The outsider debate is an old one. IK Gujral's wife once commented in a social gathering "Delhi was a cultural village when we came to settle. Lahore was the Paris of east" to which an old timer Delhite commented "If you didnt find culture in the city of Ghalib and Auliya you should have gone to Paris." The lady made hasty retreat from the party. Old timers Delhites have always regretted loss of Delhi culture to mean Punjabis. The Gorkhas couldnt digest Bengalis. There was agitation in Assam against Biharis. Then why does everyone blames Maharashtrians alone? Fact is Marathis are original people of Mumbai. 100% of them live here. But from other states only the more educated ones land in Mumbai get jobs and then comment Marathis are good only for mean jobs. How many people back in your village do these mean jobs? (if these jobs at all exist). Does nobody in your village sell fish? Ofcourse they cant be gutter cleaners because there are perhaps no gutters in your village and everyone uses fields
RE:Outsider Debate
by Albert Pintoo on Feb 28, 2008 03:11 AM Permalink
1. We are all indians and the constitution gives us right to live anywhere in India including Mumbai. No Thackrey can deny that to me.
2. Yes... if I live in Mumbai or Bangalore or Delhi ... I should always respect the local culture, local people and infact learning a new language or new culture will help me. Rather than being a Bihari in Mumbai I'd like to be one of the Mubaites.
3. "But from other states only the more educated ones land in Mumbai get jobs and then comment Marathis are good only for mean jobs."... This is the worst one can think of. If the local fisherman does not sell fish what will you eat? Rather than calling it a mean job you should be thankful to all those who are providing a service to you... be it the machhi gay, gutter cleaner, dhobi or maid servant. You should thank them for making your life easy.
4. At times for the sake of regional pride, we forget what Indian culture is... "Atithi Devo Bhava". It does not harm to have two additonal languages (English and Hindi) on sign boards or busses. A person coming from another region can not learn the local language in oneday. And believe me the economy of the city will crash without migratnts from outside. They pay tax, work for local factories etc. Rather than harassing them, you should put guidelines for local industries.
Somehow people are becoming less and less tolerant. This is sad... if I am an outsider in my own country what can I expect abroad...
