, its music, its literature and poetry but rather a subject over which much ruckus was created by a certain Mr. R. T. …Just like many associate Kashmir today with terrorism and not with the land of scenic beauty, shikaras…the heaven on earth that it was once called. If only Mr. R. T. would understand this.
agar marathi aadmi ke liye ladnahi main point tha , tho Shiv sena se bahar nikal ne ki jaroorat nahi thee .
think over it friends.
in 2o th century i beleive in all politicians , police , law and order . Politicians work round the clock to improve country’s image . Police work very hard and honestlly and common man respects police a lot . Our print and electronic media are just two good weapons as far as awarenes is conconred . They are not only concerned with their TRP of their channels . they work in the intrest of the nation .
In fact i find no differnece in politicains of 1942 and 2008 . We can compare mahatma gandhi with Laoo Prasad Yadav . Both beileve in ahinsaa hi suchha dharm hai aur hamesha such bolana chaahiye.
I wish we should honour laloo prasad yadav and Sanjay Dutt [ great actor munnabhai ] with BHARAT RATNA WARD . Our hon minister narayanji raneji should be awarded with noble award and bharat ratna too . Salman khan should be awarded with best , kind and honest man in film industry , every one knows the reason . IN FACT ALL PARTY LEADERS SHOULD BE AWARDED WITH BHARAT RATNA AWARD.
just forgot to ad one more name . samajvadi party leader shree amr singhji . he is great warriier . and not only that he is always seen on tv with amtibah bacchan , who acted in sholay , SARKAR , RAM GOPAL VERMA KI AAG . amAr singhji must be awarded with BHARAT RATNA . HE ALSO MUST BE GIVEN “ARJUN PURASAKAR ” .
AMAR SNGH HAMARA NETA HAI , SABKA [ BOJ ] SAR PE LETA HAI . WPH EK BAHOT BADA SAMAJ SEVAK HAI .
MAYAVATI JI , RABDIDEVI JI , PHOOLAN DEVI ,RAKHI SAWANT JI YE MAHILAYE TOH ZAANSI KI RAANI KE AVTAAR HAI AUR BHARAT DESH KI SHAAN HAI . AISI MAHILAOO KI JAI HO JAI JAI HO .
ppl dont understand what raj thackeray’s actual motives are…… the scum has to b removed…… if u read the recent interview of his with shobha de….. it might change the perspective….. crime rates have gone up…agreed, all of them are not outsiders….. but they who are not maharashtrains…but have been stayin in this state and respectin and adopting the culture and language out here…are totally maharashtrians……. and this should b done by every individual in whichever state he goes… learn, respect and accept the local way of living…..
jai maharashtra, jai hind
How do you define who is scum? Is there a law?
Has it been proven by any independent, objective study that the currently high crime rates are linked to immigrants and which immigrants?
How do you justify the attacks on people who were quietly going about their jobs and were not criminals? Even if they were criminals, shouldn’t they have been reported to the law enforcement agencies?
When you say Jai Hind, aren’t you saluting India and her people? Then why the attacks on innocent Indian citizens going about their daily business?
spiderman….whtever u have said is totally baseless and untrue…..
All the views put forth by different people will receive my complete support. People like Raj Thackeray are playing all these political gimmics so that they can travel in “Lexus”. His own son has opted to learn German and no one questioning him and the reason for it si that the people who are his followers are equally intrested in encashing their vested interest and have nothing to do with the development of Mumbai or the Marathi language.Shiv Sena is in hold of corporation from last ten years and the situation has not improved margianlly for Mumbai.I am never able to find a reason for the people who are fanatically supporting the personal cause of these Thackeray family.
तोंड वाजवून न्याय मिळत नसेल तर तोंडात वाजवून न्याय मिळावा पण न्याय हा ज़ालाच पाहिजे -
I was under the impression that any language is a means to communicate. With time, some changes creep in, which make communication faster, and easier. And slowly, the old language fades away. It has happened to Sanskrit, Pali, Latin, and many other languages. In fact, it is so difficult for a person to identify with a language that must have existed merely a 100 years ago. I am talking about the era of K. L. Saigal, and Devika Rani. We barely have the patience to go through it. So what is this regression all about, except playing on false sentiments?
Politicians dont do anything positive anyway, like the priests of all communities. It is the officers under them who have brought us to this level. Politicians keep on raising issues that do not cost them money. Compared to them the industrialist provides jobs, and consequently, feeds, clothes and shelters his employees, and their families. Why do we spend time listening to guys whose intellect and sanity are a suspect?
An adverse outcome of this would be drastic fall in Maharashtra’s real estate. Few from other states would like to risk their lives by living in such a state. I am not sure Savarkar would have liked this. But I dont think any of the Thackerays remembers such luminaries, so obsessed are they with their own importance. Savarkar didnt ask for separate Maharashtra from the British, he was fighting for freedom of India. And we need a language that unites us. If people using devnagri script keep on fighting amongst themselves, people in south, and east have far more reasons to separate from the country. Will the languages of these states be easy to learn for Maharashtrians? After all, the script is entirely different. If Maharashtra resorts to such language wars, then other states too take pride in their language, and they too can impose such rules. Which means that Maharashtrians do not have any chance for employment in other states. And Mumbai too will soon cease to be the commercial capital of the country. Does Mr. Thackeray understand the adverse implications of such a stance for his own folks? Or is it that he understands but does not care.