Maharashtrians & Non Maharashtrians in Mumbai
Maharashtrians & Non-Maharashtrians in Mumbai

Posted by Prakash M Apte on June 21, 2009 02:35 PM
The "immigration: is primarily limited to the metropolitan and larger cities. Economic opportunities-employment, trading,skilled or unskilled work-are more in cities. Immigration is of two categories, legal-residents of other states- and illegal which is mainly from Bangla Desh. Illegal immigration has to be stopped and if that is done much of the pressure on the cities and the sensitivities of "Maharashtrians" can be assuaged. Unfortunately there is neither the will nor the intent on the part of the present government in the state to take such measures mainly due to the politics of religion indulged into by it as most Bangladeshi illegal immigrants are muslims.
The "legal" immigration from other states -mainly Bihar & U.P.- is due to the 'push' factor-not enough economic opportunities in the originating states and also the 'Pull' factor- large work opportunities in the cities in Maharashtra.
The 'Push' factor immigration can be dealt with only by the originating states of Bihar & U.P. by creating more employment opportunities in the states but it is something over which neither Maharashtra nor Maharashtrians have any control.
The 'Pull' factor immigration, though generated by the abundance of work opportunities in Maharashtra is also due to the reluctance of local residents to take up certain occupations- an aspect vehemently denied by some political parties like the MNS or Shiva Sena.
There is no doubt that the local people and youth by and large prefer "office" type of jobs that do not require hard labour and irregular hours of work.There may be some discrimination against the locals in Rly. jobs as alleged by these parties but one must remember that these are again "office" type jobs that pay well for regulated hours of work and are not considered "menial".
We Maharashtrians must admit that generally we are loath to take up occupations of "Handymen"-electricians. telephone workers, auto rikshaw & taxi drivers, hawkers etc- and consider those below our dignity out of misplaced pride in our either the "warrior" class Marathas) or "intellectual class Brahmins)ancestry.
What is required therefore is a change in our attitudes so that more local people take up occupations that today are almost monopolized by the immigrants.If that happens the people at large are bound to patronize a "marathi" plumber, electrician. telephone worker, auto-taxi driver,hawker etc. The solution therefore lies within in changing our own attitudes and learning and adopting the skills of the "immigrants" rather than attacking them.
Prakash M Apte

Israel's biggest danger
Prakash M. Apte
F.I.I.A. F.I.T.P.
Consultant, World Bank

                                                                                                             2nd March 2009
The Editor,
Newsweek

‘Israel's Biggest Danger' By Fareed Zakaria (Feb. 23) shows striking similarities between the perception s of danger from the Arab minorities to Israel and the Muslim minorities to India. Muslim Indians have grown to over 151 m. (13.4%) from 38.85 m.(10.36%) in 1951 after India & Pakistan became two Nations and are estimated to be over 20% of country's population by 2020. Muslims enjoy all legal rights but not the obligations due to their "special minority status" and ‘Islamic" beliefs. They do not accept the common civil code applicable to other Indians. Citizenship requires them only to be loyal to the law but not to the values or ideologies (secularism) of the state.
Hindu nationalists warn that India's Muslims constitute a demographic time bomb. For India, resolving issues of Muslim minorities is more crucial than dealing with Muslim terrorist groups and Pakistan. It will decide the future of India as a Secular State (Islam abhors secularism) and a democracy.

Prakash M. Apte
Mumbai, India.

November 2008 Terrorist attack on Mumbai:
What should be a nation's response to terrorists attack like the one on 26th November in Mumbai, India.?

Many claim that an aggressive response would play into the hands of the masterminds of the terror probably indicating an aversion to a ‘tit for tat' reaction , though such a response may become necessary to ascertain and declare a nation's resolve to uphold its sovereignty and independence. If the attacks were clearly meant to be a provocation, should Indians not allow themselves to be "provoked" even after a cosmopolitan area, home to19 million people and also the financial and entertainment capital of India was shaken?

One may think that ‘barricades and bunkers' are a theatrical response that achieves little except causing inconvenience to the citizen.. But this theatrical response (like road barriers, sandbags with machine gun totting commandoes etc) can help to instill a sense of security (even if false) and being "under protection" to the common citizens. Is it not as important?

No amount of security precautions and what may be called "theatrical responses" can resolve the problem because a terrorist is a "dedicated' and fanatical individual who knows that he will not live through his suicidal mission. The only possible remedy is to have a very strong and intensive intelligence net work. to fore warn an impending strike .

We have to take into consideration the geo-political realities in the subcontinent. Despite its subdivision in to two nations of Pakistan & India in 1947, the former has never accepted the realities, not being able to overcome the hangover of the Moghal empire that ruled India before the British. With that hangover, Pakistan, since 1947, has waged 5 wars with India, of its own making and lost all of them most ignominiously! Despite its religious fanaticism it has the sense to appreciate that a nuclear war with India may destroy part of India but will physically annihilate Pakistan completely. So, what could be an option?

When studied in this perspective we should realize that what happened in Mumbai in November '08 was not a random terrorist attack by a terrorist group (as is the case in many European countries like Germany, Spain, etc.) but a "Trial Run" of a state sponsored undeclared war ! If, just 10 well trained commandoes can hold a city of 19 million in terror all it needs is a few hundred to devastate the whole of urban India! If a few well trained commandoes in the garb of ‘Terrorists' can achieve its objective, why should Pakistan wage a formal war and antagonize the whole world?

Such a terror war instills a fear psychosis amongst the urban populace, shakes their confidence in its elected government and creates doubts about the entire system of democracy and democratic governance! That is the objective of such attacks by a terror state like Pakistan. Having successfully tested its new "Terrorists Weapon" that did not elicit any reaction except verbose appeals for peace, India can expect similar attacks on all its cities from Pakistan trained Commandoes in the garb of terrorists.

We need to realize and understand these geopolitical realities in the Indian subcontinent which are unique and quite different from any where in the world except those that exist between Israel and its neighbors.

Prakash M Apte
apteyconsult@hotmail.com

Letter to Dileep Chitre
Now Playing: Letter to Dileep Chitre
Dileep,
what is your definition of 'Marathi Manoos'? Those who created Linguistic states should have had the brains to foresee the consequences. Marathis. Bengalis, Tamils, Kannadas are all of their making!

I was born in Maharashtra, educated in Gujarat, worked in Bengal, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. My sons cannot read or write Marathi well having been educated out of Mharashtra. But when they listen to the audio cassettes of Pu.La. in their cars on way to office in a city in USA they are Marathi Manoos!

You and me ,beyond seventies can afford to get lost in 'history' but those in their prime of life have to live in the present. Incidentally, Raj Thackeray has neither challenged the Constitution of India ( though I have; read it on the Internet) nor does he challenge the right of people from other states to stay in Maharashtra. He only, and rightly, warns them to stay as model 'guests' and not start claiming 'ownership" of the state!

Raj Thackeray is not Shivaji Maharaj ( neither does he claim to be) but you who wrote filth like "Shiba Ranichya Shodhant" (I also live in the History) and have cosily settled down in America with your children, have little moral right to decry, what you call the Proletariat(e)- meaning lowest class of community! I am sure Baburao & Vimal's soul must be greiving at such remarks from their son!

If you consider the youth of Maharashtra as "lowest class of community' are you even a "Manoos" let apart a "Marathi Manoos"?

Prakash Madhusudan Apte

British Ways of British Airways
Topic: Beware of British Airways
Myself & my wife had B.A tickets, Mumbai-Madrid-DFW-Mumbai, leaving Mumbai on 3rd June 2006 and returning on 30th October. It involved change over at London from Heathrow to Gatwick to Heathrow airports for both journeys, BECAUSE B.A DOES NOT HAVE SERVICE TO MADRID FROM HEATHROW OR FROM DFW TO MUMBAI FROM GATWICK, NEITHER DOES IT HAVE A CAPTIVE SURFACE OR METRO TRANSPORT BETWEEN THE TWO AIRPORTS.

We were told while buying the tickets that we would be given free vouchers for the bus journey by National Express from Heathrow to Gatwick and vice-versa. At Mumbai on 3rd June we asked the check in clerk for the vouchers and he assured us that these would be given to us at Heathrow. It was of course a blatant lie as the customer relations person at Heathrow blandly refused to give such vouchers and to our enquiry whether National express will accept US $ he breezily said “they will even accept gold”. Gold we did not offer but US $ we had which was unacceptable and we, two senior citizen, spent anxious time getting British Pounds and wondering if we would make the connecting flight!

Before our return to India I sent an email to the Customer relations officer of BA asking whether free vouchers will be given to us at DFW for our return journey and transfer from Gatwick to Heathrow. The officer Aparna Gupta, apologized for the inconvenience caused and wrote that as we had already bought the National express bus tickets from Heathrow to Gatwick similarly we could buy from Gatwick to Heathrow. On our return we can claim the reimbursement by sending the ORIGINAL tickets and assured us of reimbursement.

The British Airways had provided us with copy of rules stating that UK visa is not required for change over from Heathrow to Gatwick and vice versa. But having been warned about the “British” ways of BA we had taken a 4 month UK visa which expired before our return journey to Mumbai. On our return on 30th October we had to again spend anxious time at the immigration counter at Gatwick where the officer, while contemptuously debunking BA’s statement that no UK visa is required for change over from Gatwick to Heathrow or Vice versa (“Who is BA? it is not the ruler of Britain! It is the government that rules here not BA!”) claimed to show mercy on an old couple and granted a 24 hour transit visa. Please do not misguide your hapless passengers with such incorrect information.

On our return I wrote a letter dated 6th November 2006 enclosing the ORIGINAL TICKETS of National Express bus service. We had been following this matter with Aparna Gupta when she replied to my email saying that she is now leaving the post and the matter would be dealt with by the next incumbent.

We now have your letter dated 31st January flatly refusing to reimburse the expense incurred by us. Does such ‘lying to customers by the check in clerks and going back on written commitments given by your customer relations officer’ form part of the “British” character and culture of British Airways?

A Tale of Two Capitals: Chandigarh & Gandhinagar

When India gained independence in 1947, the division of the sub-continent severely affected Punjab which lost its capital (Lahore) to Pakistan. With his zeal and visionary – almost dreaming- character, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru thought of building a new capital city for the state. The minds of Politicians and Administrators steeped in the subjugation of the British for 150 years could only look towards the west to find a ‘White’ man to design the capital. We followed the same concept in framing our constitution which is based on the British model, while the American model (a country which also had gained independence from British) could have been a more appropriate model to follow.

Their first choice of Albert Myer as Town Planner and Peter Nowicki a Polish Architect, as a team was ;in retrospect, very good. The plans drawn up by the team, particularly the housing clusters showed a very sensitive mind which tried to capture the spirit of town planning and architecture in the arid climatic zone of India. Unfortunately, Nowicki died in an air crash and later Le Corbusier managed to secure the commission to plan Chandigarh.

It is my personal opinion that Le Corbusier was a Sculptor of excellence but certainly not a “Functional” Architect and by no count a town planner. His buildings in Chandigarh and all over the world are an evidence of the sculptural qualities of his architecture. I recollect a conversation with a practicing attorney in the High Court building at chandigarh. He was quite sarcastic and critical of the design of the high court building claiming that he had to use an umbrella to go from one court room to another within the building when the sun beat fiercely or rain poured down! The building is very monumental but hardly functional!

Chandigarh town plan is static and devoid of any Indian character in the design of residential areas. Houses are just concrete boxes. It is “truly” a monument to Indian independence but far alienated from its people as all monuments are. Later Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew showed better sensitivity and understanding of Indian life styles and the ‘ethos’ while designing housing clusters and layouts for residential areas. The lowest level of employees of Government are located farthest from the Secretariat and government offices, and one has to stay there to experience the ordeal for those who peddled on their bicycles to go to work in the fierce heat! Each level of govt. employees are grouped separately in separate ‘sectors’ and the hierarchy is accentuated more in character with the imperial British rule rather than a true democracy that India aspired for.

I feel that all these shortcomings were avoided in Gandhinagar. I was personally responsible for working out the ‘mix’ of populace from different income groups and governmental hierarchy in a single residential sector which has both government and private housing and has at least 3 types of hierarchical housing mixed together. The housing clusters follow the “street” concept of the Gujarat cities leading to a far greater social cohesion than ever in Chandigarh. That, to my mind, is the real success of the town plan and architecture, it truly represents the Indian ( more specifically, “Gujarat” ) character.

I planned, designed and saw the completion of the first phase of the city and stayed there for an year. It has been an experience no other Indian planner has had so far and I am very proud of it. Gandhinagar has no ‘monuments’ or ‘master pieces’ of architecture. But we have succeeded in creating an urban environment which the local populace can identify themselves with and feel at home !


Ravi Kalia ( who has written a paper eulogizing planning of Chandigarh) seems to consider planning of Gandhinagar not worthy of notice just because it was planned by government employed town planners! He does not attempt to objectively assess the merits of Chandigarh & Gandhinagar. There is an undertone that practicing Architects and Planners are superior to employed ones! In fact, the real difference between employed and private practicing Architects is a matter of temperament than merit! Architects who do not have the knack to do “business” prefer to go in for employment. However.

If one were to pursue my article on Gandhinagar (available on my homepage at www.angelfire.com/indie/pmapte/ ) it gives an insight into the reasons for and the genesis of the Gandhinagar plan. It is deeply rooted in the planning tradition of Gujarat. After having planned the government housing clusters on the basis of the “Pole” (narrow street) pattern of old Gujarat towns I had conducted a social survey of neighbourhood and community relationships in these clusters. It was gratifying to find from the results that the feeling of neighbourliness and interpersonal relationships was much better than in the western concept of grouping houses around a square open space which was followed in Chandigarh.

Not many people in India remember that Gandhi was a Gujarati! He was a national figure. People of Gujarat of course take pride in his origins. We did make a conscious effort to build into the fabric of the city his principles of equality and easy interaction between people from all strata-economic, social, religious . The planning of each Sector where atleast three hierarchical categories of plots for general public or housing for government employees were “mixed” together is an example. We had to be however practical and try and “mix” social and economic categories that could get along with each other and not be idealistic by trying to put together the highest and the lowest! But this is a distinctive character of the city as against the “Gheto” like clusters created by Le Corbusier in Chandigarh.

In terms of ideas, we tried to follow our traditions, cultural heritage and the teachings of Gandhi. But at the same time, we adopted the state of the art building materials and technology. Hence one can find concrete pyramidal roof over classrooms in the design of primary schools (long before Architect Charles Correa used it for his museum in the Sabarmati Ashram of Gandhi near Ahmedabad) because traditionally the beginning of education was in the home of “Guru” staying in a hut with pyramidal roof of bamboo and straw. There are many such examples where we have interpreted the traditional Indian thought but in the language of modern materials, construction systems and functionality of design. Every building in Gandhinagar is highly “functional” specifically and deliberately designed to fulfill the function for its existence. These are not masterpieces that carry the personal “stamp” of the "Master" architect.

I did work in Chandigarh and visited it often later. The planning team there was very “slavish” about the ideas of the “Master”. I remember having argued with Jennerret who headed the team in absence of Corbusier about the rigidity of the ideas governed by his “ Modular” system that was based on the normal height of a European man as 6ft. 2 inches as against about 5 ft. 10 inches in India!

I will therefore say with confidence that the town planning of Gandhinagar is a logical and conscious synthesis of our town planning heritage and culture and the design of buildings and the urban design of the various complexes is a result of attention to functionality of buildings rather than their external appearance and impact.

Prakash M Apte

Posted by indie/pmapte at 10:45 AM
Updated: Sunday, 3 December 2006 6:06 PM
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