With no idea of Marathi, no inkling of the crowds that walk superfast on pavements (I forgot...they barely exist in parts...), on rail overbridges, on roads, everywhere...and a coldness that pervaded the monotony of such speed, it looked like I wouldn't survive it!
And yeah, it sure hurt and badly when I had to get used to such chill closer home...when the next door neighbour looked non-existent, the one opposite my door too looked like he/she never existed there...and their/our neighbour gave these intimidating vibes that kept me off, despite initial attempts to get friendly.
Friendly neighbourhoods were commonplace once...my initial months in Mumbai proved they are extinct. In the wake of the Raj Thackeray onslaught against any human he perceived an `outsider', my husband and I sure got the feeling that we were foreigners in an alien land, migrants who were deemed to be thrown out of the place.
You saw it on the faces of people...you saw it in the explosive noise of a door being slammed on your face only because you passed by and were an outsider somehow hurting them by merely existing. My husband and I faced it when our housing society folks picked up a fight with us for no reason, when we were just returning from our night walk.
The hostility continued for a while too...In the meanwhile though, language and region that was used to alienate people like my husband and me, pushed us to make friends among others from the South, or even elsewhere. We were initially afraid, then angry, sometimes reacted, and sometimes just ignored what was happening around...but bonded nevertheless, offering support to each other during the initial months, and getting closer as time passed by.
Somehow...things have changed now. I got the shock of my life a few days back when the neighbour who does not as much as smile at me...rang my doorbell to invite me home for Satyanarayana Pooja!
They say never refuse an invitation to a prayer - specially Satyanarayana Pooja. I have grown to believe that when it comes to prayer, one may go to the enemy's place too if invited. I agreed readily of course, and went over with my other neighbour friends. No hostility. Only friendliness, warmth...even if for courtesy's sake! I would love to believe it was not just courtesy...nevertheless, it felt good to pray in someone's home! Especially if that someone showed change of heart.
Even so, when I walk out of my home to go to the doctor, or a shop, I do walk out with a sense of community...something I missed a great deal in my initial months. I no longer feel an `outsider as Raj Thackeray would want it'...I hope it is not temporary, but things have changed...does 26/11 have anything to do with it?
2 comments:
Politicians Like Raj Thackeray – Cause of a weakening Indian Society
Don’t blame Pakistan or the terrorist. They had the courage and pride to inflict damage to a country they believe is there enemy. We have to blame so called Indians like the Thackeray’s and the people who follow them (Marathi Manoos) who are making our society weak. These people unlike the rest of India have never had to struggle and have lived off the wealth created by outsiders. They have negligible contribution towards the growth of Mumbai which was created by outsiders who believed in national pride, hope, hard work and continuous struggle for progress. Mumbai was created by British, Gujaratis, Marwadis, Parsis and companies like TATA’s whose wealth came from their flagship company “Tata Steel” in Bihar. In fact most of these people don’t know or care about Indian History, have never stepped outside Maharastra and are not aware that Mumbai wasn’t even a part of Maharashtra.
Lack of enterprise, ethics, courage and hard work has resulted in a society which demonstrates incompetence in every area and has the potential to adversely effect the Nations growth and prosperity. This is not a simple problem. A weak society influenced by paranoid cowards, completely detached from reality, confused and megalomaniacs like Raj Thackeray has the potential to completely destroy the country to take india to fragmented pre-1947 india , which was a period of intense repression from foreign forces where we saw large scale genocides, large scale destruction of hindu temples and blatant conversion of temples into mosques
Politicians Like Raj Thackeray – Cause of a weakening Indian Society
Don’t blame Pakistan or the terrorist. They had the courage and pride to inflict damage to a country they believe is there enemy. We have to blame so called Indians like the Thackeray’s and the people who follow them (Marathi Manoos) who are making our society weak. These people unlike the rest of India have never had to struggle and have lived off the wealth created by outsiders. They have negligible contribution towards the growth of Mumbai which was created by outsiders who believed in national pride, hope, hard work and continuous struggle for progress. Mumbai was created by British, Gujaratis, Marwadis, Parsis and companies like TATA’s whose wealth came from their flagship company “Tata Steel” in Bihar. In fact most of these people don’t know or care about Indian History, have never stepped outside Maharastra and are not aware that Mumbai wasn’t even a part of Maharashtra.
Lack of enterprise, ethics, courage and hard work has resulted in a society which demonstrates incompetence in every area and has the potential to adversely effect the Nations growth and prosperity. This is not a simple problem. A weak society influenced by paranoid cowards, completely detached from reality, confused and megalomaniacs like Raj Thackeray has the potential to completely destroy the country to take india to fragmented pre-1947 india , which was a period of intense repression from foreign forces where we saw large scale genocides, large scale destruction of hindu temples and blatant conversion of temples into mosques
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