Maharashtra turning 50 It's a Maha Feat by Puneet Rajhans

Maharashtra turning 50 It's a Maha Feat by Puneet Rajhans
Maharashtra turning 50.
It's a MAHA Feat with the need for Mumbai to release good vibes for the countryside at large.

The 26/11 trial and verdict hitting the overdrive highway, all permutations and combinations to turn of events in the coming days would be clinically recorded. But that does not take away the fizz from Maharashtra's claim to fame - 50 years and taking in its stride the consternations that visit them at regular intervals. What is that keeps Maharashtra as a State rooted in our national psyche even when the all-obsessive theme has been the Mumbai spectacle.
The tales that emerge from the countryside do blow the lid on claims of old order prosperity having visited them. A ringside view that doesn't bare all facts. A huge canvas of problems dog them, right from rising debt, few options to converge your thoughts with reality (read jobs) and the agriculture architecture looking increasingly vulnerable. A postcard from the State would certainly have the Vidarbha vicissitude, with claims and counter claims on deaths in the region. The vicious circle can't alone be traced to rising debt of farmers; there are other situational hazards that lead to the blind alley.

The countryside churn
As one begins his tryst with Maharashtra, the temptation is strong enough to explore new territories or at best visit the old ones with a new frame of thought. For the first two outings, the tryst had to be with the district of Ahmednagar (they call it Nagar in local parlance), spread for over a month each time. This odyssey was interspersed with visits to Nashik, Pune and surely the high octane driven territory of Mumbai. A spiritual pursuit-cum-adventure trail, my thoughts had enough twists and turns on occasions more than one. The festive spirit had a cumulative effect as a huge congregation, coming from Dadar, gathered in Shirdi on the occasion of Ram Navmi in 2009. The image of a state, leveraging its iconic status for what the Mumbai Marathon had come to represent, had also to deal with cluttered thoughts that critics were more than pleased to dole out. This strand of negativity looked more of an aberration given the interaction that happened day in and day out.
The countryside churning did look appalling at times, a case of oversight as far as the government presence meant? Sauntered to a corner, women drawn from their home resposibilities were seen selling their wares in the scorching summer months. Resigned to their fate, some had fewer earnings to fall back on for days together. A picture not entirely complete, the young brigade in the family took school classes as seriously as attending to family-run chores in the evening. The school dropout rate having not reached alarming levels, with more joining the learning curve after a break. The Marathi curriculum should not be the lone factor to make them stay away from competing in the Mumbai churn. If there has to be let it be something else as fanatical as no yearn to compete. Well, that would also make them viewed as misfits.
The countryside charm couldn’t be brushed aside either as the large template of the state has a fair sprinkling of numbers from that end. It is not entirely about headcount but the ideas that take off and let the prospective city settler find his groove right in his backyard. A city jaunt would do but for a brief period. Alas similar sentiments could be true of those states who can’t prevent migration as there is not much on table.
Seen from the other side a large number of those born and brought up in the countryside flocking to Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur, the essential anthem has been to seek a livelihood. As in other places, the competing field in Mumbai too brims with foot soldiers from other states. The simmering discontent, few and far, with the extension of support coming from the political class alone need not be the yardstick. Everyone has a fair chance of getting a slice of the big cake that Mumbai illustrates provided different wheels of desire that come from different corners of the nation synchronise with the large idea that the city represents. Effectively, the blistering and boisterous noise of taking a unipolar stand (for one group or the other) doesn't get percolated down to the last frontier of existence. That should be the effort.
As Pune, Nashik and Nagpur looked familiar with sights of bumper to bumper traffic, with few willing to vacate the space for other, the morning cacophony was no less similar to settings in other cities, the sole differentiator being the mad scramble taking wings quite early. This was no different in the vast swathes that local stations occupy in the Mumbai's hinterland.
A battle to slug it out in the heat, dust and grime of Mumbai, with the voice in the countryside getting a fair share would be the perfect statement made from the state. As Mumbai began to figure in more frequently on my outings to the state, the local trains synchronised different thoughts with finesse. Of the different local commutes, the one from Borivalli to Dadar to CST had a stong connect to it. Boarded the one at Borivalli, got down at Dadar and took another one for CST, the commute saw a disciplined tribe boarding and deboarding trains at different intervals. The rush hour was a manageable force given it was 5.30 in the morning. Query of sorts were handled deftly with the belief that nothing succeeds like compassion and candour.
No scorching summer and no wintry nights (well there are few), desisted me from getting a drift of Maharashtra mystique. The sight of overflowing trains coming from North India, finding its way to different platforms was no different from the Mumbai locals, all besieged with the avowed aim of a sizeable number having a dream date with Maharashtra. The Mumbai Marathon would continue with fewer interruptions and Maha Magic with fewer halts as long as the folks in the countryside would continue to be a sought-after force.

P.S. My salute to Devika, the youngest witness in the 26/11 turbulence. All of 11 and raring to go. This is what keeps the spirit of Maharashtra up and moving.