What’s the definition of a ‘Maharashtrian’? / Where are we heading?

Credits – Shobha De (Great bhet, IBN Lokmat)

                Rajdeep Sardesai

This blog has two titles. Choose the one befitting. :)

Who am I? After the self-proclamation of being a Maharashtrian-to-the-core in one of my previous blogs, the Govt. of Maharashtra or rather the DTE is hell bent on proving otherwise. Confused, are we? Well, I was filling this application form today and believe me, it had FIVE types of candidatures, which means I was given five chances to prove that I am in some way a Maharashtrian, yet not one of them applied to me. They were successful in proving that I am an outcast.

All my previous generations have been maharashtrians, I eat maharashtrian food, I love thaalipith, I like pithla, and man do I love puran poli… I speak my mother tongue(marathi, in case you hadn't guessed that yet :P), I follow our culture, I love Ganesh chaturthi, I live in Pune, I did my engineering from this city, I like every aspect of this city (well, some of them need improvement :P ), but nevertheless, I like living here. Now WHAT more do I need to do to prove that I am entitled to a seat here as much as the others?

Incidentally, today, I happened to watch this interview of Shobha De’s where she was asked “Do you consider yourself a Maharashtrian?” and she was astounded at being asked such a question. And she replied, “Of course I am a Maharashtrian, 110%! That is not even a question”. And I feel the same way.

It’s saddening that a city like Ahmedabad or Delhi would welcome me with open arms, but not my own state. :(

Despite all this, despite having selected the “Outside Maharashtra Student” category on my application form, I stand firm on my statement that I am a Maharashtrian to the core and would like to see my state (where my roots lie) progress and prosper.

There have been a lot of agitations, morchas, a lot of 'dadagiri' by some sections of the society who claim to be pro-marathis (people who would like to see their people grow). I am not against their thoughts, only that their adopted methods cannot help them achieve their goals in the long run.

I agree with Rajdeep Sardesai when he says, “I too am proud of my roots. I too, would like to see the cultural identity of Maharashtrians preserved and the economic well-being of our community assured. Where we differ is that I am a citizen of the Republic of India first, a proud Goan Maharashtrian only later.”

For us to progress and to develop, we need to adopt better ways and come up with better, more constructive ideas than beating people up and forcing them to leave the state.

What we need is a medium to promote our rich culture (remember Tilak and the Sarvajanik Ganesh festival?) and polish the diamonds that we already possess.

Make love not war :)

Special credits - Rohit K :)..... happy? :P