Losing the Home Game - Marathis in Maharashtra

There are Sardarji jokes, and trending are ‘Marathi Manoos’ jokes; especially over their vernacularism.  I have come across quite a few lately, incidentally posted by Marathis, and giggled at by our likes. Appreciating such jokes probably is part of being broad-minded. There is a slight difference here.  The jokes over vernacularism spurt out of an uncomfortable truth. Some of us have been less fortunate to have not received the formal training of the English language well enough to get acknowledged.

Interestingly, if you try googling Marathi Manoos, the first suggestion that flows down is ‘Marathi Manoos’ jokes. So now, are we (i.e Marathis) bestsellers only when we make a joke of ourselves?

These jokes are just part of the bigger spectacle that has become of us.

The truth is, there is something terribly wrong with us, isn’t there?

Where do the Maharashtrians dominate in this state apart from their homes?

They feature broadly in the blue-collared.  Most of us, the Marathi populace, until late showed an inclination towards hassle-free cozy government jobs. They never expected others to take over the state.

Entrepreneurial ventures were judged to be symptomatic of over-ambitiousness and thus discouraged.  In the same breath, Maharashtra and its industrialization had opportunities galore. Consequentially, left was a void which needed to be filled in. This vacuum was generously filled up by those who are flamingly referred to as migrants. Crowds flowed into the state leading to greater consumption and greater need of generation and thus a deeper void. The snowballing thus continued, and the native, without much of a role on the regional altar, started feeling deprived. 

Major Cities of Maharashtra:  Pune, Mumbai etc. face an unhealthy influx of migrants. This influx creates and further intensifies competition. It eclipses the sureness of employment for the natives but doesn’t steal it all away. 

The fact one must stand up and concede is that these migrants, against all odds, in the face of unwelcoming circumstances made their way into the city and they kept on coming thereafter. They created their own business, and they ensured that it flourished. 

Today, the incoming swarms feel well-sheltered because these very ‘migrants‘ have secured a berth in all high places including but not restricted to politics, judiciary, administration etc. But how did all these vacant berths get secured.  Because we stood by.

People came here, made their livelihood, and turned it into their fortune. But the Marathi by-stander didn’t want to risk his comfort-zone by exploiting entrepreneurship.

The migrants burnt the midnight oil, and many started off by sleeping on the side-walks. We have always had a head-start here. We had our own homes, and we had our own folks. But, apparently, that is what made us complacent. Isn’t this similar to the childhood lesson of the slow-but-steady tortoise racing against the sleeping rabbit?

Somewhere, we fell prey to enjoying the comforts of everyday routines, the tranquility of repetition, while the desperate migrants fought off the same.

The migrants are not the real enemy. But the Marathi by-stander views them to be so through the prism of his inertia. This inertia is the true enemy.    

It won’t be a stretch to imagine Mumbai, which succeeded the name Bombay, having to go through replicated pains to be thence called Bambai.                                                                         

Maharashtra has always been replete with opportunities, but if we are going to aim low, then we might never grow beyond complaining from the coziness of the backseat. We shall be left to complain, but not  let to command.

Another pitfall for the antagonized is the realization of their reduction to a vote bank. Most of us have not learnt, even empirically, that this misfortune, for which we ourselves must be chiefly blamed, is reaped upon by well-crafted, well-demagoged election campaigns, just before we cast the ballot. To the bulk of the misled, the only difference after casting the vote is the inked-finger. Banking on them has coerced our conformity and solicited our submission to the reduced circumstances in which we find ourselves.

There are of course those who do not want us to progress, who do not want us to speak. We have had the railway recruitment gambit which was nothing short of a crime. Scenarios of this ilk have been discovered earlier and will happen later. 

It is late but not too late.

The turn-key is attitude. A migrant shop-owner’s courteous demeanor shall be preferred if the next-door local counterpart shows brashness.  A migrant plumber/electrician etc. shall be preferred for his prompt services if his local counterpart shows sluggishness. 

The demographics of Mumbai state that Maharashtra comprises of 42% Marathis. Of course, the percentile shall continue dwindling, but the key question remains: Do we, the natives, bring in at least 42% of Mumbai’s economy?

The calling is not to feel bitter. It is to do better.