TELL ME NO BABA....SANGA TARI ? KAISA BOLNEKA ?

Its amusing how it takes Stoning, Shop-Closing, Beating up people and Rioting in General to exhume the Linguistic Pride of people in our great Maharashtra.

All of a sudden all my Marathi and certain Non-Marathi / Uttar Bharatiya (Is it alright to use the term Bhaiyyas, or is it too soon?) acquaintances who were so far totally nonplussed, happily chatting away in Hinglish or Anglo Marathi or (God Forbid) Hindi; have suddenly opened up their Marathi books, and use only Marathi for all communications.

Why ?? How is it that Marathi 'dudes' have suddenly developed this Humongous Abhiman for their Mai-Boli, and the UTBs (Uttar Bharatiya Bhaiyas) not to be out done have got this severe Me pan Maharashrtiyan syndrome (a.k.a please don't trash me, see im also using Marathi no?)

And how long is this goin to last in the Gnat-Minded fickle Herd-Memory, which already suffers form a major case of Attention Deficit Disorder.

For me it is decidedly weird and a continuing herculean effort to suddenly use a different language to talk to people I have known for so long and conversed with in Hinglish. Its like the persons and personalities completely have changed.
Its like a change of clothes makes a person look different, a change of language can do the the same and much, much more.




Case in point a certain Mr. ....sorry sorry.... Shri. ..that's right... Shri. Niloba [Name changed to protect what little identity of he has left of his own] who seemed normal so far suddenly uses only Chaste Marathi, with words like - Suprabhat, Usha kaal, Ahladkarak, Vatanukulit, Netra Deepak.
Now Breasts have become Vaksha Sthal, Bastard and Asshole have changed to Bhikarda and Keede Padun Marel Sala !!!
Its like Saraswati herself has opened up a Marathi Bhasecha Class on his very tounge.
We have to carry a Marathi-Marathi-English dictionary around him (One place where Google failed me) But I can't say im not loving it on some level.

Gone are the days when my Shuddha marathi friend's suddha marathi Aai had to try to speak Hindi in Marathi to manage day to day activities, I still remember how on learning that her UTB Dhobhi with a family of 10 made only Rs. 90 a day asked him - "Kay re Bhaiya....Tumka....Itne main kasia Bhagta hai re baba ?" (Bhagta being Marathi for Can you manage to sustain, but you already know that now no ?)
and the Dhobi utterly flabbergasted desperately tried to tell her "Nahi...Nahi.... bai, hum Kaheko Bhagega ? Hum Kapda leke kahin Bhagega nahi" It was Hillarious.

Or when SHE told her UTB Istree-Wali "Humara PATNI Gar mai nahi, nantar aao." I can barely imagine the look on the Istree wali's face.

The word Ghati has all but dissapered from our lingo, its gone the way of Nigger. And the word Bhaiya has taken up a new place of importance.

I'm a Marathi and have always proud of my heritage, and I never have been particularly fond of Hindi but only because we had to give two papers of Literature and language in ICSE and HSC and it brought my aggregate percentage down in both places, and partly also because our Hindi teacher was a scary Ruler-Slinging terror. But do I HATE Hindi ?? and what about Hinglish ???

And what about the emails and discussions that say Hindi is not our rastra bhasha, its a official language, that needs some looking into also.(New post coming up on just that, stay tuned)

Now I don't know where to place myself, I just cant figure out if i'm Pro Hindi, Anti Hindi, Pro Marathi or what the hell am I ????

Both sides put forth such delightfully convincing arguments, and I just don't know where to go.

So I guess I'll just stick to my own lingo for now ---

Sala, Its a big Lafda yar, Bolneka kya ?
And mera problem is that --- Mala Saglanchich Mata Patatat.......