Bombay, Mumbai, Bumbai, Bumbaaai……The plight of the city is nothing but its spirit, undying spirit called hatred. The problem of Bombay (its still Bombay for me) is that it was born out of violence. Therefore, it still lives amidst violence and might even die out of violence. Its main problem is diversity. Bombay was diverse even before it was born, unlike Chennai (doesn’t make a difference…..) or Calcutta(here too its still Calcutta for me).
In all my 23 years of stay in Bombay, I was mainly a victim of groupism. Well I was always a victim of many things. But coming back to the subject, I found others too sidelined, in school, college, not much in workplace, but many of my friends experienced it, so it exists anyways. In my school, there used to be a marathi group, a gujarathi group, and an north Indian group. Unfortunately no south Indian group, so I finally managed to fit in a Northie group, that too without being fully accepted. But then I have got over it now.
This city has people with different mentalities staying in the same place, that’s why, one experiences such an animosity around. It has the bombaite mostly from north, who lives in posh areas in South Bombay, hangs around in Pubs and Discs and does not vote. Then it has the mumbaite, who is a middle class non-maharashtrian, settled here only for a job, partially votes, and feels guilty when Shiv Sena launches a campaign against him. Then there is the mumbaikar, who is a maharashtrian, settled here from interior parts of the state again for job, votes, and thinks that he/she should get a job just for the reason of being a maharashtrian and therefore supports Shiv Sena. But little does he/she know that the party is here only for money. And then there is the muslim community, who have been here for long, who face the usual identity crisis. When they wear out, they finally start supporting the terrorists. For all who do not know, Dawood Ibrahim is very much from Mumbai, who ironically supports its undying spirit.
In all my 23 years of stay in Bombay, I was mainly a victim of groupism. Well I was always a victim of many things. But coming back to the subject, I found others too sidelined, in school, college, not much in workplace, but many of my friends experienced it, so it exists anyways. In my school, there used to be a marathi group, a gujarathi group, and an north Indian group. Unfortunately no south Indian group, so I finally managed to fit in a Northie group, that too without being fully accepted. But then I have got over it now.
This city has people with different mentalities staying in the same place, that’s why, one experiences such an animosity around. It has the bombaite mostly from north, who lives in posh areas in South Bombay, hangs around in Pubs and Discs and does not vote. Then it has the mumbaite, who is a middle class non-maharashtrian, settled here only for a job, partially votes, and feels guilty when Shiv Sena launches a campaign against him. Then there is the mumbaikar, who is a maharashtrian, settled here from interior parts of the state again for job, votes, and thinks that he/she should get a job just for the reason of being a maharashtrian and therefore supports Shiv Sena. But little does he/she know that the party is here only for money. And then there is the muslim community, who have been here for long, who face the usual identity crisis. When they wear out, they finally start supporting the terrorists. For all who do not know, Dawood Ibrahim is very much from Mumbai, who ironically supports its undying spirit.
