Maharashtra Prays For Balasaheb Thackeray!

By -


The night bus arrived almost two hours in advance and deposited us at a particular junction of Mumbai at 2.30am today. The moment we alighted with our baggage two auto-rickshaw drivers approached us hoping for long distance passengers. Since we lived at a nearby locality they promptly informed us that there was no chance of getting a taxi for the night or even later. I asked why.  

“Balasaheb off ho gaya! (Balasaheb has passed away).” We were rudely shocked and dumbfounded, though we knew that he had not been keeping well since the last few days was in very serious condition last week. But it was hard to believe anyway. “When?”  “Just a little while ago. All taxis and autos have gone home fearing problems.”

Feeling sad and heavy we trudged along and suddenly a taxi preparing to wind up for the night came up alongside and offered to take us home. As we were proceeding with the ride gratefully the taxi driver informed us that tomorrow was going to be a total closure in the city. He did not know till what time or date. We already felt an eerie quiet descending on a city that normally never goes to sleep.

I switched on the news channels as soon as we reached our home. It came as a huge relief that Balasaheb was still not giving up the fight and he continued to be in a critical condition. Even before the huge catastrophe of his possible passing away the city and probably the whole state of Maharashtra were close to being paralyzed.

Such is the profound impact at only the hint of him passing away. Such is the influence he commands on people of all walks of life. Because, Bal Thackeray is not just a politician, he has been a leader of immense quality who lives in almost every home of Maharashtra. For a plethora of compulsive reasons like absolute worshiping, spellbound admiration and inspiration, abject fascination, unquestioned following and even fear.

Bal or respectfully called Balasaheb Thackeray is the founding Chief of Maharashtra’s main regional political party, Shiv Sena. His early stint as a cartoonist and later as a journalist-writer helped him find out the hard realities of his state. He founded this party in 1966 to fight for the interests of the local Marathi people who felt threatened by proliferating outside Indian communities settling down in Mumbai and other parts of the state. He also founded this party on the ideology of Hinduism and thus Bal Thackeray became the most controversial leader of Maharashtra as he began to be criticized for following an allegedly communalist line. His outbursts against terrorism and allegedly Pakistan sponsored terrorist attacks have been as ferocious as being consistent. But the people he fought for started loving and adoring him and the communities he allegedly fought against started fearing him almost to a point of surrender. He also earned the tag of a Godfather due to his Robin Hood tactics and measures.

His perfect command over his mother tongue Marathi and also in Hindi and English, and his tremendous power of articulation laced with customary humor and satire won instant admirers all over.    People craved to sit long hours just to hear him speak. He has been a hard, straight and no-holds-barred speaker. He spells it out in hard hitting words—let it be about anything. Thoughts or doubts or unpleasant facts of life that linger in most minds but nobody wanting to mouth these into words get delivered unambiguously and effortlessly by Balasaheb Thackeray. He would not care a dime how somebody or other would feel about it. 
 
Thousands of Shiv Sena workers have been camping in front of his house Matoshree in Mumbai since last night praying and chanting for the speedy recovery their beloved leader. His son Uddhav Thackeray addressed the workers last night saying that his father has tremendous willpower and a miracle is always possible. His nephew Raj Thackeray who formed a separate political party out of family friction never lost his respect and devotion for his mentor and has been visiting Matoshree for weeks. Prominent Shiv Sena leaders have been insisting since morning today that Balasaheb is taken off from life support system and is responding positively to treatment. No medical bulletin has been released with the team of doctors saying that oxygen is still being administered to the 86 year old cult figure of Maharashtra. 

The stream of visitors to his home is continuing unabated. Top regional and national political leaders irrespective of party affiliations, Bollywood superstars including Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan, top industrialists, and common people are calling on him endlessly. The city of Mumbai today wore a deserted look with most shops and businesses downing shutters and traffic at an unnatural low.A high alert in Mumbai is also sounded and all leave to policemen cancelled despite the Diwali festival. All precautions taken for possibly the biggest news of Maharashtra in recent times.

At the moment people of Maharashtra are praying for a miracle. Maybe hoping against hope. They just cannot afford to be without Balasaheb Thackeray.
Reactions:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Politics-Cricket: General Elections-2014, Political Violence and Asia Cup!

By -
Image
General Elections-2014 starts on 7 th April with the largest number ever of 9 polling phases till 12 th of May and the counting of votes will be taken up on Friday, May 16. In 2009 General Elections there were 5 phases, but lasted for a period of 73 days as against 69 days this time. The Chief Election Commissioner of India declared the dates and phases with all details of polling in different states and union territories of India at a press conference in New Delhi last morning. The Model of Code of Conduct is thus being ushered in from yesterday till the end of elections during which time governments and authorities would be prevented from announcing policies or any sort of new schemes of development. For most other normal administrative decisions the consent of the Election Commission of India would be required. The General Elections will be held along with assembly elections in three states of Sikkim, Odissa and Andhra Pradesh which had just been divided into Telangana an
Read more

India Qualify For The WTC Final Beating England 3-1 In Test Series!

By -
Image
India have crushed England by an innings and 25 runs in the fourth and last cricket test match at the Motera, Ahmedabad today and won the Test Series 3-1, thus qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final to be played at Lord’s from 18 th June 2021. India needed to win the Series by at least 2-1 margin and had this match been won by the visitors the Series would have ended in a 2-2 draw in which case Australia would have qualified. There are three priceless innings from the Indians that contributed to this emphatic win at the Motera today. First and foremost, the man-of-the-match Rishabh Pant for his incredible century of 101 in just 118 balls coming in to bat at a time when India had lost 4 wickets for 80 still trailing by 125 runs to England’s first innings total of 205. There was tremendous pressure on him to stick on and at the same time pile up enough runs to help his team come back in the game. Rishabh played against his normal attacking style defending a lot with Rohi
Read more

India COVID-19 Vaccination 2.0: Jabs Set To Accelerate With Private Participation!

By -
Image
The first phase of COVID-19 vaccination in India that started from the 16 th of January 2021 aimed at inoculating around 30 million healthcare sector and frontline workers. Although so far only about half of that target and less for those having double doses has been achieved the Government of India, under pressure to speed up the process allowing participation of the private sector and also in view of the surge in new infections in several states, has decided to usher in the second phase of vaccination that aims at administering the jabs to senior citizens above 60 and people above 45 years of age with comorbidities; as per the earlier estimates this target population will be around 270 million which, of course, targeted all people above 50 with or without comorbidities. The policy decision to allow the private sector come into the picture is the welcome change in Vaccination 2.0 which is bound to accelerate the number of jabs administered, and the process begins from tomorrow, the 1
Read more

An Elaborate Concoction!

By -
Image
The ecstasy threatened to spill over his mouth, lips, teeth and eyes. He considered it wise to suppress his feelings. ‘The time is just not right,’ he reasoned, ‘one should not look or sound too happy.’ Last few days he had been extremely irritable, depressed and angry. He felt deprived, poor and powerless—to the extent that his deprivation made him rather depraved. He  couldn't  find joy in anything: in the home prepared dishes presented to him, in making petty conversation with the members of the family all sitting at home for days, in the occasional errands for him, in watching the television news or surfing the smart phones and so on. Every day he went out with his car—apart from the regular visits to the grocery stores, the vegetable and fruit shops he mostly roamed around the city looking for his valuable acquaintances in key trades, and trying to convince whomsoever he managed to catch up with of the hopeless situation. However, they too expressed their helplessness; n
Read more

Cricket: The 'Donkey' Identity!

By -
Image
"Donkey...Donkey...!... ...Lift your ears, And blow your horn To wake up the world This sleepy morn!"   Why should former England cricket team skipper Nasser Hussain call some members of Team India donkeys? If Team India has already conceded a total defeat margin of 5-0 and is in the process of making it 10-0 with the five match ODI series starting today, Nasser should have been the happiest cricketer on earth, considering the fact that he himself suffered many ignominies at the hands of India in the past! Well, nobody calls someone a donkey out of happiness or sheer pleasure. If somebody should have called Team India 'donkeys', it should have been the Indian public. One former Indian cricketer nearly did it! He said that Team India did not play or field so badly  to be called donkeys! Meaning if Team India goes on to concede 10-0 total defeat margin then they can be rightfully called donkeys! Right? It's a horrendous comment, you see, from the point of v
Read more

"Bura Mat Suno...Bura Mat Dekho..."!

By -
Image
Long back Mahatma Gandhi advised us ‘Do not listen to bad, do not see bad and do not speak bad’ ( "Bura Mat Suno..Bura Mat Dekho...Bura Mat Kaho" !). Now in modern hyper competitive times we are helpless about the first two don’ts. And persistent exposure to the first two makes us lose the third too! We cannot help but listen to or watch an endless stream of ‘bad’—all around us from home to the streets, in the newspapers and news channels, in the television serials and in the movies and at every act we have to do like walking praying jogging or driving—everyday and every step of our existence. Such continuous barrage of ‘bad’ is fast making us speak and utter a lot of ‘bad’ too. We are becoming doubtful and suspicious of everything around us and we are learning to blurt it out freely and openly. The main ‘bad’ drive comes from politics. We are hounded constantly by all sorts of stories being hammered into us forcing us to form our opinions or go on changing t
Read more

Back To Back Star Tragedies: Rishi Kapoor Dies in Mumbai

By -
Image
April 29, 2020, morning : Irrfan Khan, an actor of incredible talent and in his prime dies in a Mumbai hospital. April 30, 2020, morning: Rishi Kapoor, veteran actor and a hugely popular romantic hero since the seventies, dies in a Mumbai hospital. Both of them contracted cancer about two years back: Irrfan had a rare form of endocrine cancer while Rishi had leukemia. Different styles, but both relatable : Rishi Kapoor was not the next-door boy like Irrfan, he belonged to the most famous Hindi film family—the Kapoors—while Irrfan had a humble beginning; of course, both rose to the pinnacle of success doing different kinds of roles and with different styles; however, both connected with the masses instantly. Both had still something to offer: At 53 Irrfan’s potential for more and more realistic and serious cinema was ruthlessly cut short while at 67 Rishi was steadily graduating to serious character roles with admirable ease and skill, and his tragic demise can still be
Read more

Pandit Shivkumar Sharma Questions the Time Theory in Indian Classical Music

By -
Image
‘Our ragas are based on time periods like the morning, afternoon, evening and late night hours. But the time slot now-a-days for concerts is 6pm to 10pm due to security reasons or whatever. If we exceed police will come and arrest the artists and the organizers. This means performances can be done only on a few limited ragas again and again. Morning and afternoon concerts are rare and late night concerts whether indoor or outdoor are impossible.’ Said santoor legend Pandit Shivkumar Sharma on 10th January, 2009 at a two-day seminar on ‘Reconsidering Fundamental Issues in Indian Art Music’ organized by ITC Sangeet Research Academy at NCPA, Mumbai. Panditji was speaking at the session on ‘Time Theory’. While making it clear that he was speaking neither for or against the time theory Pandit Shivkumar Sharma elaborated further, ‘In old days we were closer to nature and most concerts were organized outdoor with nature manifested in full glory. Now in air conditioned auditoriums time bec
Read more

Raghu Krishna: Adieu!

By -
Image
The man in the blue suit He was more of a dear friend than a boss. Raghu Krishna , the former Chief Producer of Films Division, Mumbai and Director of MIFF (Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films) for 2004 and 2006 versions, passed away today following a brain stroke and coma. I first knew him as a film director in Films Division, Mumbai. As we became close we started playing table tennis. He was an attacking player specializing in smashes. Once I was defeated by a colleague and next game Raghu defeated him. Later, Raghu came over to my room for a fag and told me proudly, ‘I wanted to beat him because he beat you!’ I sensed his love for me instantly. Raghu appeared for an interview for the top post and finally got selected. He joined as Chief Producer in January 2004 and immediately took charge of MIFF 2004 as Festival Director. Till MIFF 2006 I worked under him and enjoyed every bit of it. He showed tremendous faith in me in the role of
Read more

How to Define the Syndrome of Being Busy!

By -
Image
The term ‘being busy’ or ‘ I'm  very busy’ or whatever has various levels of manifestations, connotations and concoctions. Of course, there are people who are genuinely busy: like those having 9 to 9 jobs with huge responsibilities and long commuting hours or the full-time housewives who remain extremely busy with daily chores from early morning to late night or the vendors whose ‘business’ depends on their constant presence behind their carts as long as possible or the shopkeepers, sellers and the like. We mentioned ‘connotations’ and ‘concoctions’ in this regard. This has sound reasons. For many people you must try to define and understand their ‘being busy’ and also, you must try to see through their state of ‘very busy’ status. Whatever are your findings it’s never your business to undermine or ridicule or cast aspersions on such people! Your only job is to understand the state of affairs to illuminate the syndrome of being busy and record your observations. When yo
Read more