i am in love with this woman, awesome writeup !!!
Correct me if I am wrong, Raj… but I consider myself an assal
Marathi manoos. Born in Maharashtra to Maharashtrian parents etc.
Proud to be Marathi (even though my language skills in my mother
tongue are embarrassingly dodgy). I don’t know how to make the
perfect puran poli but I do love aamti..
This is clearly not enough anymore. Going by the checklist, I could
be disqualified on several scores. I am married to a Bong, who has
lived and worked in Mumbai for over 30 years (but alas, has not been
appointed ambassador to the state of West Bengal yet!). He attends
Durga Puja regularly and prefers maacher jhol to vangi bhaat.
Fortunately, we don’t have a daughter-in-law to name a college after,
either in Kolkata or Mumbai…. And our children (like yours) did not
attend Marathi-medium schools.. We employ people based on their
competence, not caste or region. And I have never asked the vegetable
vendor, breadwalla, taxi driver, dhobi, sweeper, elevator attendant,
security guard, pizza delivery boy or any of the other people who
make my life easier, which part of India they come from.
This is Mumbai, meri jaan! Who cares where anyone comes from? Dhanda
is all that matters.. Mumbai is India ‘s most powerful magnet. Once
you get here, you never leave. Don’t believe me? Ask those innocent
bhajjiwallas and doodhwallas who were beaten up and stoned by your
men last week. Even with blood-soaked bandages around their heads,
and broken hearts, they are staying put. As they should.
Aaah, the natak of your dramatised ‘arrest’ was not lost on anybody.
Had Rakhi Sawant’s slapping stunt not grabbed those eyeballs on
Valentine’s Day, viewers would still be stuck with the image of a
nattily dressed you (mmmm…loved the styling), clambering in and out
of the police van. If Rakhi cleverly stage-managed the incident, what
should one say about your brilliant coup? Overnight, Raj Thackeray
was elevated from being the discarded Thackeray to a national figure.
In one well-orchestrated move, you went from being a neglected nephew
of an ageing tiger, to a sharp-clawed, teeth-baring cub with an
independent act of his own. The circus acquired a brand new star attraction — you!
It was never easy being a Thackeray. Ask Balasaheb. If he targeted
south Indians in the ’60s, you smartly headed north. Same agenda,
diametrically different directions. By questioning the bona fides of
those who have made Maharashtra their home, both of you tapped into
the vulnerabilities of the average Marathi manoos. It is worth asking
the very people whose interests you are protecting, whether they
really want to do the dirty work currently being handled by the
northies.
Will the Marathi manoos agree to put in 18 hours a day plying taxis,
selling veggies, washing clothes and so on? Who’s stopping them from
turning into vendors of milk, food grains, and other commodities?
Perhaps, the Marathi manoos considers such occupations demeaning? The
truth is, these jobs have always gone abegging, and there have been
any number of hungry, unemployed people from other states ready and
willing to grab them. Kick the ‘outsiders’ out at your own peril, and
see what happens…
Why do farmers commit suicide in such numbers only in Maharashtra ?
The answer, dear Raj, may surprise you.
In your defence, let me say you received the worst press — biased at
best, and shrill to boot. Most of the semi-hysterical reporters from
prestigious news channels were embarrassingly ill-informed as they
blabbered incoherently each time a leaf moved outside the
magistrate’s court!
Surely, you are not complaining? Everything seems to be going
according to the master plan. You have ‘made it’ in one swift move.
And women are finding you kinda cute in that sleeveless baby blue
pullover. Great copy, great photo ops. What more does a neta want? To
keep Mayawati and Lalu out of Maharashtra ? Now, that’s a tall order!
friends!!! all i wanna say is that jus because some dude is getting a complex of getting his presence felt in all the wrong ways possible. end of it he is sitting in his house … roaming around in the safety of his bullet proof cars …. WHO SUFFERS? us … we … me … u … the common man … is dividing the country a solution to all this problem … where is the india’s image of being the most culturally and non communal country in the world … are we the common people to blame … NO !!! … its the few people who ae creating the divide in this beautiful nation.
how do u define happiness?
“i feel it is more of a feeling rather than something that we can easily put into words” says G*Nice
some measure it by money in the bank, though its no doubt true that if you have a healthy flow of cash, you are empowered to enjoy the pleasures of life and live comfortably, drive a fancy car, enjoy the fruits of exotic travel and to a certain degree have a sense of security for the future. but then life does tell us that no one knows what the next days or in fact the next moment has in store for us. to top it all we have heard of multimillionaires who on the face of it have everything, but just cannot buy themselves true happiness.
so as a proof we know that true happiness is not just a money thing. i have more often found it to be true that people that seem to have very little in terms of material wealth and those who don’t get caught up in the rat race to usually acquire the same, appear to be the most content. but i don know if it’s merely a case of ignorance is bliss or is it that a more humble and uncluttered living allows people to focus on the more important things in life, like health, family, community and stuff like that.
don’t get me wrong, if i say that i would love have a mint back home. i wouldn’t mind a few extra zeros at the end of my bank balance with a number of course at the front of them. i wouldn’t mind living n spending extravagantly, but then it hits me … just think of the difference you could make to somebody’s life by using what u blow away at a club on a Saturday night. sometimes it sure seems that there is something missing, even though the wealth is plentiful.
i feel happiness is a much more simpler than it seems. if u wake up in the morning and before you are truly aware of who and where you are, you have a feeling of optimism and calm surrounding u rather than dread or worries, then i feel u are on the right path. if u can go about your daily routine being thoroughly sure that there is no one u have bad feelings for, and that anyone u meet will be pleased to meet you, then u are doing something right. just look at your friends and relationships that you have, and use it them as a mirror to judge yourself and you come out looking pretty, i think u have then actually cracked it. Happiness i mean, not the mirror!!!
This is my life, its not what it was before, how these feelings I have shared.
These are my dreams, that I haven’t lived before,
somebody wake me coz I must be sleeping.
now that we are here so far away,I will struggle if I wasn’t there,
all the mistakes that I have made,they have finally started to go away.
now that we are here so far away and I feel that I can face again.
I can say that I ain’t ashamed to be the person that I am today.
These are my words that I have never said before,I think I am dealing ok.
This is my smile, that I have never shown before,
somebody shake me coz I must be sleeping.
Now that we are here so far away,I will struggle if I wasn’t there
all the mistakes that i have made,they have finally started to go away.
now that we are here so far away and I feel that I can face again,
I can say that I ain’t ashamed to be the person I am today.
I have started fading,please don’t save me.
I am afraid of waking,please don’t shake me.
Now that we are here so far away, I will struggle if I wasnt there,
and all the mistakes that I have made,they have finally started to go away.
now that we are here so far away and I feel that I can face again.
I can say that I ain’t ashamed to be the person I am today.
written by close friend Shushant
LEAVE THE ROAD 