Some Ashes from Mumbai....

Pretext :-
Once upon a time some Ganga kinaare wala chhoras came to the great Maharashtrian city of Mumbai in search of some fortunes.. Thats because they had heard that this cosmopolitan city offers enough fortunes for everyone.. Then their neighbors back home followed them - followed them because back home, unlike in Mumbai, they didn't have enough jobs. Then they allegedly started spoiling the local culture, started grabbing all the businesses, jobs etc and the locals were left to starve.. And they allegedly continue to do so.

So the retaliation by locals in the past -
Every now and then, attacks on those 'outsiders' being carried out by the saviors of the local people n culture - the Thackrays (for whom its the most easiest way to galvanize people and get votes).
untimely n uncalled attacks on small vendors, hawkers, labors, taxis drivers, students, film stars, bollywood artists, and whom not! attacking their social functions like poojas, concerts, movies, or any kind of gatherings..

Some recent news (these are some NEWS - not any views (unless specified), please tell me if any of these news are wrong) :-

• Sunday, Oct 19 -

Students from UP/Bihar, appearing for railway exams, are attacked, beaten badly, not allowed to write the exams, one of them even died..

• Oct 20th -

Raj Thackray (just like his uncle Thackray in the past) dares the government to arrest him and be ready for the consequences - i.e. Maharashtra will burn.!!

• Oct 21st -

As part of a high level drama, Mr Raj is arrested and several cases in many sections are registered all over Maharashtra. He's produced in the court, and sent to custody for one night..

• Oct 22nd -

As expected, he gets a bail.. Goes to his house where he is welcomed as a victorious warrior. his gestures clearly suggesting that he got what he wanted..

• a few days later, Oct 27th -

A young bihari lad tries to hijack a BEST bus (In my opinion, he was probably inspired by some bollywood movies like RDB). He wanted to kill Mr Raj Thackray.
The boy had a country-made pistol and no spare bullets, and he had not shot at any person.. So, the brave Mumbai police shoots down the dangerous terrorist.

• Some of the comments on the incident :-

"My security should be tightened" - Raj Thackrey....... the court had imposed a ban on him over speaking to the media.
"Anyone who tries to threaten the public, will be dealt with gunshots like this. Police has taken right action." - RR Patil, home minister, Maharashtra.
"The boy was a Bihari mafia, and was killed in that style. Mumbai police has shown their bravery" - Shiv Sena (through a Saamna Article)

That boy was well educated, and comes from a normal middle class family.

• Oct 28th -

Around a dozen localites boarded a local train wherein some of the "outsiders" were going to their natives in UP. well, the localites came to know that these are the dangerous outsiders. So, to show them where they belong, the outsiders were asked to do some derogatory acts, then beaten - beaten to death..
So what did the brave Mumbai police do? A case was registered just 18 hours after the incident took place. noone has been arrested.


What I make out of all these news??

• The quick, brave, great Mumbai police who kills a lonely boy with a country pistol instead of overpowering and arresting him, will not arrest the murderers of the UP boy. If someone is arrested, I'd ask Mr RR Patil to be the man of his words and ask his police to take the right action - gun down the person who not only threatened but also killed people.)
• You will shoot a person for threatening people, and a rioter like Raj Thackray will be treated like a prince of somewhere..
  

Mee Mumbaikar

Mumbai – The city of dreams, is a true face of modern India . Often glorified by the different sources of media (specially the bollywood), has always been very close to my heart. And to your surprise, I’ve never been a resident Mumbaikar! In fact, I’ve never been a resident of any part of Maharashtra !. And I’m sure that there are many more who love the city, but have never been there. Thanks to Bollywood for that! I even know so many names of the different localities inside the city. In fact I know more localities in Mumbai than in Patna !

Ever since a kid, I had this dream to one day step outside the VT station, be careful with the baggageJ, go to ‘chowpatty’ & have a good view of ‘dariya’. Watch a film shoot around the Gateway of India, then probably in the suburbs, encounter a few gang wars/shoot outs……..

And I had my day. To take admission in a college in Karnataka, I could not get a direct reservation to Bangalore & decided to make the journey via Mumbai. The station I stepped out from, was Kurla instead of VT(which is CST now) – & no one came to snatch the baggage. There were some 10 hours for the next train to Bangalore , so we decided to go to CST. We took the life-line of Mumbai – the local train. It was mostly empty, as it was noon.

Traveling on the doors of an empty Mumbai local is an experience that can’t be put in words. CST was not much different from the VT shown in movies. The same huge clock on a tower, the same long queue of taxis. We took one of them to the Gateway, so soothing – had seen it numerous times on TV/pics but nothing matches the live view. People roaming around – mostly tourists, front view of the hotel Taj, I was lucky to see the Indian navy ships in the sea having the Tricolor printed, felt like saluting it.


The next stop would be the Juhu chowpatti . On the way, we saw several big bungalows of several personalities(as told by the driver one of them was Big B’s - whatever he says!)


That was another gr8 experience. Sun was ready to fall into the deep blue sea. With a costly bhel-puri in my hands, I took my first steps into the marine waters in my life! Then we went on to see the marine drive. In the evening it looks majestic. It was amazing to look into the west, I saw lights coming from the Arabian sea, probably from Dubai !! You feel more Indian when u see a non-Indian entity. And how can I forget the return journey - again in the local! This time it was not as empty as previously. We just got to the platform somehow, and were helped by the people into the train. I remember I did not take a single step! A similar story while getting down – just got near the gates on my own…

On my several subsequent trips to Mumbai, I’ve had different great experiences, and the most memorable ones were : the local train, Gateway, The marine drive, the chowpati, The Juhu Iskcon temple, Haji ali, the Vada pao, the aunty who owned the lodge in which I spent two nights….


Its probably this love I have for the city, that makes me uncomfortable when someone says : “You are not allowed!

it’s the city of maharashtrians and you are an unwanted species.” And then they say ‘jai maharashtra’. I’m sure that this very act makes the spirit of Maharashtra cry. I’m sure The great Bal Gangadhar Tilak will be shedding tears from heaven..



Mumbai is as mine as yours or any other Indian’s.


Jai Hind.