By: Vivek Mohan
I came to Bombay (then!) in 1989 for an ad course and since then have stayed back for a career in filmmaking that has proved rewarding enough with a national award. I found the atmosphere here very open and welcoming to people who toiled. My first lesson in Marathi and later-life jostling during peak hours in Best buses when the master yelled, ‘Pudhe chala…!’ (move forward…) too had no outsider feeling. With Hindi being the national language and English the library language of the world I survived in, learning the local ‘mannerism’ was not an essential exercise for me, but I anyway did it spontaneously (maybe that’s how we Indians define our multi-cultural existence).
There’s no doubt that Mumbai’s success has been a collective effort (including that of the Marathi Manoos), and for a collective benefit (including the Marathi Manoos). I remember an article that appeared long back in the Reader’s Digest saying, “Delhi is too Punjabi, Kolkata Bengali, and Chennai Madrasi but Bombay (then!) is truly a cosmopolitan mega metro.”
Mumbai’s story, in fact, is no different than Bollywood, which evolved as earlier producers were rich Gujarati cotton traders) who respected nothing but talent. Art, craft and cinema, in fact, have hardly had any boundaries ever. Probably that’s why Madhuri Dixit and even the legendary Dada Saheb Phalke have ever had any other identity than being Indians. And that’s why I have never ever felt being a Himachali here, or my neighbor has seen me that way.
I always told myself that if I fail to make it here I’ll go back to Himachal and open a ‘Sharma tea stall’ (the official surname and too many of them). But the city favoured me, as it has been doing for any hardworking Indian, and I flourished, as did the city. I have always told my colleagues here that like ‘-kars’ (Mangeshkar/Tendulkar) in Maharashtra, we’ve ‘-ta’s’ (Preity Zinta whom many thought that she’s a Parsi). But these matter only in a friend circle for a good laugh.
And it’s not that ‘outsiders’ are surviving on Mumbai, rather it is the other way round. The option of ‘Sharma tea stall’ is still open for me, but in the process Mumbai will certainly lose an honest professional, on whom it has flourished for over a century.
It’s corruption of the mind that has divided us into castes, creeds, religions, nationalities and even languages. Knowing or not knowing any language doesn’t make anyone better or worse, but being human or inhuman does make a lot of difference for better or worse.
Let’s learn the language of love once again.
(The writer is a award-winning Mumbai-based filmmaker)
Yes sir, i totally agree with you and respect your words. Hope, one day the big bosses in mumbai will understand this and stop using language, caste, regional status etc., as their sword to publicize themselves. JAI HIND
Hindi is NOT the national language of India. It is one of the official languages. There were large scale agitations when Hindi was proposed as the national language, and the constitution does not declare Hindi as the national language. It is simply one of the two official languages, and one of 22 scheduled languages.
Its just another ploy by our politicians to stay in the news and garner votes. Before anything else we are Indians first and the day our nation recognises this, we shall be a superpower.
Earlier to reading the comments of marathi manoos I used to believe that It is only Raj thakery who is acting against the basic nature of our age old culture which allows us to tolerate each other despite some reservations. Does marathi manoos understand that who will supply milk to them if all North Indiand leave mumbai. who will drive their taxis? Mumbai is economic capital of country because of help from North Indians. If raj Thakery has guts why dont he and his MNS people attack rich and influential north Indians?
In fact they are cowards who are afraid of hard working north Indians. They are flourishing because of leniency of CONGRESS govt, which has allowed this kind of divisive forces to operate in Past also e.g in Punjab.
Lets vote out incompetent people.
Here is some interesting analysis:
Bombay and urban areas of Thane have only 47 assembly constituencies out of 289 in Maharashtra. The key to the Maharashtra assembly has been in the sugar belt – with its 75 seats. But the Bombay metro region’s representation will increase to 60 in the next elections, while the sugar belt will fall to 63 seats – making winning Bombay much more important to be able to form the Maharashtra state government.
Raj Thackrey – The Next Bhindranwale
I strongly feel, there is point in what Raj say’s..but i at the same time the means he is using to express things…On the lighter part would like to share some information on marathi culture
http://www.marathisongs.org
Thanks Vivek Mohan ji,
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