Mumbai Musings

Off Again, On Again

Putting several days of speculation and intense media debates to rest, MNS chief Raj Thackeray ended his silence with some bang. After having met Nitin Gadkari (and also Gopinath Munde, according to some reports), who tried to persuade him to not fight the general elections, Thackeray declared the candidature of seven contestants for Lok Sabha Elections—thus crushing hopes of the “grand alliance” that everyone had been talking about for months. Not to forget that Raj Thackeray, an admirer of Narendra Modi and his developed Gujarat, had criticised Modi for not resigning from chief minister’s chair. However, rather strangely Thackeray declared his support for Modi in the same speech in which he declared that not only will MNS contest elections but also show their strength. Many speculations about changing equations between a lacklustre Shiv Sena and BJP, that is trying to woo voters locally and nationally, have only been compounded because of now-off-now-on equations of MNS with BJP. 

Om Namo

Earlier there was some excitement with the CNN-IBN reporting, citing sources, that the Sena had warned the BJP that if it did not come clean over MNS, it would field all 48 candidates from Maharashtra. As the BJP went into damage-control mode so as to placate the Sena with special emissaries being sent to meet Uddhav, the Sena, through its mouthpiece Saamana, took a jibe at former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, crediting his "business instincts" for "such a mast (sweet) deal of getting support from the MNS without giving any 'dakshina' or 'toll' — "as if the weighing scale is also his, the products are also his and even the earning are also his." And of course there was a barb at the MNS: "It's almost as if there is a derby race on to give him backing. Even those who abused him yesterday are today chanting Modi Modi. No bigger proof of changing times." 

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi came, visited Versova and Bhiwandi, spoke and left, while Arvind Kejiwal, typically, created quite a stir. His local train travel and the attendant chaos at the stations may have got him a lot of media coverage, but all I heard was people complaining about the inconvenience they faced during their daily commutes.

And Now Hailstorms

No farmer, in his worst nightmares would have imagined a dreadful year like this. Farmers in Maharashtra, especially Marathwada, started the year with a drought and lost out on crops; those in Vidarbha dealt with floods and lost out on crops. And in the past days hailstorms and unseasonal showers have struck several parts of Maharashtra —Marathwada, Vidarbha and even western Maharashtra. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan told the media that he would be touring the affected parts and also is expecting a team from central government to survey the area. Around 8 lakh hectare is said to be affected by the hailstorms and heavy rains. “The government needs to address this as a disaster management issue. Just the way they rebuild damaged houses of those caught in floods, they need to rebuild our farms. The farmer needs help from sowing to reaping now, as he has lost on both the crops,” says Vijay Jawandia, a senior farmer activist whose wheat crop on 14 acres is all gone in the hailstorm.

Death by Urban Angst?

A young woman, all of 29, a software engineer, committed suicide on March 8, international women’s day. The young couple, both well-placed in jobs, parents of one 18-month-son, frequently fought. The last fight was about whether Swapna could quit her present job first and then look for a new one. They stayed in a well-known residential complex mostly occupied by upper middle class professionals. It is hard to tell if the family was struggling financially. “I don’t want to live. I quit” read her suicide note as she hanged herself by the neck in the bedroom even as in-laws and son were present in the house. The police have arrested the husband and mother-in-law after Swapna’s mother told the police of their frequent fights. However, the suicide throws up several complicated questions of urban angst, pressures, ambitions, inability to cope and more importantly, what reasons and excuses do educated, intelligent, loving couples need to live and to die?

Missing Families

The Malaysian Airlines jet that went missing on Saturday with 239 passengers on board had at least five Indians, four of them from Maharashtra. The Kolekar family, parents Vinod and Chetna, and younger son, Swanand, from Borivli were on their way to Beijing for their elder son Samved’s convocation ceremony. Another passenger Kranti Shirsat from Pune was going to North Korea. Her husband Prahlad who heads an NGO is based in Pyongyang, North Korea. Newspaper reports said her family hoped that the plane was hijacked and not crashed, clinging to any slim chances of their mother being alive.

Humanity and Humanity

In less than a week after the first episode of Satyamev Jayate was telecast, a message started circulating on Whatsapp. The message, which was also posted on social networking site Facebook, said that donations that are being collected through Satyamev Jayate, a secular forum, are being used for religious causes such as masjid construction etc through an NGO called the Humanity Trust. Aamir, also resorted to Facebook and clarified his stand: “I would like to clarify that Satyamev Jayate, in Season 1 was associated with Humanity Trust, Hanspukur, West Bengal which is a charitable hospital run by Dr. Ajoy Mistry and his mother Subhashini Mistry… Please note that Humanity Trust, Hanspukur has nothing to do with Humanity Trust referred to in the malicious messages. I would like to clarify that all donations sought in SMJ are used and channelized for entirely deserving and secular causes, contrary to the content of the highly mischievous/malicious insinuations in the messages, being circulated by vested and unscrupulous interest…. I urge the members of the public to disregard the said malicious message…Spread the love guys.” He has also approached the police.

Age No Bar

A young boy, aged 16, and his teacher, 23 were found in Bangalore more than a month after they went missing from Mumbai. What seemed to be a case of kidnapping and wrongful confinement turned out to be one filmy love affair, which now also involves Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as the boy is a minor. The couple eloped from Mumbai, spent some time in Goa and then went to Bangalore. They had carefully discarded their SIM cards but it was Facebook that gave their location away. The boy logged into his account from a cyber café in Bangalore and was caught. The teacher was arrested and released on bail. Although the whole episode is a criminal case, the police themselves have asked the parents to go easy on the boy, as he had gone wilfully. The teacher has also said that she would marry him when he turns 18.

Women’s Day

Among several programmes that had celebrities partying to celebrate the International Women’s Day, there were a few that stood out. The Mumbai police, under the new leadership of Commissioner Rakesh Maria started an SMS helpline for women who travel alone at odd hours. The initiative called, ‘Travel Safe When Alone’ allows women to message the registration number of an autorickshaw or taxi to a dedicated helpline number 9969777888. Started with the help of MTNL, the service is free. “Police will keep the track of the vehicles that the woman is taking and would get her location through GPS,” said Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria. International Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan lent her star power for an advocacy mission for women and HIV affected children. “Key objectives of the mission are: To highlight the progress India is achieving on the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children and keeping their mothers alive. To raise awareness on gender-based violence and address the status of women and girls, especially in light of reoccurring cases of sexual violence.”

Only Women

Lavasa may be controversial on several issues of land acquisition and environmental concerns, but this one created a record that made it to the Guinness Book of World Records. This year’s Lavasa Women’s Drive, the largest only-women car rally (has anyone attempted something like this anyway?) had more than 900 women drive 467 cars from Mumbai to Lavasa to qualify for the record of ‘Most female participants in a motor sport event’. Apart from celebrating “the spirit of the modern Indian woman—full of fun, adventure and compassion,” the drive also seeks to spread awareness about cancer and donates to Tata Memorial Hospital. Now perhaps, that is something to celebrate.