Thackreys are Harming Marathi Manoos

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The Thackreys (first Bal and now Raj) have been arguing that speaking of Marathi language in Bombay will result in improving the plight of Marathi Manoos. I just fail to understand that how the forcing of a local language on all and sundry living in the metropolitan city will result in development of the local community.

Here i will like to give the example of Punjab state which has a large number of migrants from Bihar doing all sorts of sundary jobs, right from tilling the farm land along with local farmers, to driving autos, cycle rickshaws and working in the factroies or at shops etc. The Punjabi community has never felt threatened by their presence and is rather happy getting the helping hand from them. As far as the Punjabi language is concerned, every Bihari who has lived in Punjab for more than a year can be heard speaking broken Punjabi. And that is out of sheer liking for the language and not out of any pressure. The 'bhayya' Punjabi has become a dialect in itself. If you approach an auto or a cycle rickshaw puller outside Jalandhar bus stand or railway station you will be greeted with a question asked by him in broken bihari-punjabi "tuseen Keethey Jaana".

A community, which is hard working and has rich heritage and culture, does not need to be afraid of outside influence but rather dyes the outsiders in its own hue.


The Maratha land, has given the country its warriors like Shivaji, its freedom fighters like Tatya Tope, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Gopal Krishan Gokhale, its artists like Lata Mangeshkar, its sports persons like Sachin Tendulkar in addition to Dada Saheb Phalke who founded the Bombay film industry to which artists form all corners of the country have contributed. Maharashtra has also contributed to the Indian Army in the form of a crack regiment like Maratha Light Infantry.

The development of Marathi manoos is not at the mercy of the goons of Thackreys who go around thrashing outsiders to force them to speak Marathi language.

Mere speaking of a language will not lift up its people. I feel that the Thackreys are doing to the Marathi manoos what Taliban is doing to the Muslim world ie, more harm than good

Pub, Club or a Temple ??

In the western world, kissing and cuddling between couples of opposite sex, at public places like trains and parks, is a common sight. The locals there are so used to such scenes that no one pays any attention to these love birds. In one such incident a young couple boarded a train and occupied their seats in a remote corner of the compartment. Soon they started hugging and fondling each other and gradually went into a more compromising posture. The co-passengers, though, having known about what was going on in the corner of the train, turned a blind eye and kept busy with their normal activity, reading books, chatting or looking out of the windows. No one in the train seemed to have paid any special attention to them unless the couple, after the act, lighted a cigarette and started smoking. It was at this point of time that almost every one around them got up in protest and forced them to put off the cigarette. The couple apologised and complied immediately. Well, it was the act of smoking which posed a threat to the health of the passengers and to the fire safety of the train.



In our country it is the other way round. People would smoke, spit, pee and even defaecate in public with impunity and no one seems to bother. But at the same time, try holding hand of your man/woman/spouse in a public place and you will find all the eyes ogling at you alone. And God forbid if you proceed further in your act of love for your partner, like kissing or hugging, you are in for a harsher treatment at the hands of our self styled moral policemen.



Those who oppose such acts, keep harping upon saving the ethos and values of our culture and heritage. I have published a picture below which i took at one of the most famous ancient heritage sites of India, the Sun Temple at Konark. This and many more such poses, sculpted out of stone, adorn the outer walls of the temple. These sculptures not only show the act of sexual pleasure between men and women but also reflect polygamy, polyandry, extra marital relationships and different poses and postures to enjoy sensual pleasures.



After a closer look at the walls of the temple, embellished with many more such stone idols of men and women, i could only conclude that either such a display in a temple was not considered vulgar, or else this was not a temple. Or was it a club, or a pub ? If some one argues that no worship takes place at Konark and Khajuraho, then please go and visit Shri Jagan Nath Temple at Puri, which is one of our four 'Dhams' swarmed by hundreds of greedy 'Pandas' ready to fleece you on one pretext or the other. There again such sculptures are a plenty all over the outer most walls of the temple. Only one can't take a photograph there. Go take a round of the outer periphery of the temple (if at all you are released by the attending 'Panda' to do so) and figure out for yourselves.



Here i am not trying to find any fault with any religion as such, nor i have an intention to hurt any religious feelings (please forgive me if i have done so) but i am only wondering that why such acts, which were considered so pious that they were chiseled in stone and were preserved to be displayed on the outer walls of the world famous structures, standing over centuries as sentinels of religious and cultural heritage of our country, are stamped today as vulgar if seen in public in flesh and blood by the followers of the same religion.

Sun Temple , Konark, Orissa, India

Initially i was a little hesitant to up load this image here, but then this post would have been incomplete without it. Then i tried to edit it by erasing the vital parts but again decided against it because i do not want to join the group of the same hypocrites whom i am targetting here.

The Head Gear

I visit a Gurudwara (Sikh shrine) on Sunday mornings more or less on a regular basis and some times also in the evenings. The congregations are held twice a day at predesignated time. I try and reach the place well in time to avoid walking in at the fag end of the proceedings.

One day when i went to the Gurudwara to attend the evening session, i got considerably delayed due to some unavoidable reasons. I parked my car and hurried up the slope leading to the shrine. As I was mentally preoccupied not to miss the 'Ardaas' -- the final prayer of the day-- which was about to start, I forgot to cover my head. One has to keep one's head covered in the presence of Guru Granth Sahib (the Sikh holy book) as per the Sikh 'maryada' (tenets). The covering of head particularly in Hindu, Sikh and Muslim religions is associated with paying respect, though the members of some communities in India as well, as in some other parts of the world, take off the head gear and uncover the head to pay respect.

Inside the Gurudwara that I had entered bareheaded, the 'Granthi' (priest) was reciting hymns from Guru Granth Sahib. As I was taking a bow before the holy book, he looked at me through the gap between his eyebrows and the rims of his spectacles giving me a stern look. I could not interpret the meaning of his look. As I was walking back to take my seat in the gathering, I saw a few devotees frowning at me. One of them, who was sitting in a corner and was busy reading the extracts of Guru Granth Sahib from a small booklet called 'Gutka', independently of the proceedings going on in the Gurudwara, rushed out to fetch a small piece of cloth for me to cover my head. In most of the Gurudwqaras generally the cloth pieces, properly done up in square or triangular shapes, are kept on a stand for those bare headed devotees, who may like to use them for covering their heads. By this time one of the devotees pointed towards my head and I realised my mistake and promptly took out handkerchief from my pocket and covered my head. I sat down amongst the devotees with embarrassment writ large on my face. I knew that I was in for an admonishment from the priest as well, as from some self styled moral policeman at the end of the proceedings.

The 'Granthi', completed the necessary rituals of the 'Ardaas' and the 'mukhwaak'. Mukhwak is a shloka which is read out by the priest from the holy book at the end of the prayers, popularly known as 'hukamnama' or the divine order. After the distribution of 'prasad', the ' granthi' who was respectfully called 'Baba Ji' by the devotees, came straight towards me and sat down. Some other devotees were still present there. Generally for the evening sessions, the number of devotees is far less as compared to the mornings. As i prepared myself to listen to the moral lecture, he started narrating a story to us.

Once Majnu, the lover boy of the 'Laila Majnu' love affair fame, was on his way to meet his beloved Laila. He was so engrossed in his thoughts about meeting her that he nearly bumped into a person who was offering 'Namaaz'(the Muslim way of offering prayers at designated time by spreading a sheet and facing the westerly direction at any convenient corner of even a public place, in case there is no mosque nearby). The man stopped his 'Namaaz' in between and ran after Majnu and asked him that why he had crossed in front of him and had disturbed his 'Namaaz'. Majnu, who was also a Muslim, promptly apologised and explained that he was so much lost in the thoughts of his beloved that he did not even notice that some one was offering 'Namaaz' there. But in the same breath Majnu asked the 'Namaazi' that if he was offering his prayers with true devotion, then how did he notice that some one had walked in front of him. The 'Granthi' then went on to explain further that when we pray, we should connect with the Divine in true sense of the term and should not bother about our surroundings. Citing the example of Majnu in the story, he told the audience that Majnu's love for Laila was more intense and sublime than the 'Namaazi's devotion for God.

After finishing his sermon he looked meaningfully at the person who had rushed outside to get the cloth for me to cover my head and once again gave me a glance, but this time with a smile.
I felt relieved.