On Mumbai n Patna

Uff...exam ke time bhi chain nahi milega kya? neways, here's a peep into what's not been letting me concentrate half the day.

Regarding the chaos in Mumbai, I find myself agreeing with the Mumbai janta. Please note the 'Mumbai janta'. The Mumbai janta, which includes the Marathis and also the non-Marathis, have a point. However, that point has been twisted beyond recognition by Mr. Raj Thackeray and Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav and the rest of UPite-Bihari Politicians. The point that Mumbai janta wants to make to the rest of the nation and the powers that be, is that Mumbai is filled to capacity, and has reached a limit where it can't accomodate any more people.

Every city has a limit to its growth, decided mainly by its population, level of industrialization, resource utilization, pollution and availability of food. For details, check out Limits to Growth by Meadows, Meadows, Randers and Behrens. It discusses the whole earth as the system, but we can easily make the analogy to a city. So, beyond this limit, the city cannot grow. Beyond this limit, the general living conditions start deteriorating as the same amount of resources, etc. gets divided amongst more people. So what the Mumbai janta wants to say is that Mumbai has reached its limit. No. Let me make a correction. MUMBAI HAS REACHED ITS LIMIT. There, that's better.

So, if Mr. Raj Thackeray really wants to help Mumbai, he should stop all this gunda-gardi, 'cos ultimately that's what it is, in the name of Marathi Sanskriti and get down to some solid work. Getting the government to develop new satellite cities to support Mumbai would be a good idea. Hell, it would be the best! It's working for New Delhi, isn't it?

So now that we've discussed that part of the issue, let's come to the second half. Mr. Raj Thackeray seems to have given the UP-Bihar politicians the best B'day gift possible. He has given them another non-issue, namely Marathi-bashing, to get over the elections. भाई, काम तो कुछ किया नहीं है पिछले २० सालों से. लालू जी, आपकी सरकार कितने साल रही है बिहार में? १५ साल या कुछ था न नम्बर? With no development and increasing lawlessness for more than 15 years, Bihar is indeed in a deplorable state. तो बिहारी जनता migrate नहीं करेगी तो क्या करेगी? पर बिहारी नेताओं को इस बात से कुछ फर्क थोड़े ही ना पड़ता है. काम नहीं किया तो क्या हुआ, अब बस एक-दो गरम-गरम speeches देंगे, बिहारियों का खून खौलायेंगे, २-३ train जलवायेंगे , votes तो मिल ही जायेंगे.

I Am An INDIAN

The recent upheavals in the country's politics are driving me crazy. Suddenly, some people have become Hindi-speaking and some have become Marathi-speaking, some have become Assamese and some are Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Hindus. And oh! Some are Hindus and Muslims and Christians too. And suddenly some people have discovered that the rest of the world is out to get them, that if they don't go out on a rampage, they are gonna get destroyed by the evil world! The doofuses don't even realise that they are being manipulated by the politicians for votes. Or maybe they do. Maybe they just don't care anymore, so long as they can blame their personal failures on someone else.

You know what hurts me even more? It's when educated people, supposedly intelligent people, speak that way. You may be my best friend but if you think in one language and I think in some other language, you will not welcome me into your home. You will shoo me away at the door.

Well, I refuse. I refuse to be a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian or a Sikh or of any other faith. I refuse to belong to U.P. or Bengal or Bihar or Tamil Nadu or Maharashtra or to any other region. I refuse to be considered a Kannada-speaking person or a Marathi-speaking person or a Hindi-speaking person. I refuse to be a Brahmin or a Scheduled caste person. I REFUSE. I will not belong to a part when I can belong to a whole. 

My name's Kanika, and I am an Indian. I refuse to be part of any other country. I refuse to belong to any other religion or region. I refuse to speak any other language. I am an Indian.