MUMBAI: A pleasant tongue would do the trick, say observers who take exception to the MNS' campaign of force. They point out that before the season of signboards and political fatwas began, several non-Maharashtrians in Mumbai had already taken Marathi to their hearts. Not always for the mercenary reason of getting doors to open, rather simply drawn by the beauty of the `bhavgeet' or the power of Marathi literature.
From Hemant Kumar to Mohammed Rafi, Shailendra Singh to Shreya Ghoshal, artistes at the peak of their mainstream Hindi career have volunteered time and effort to Marathi.
"In fact, Mohammed Rafi's first film song in Marathi, `Arre he dukhi jeeva', was composed by Raj Thackeray's father Shrikant,'' laughs lyricist Vinayak Rahatekar, recalling the sittings that took place at the singer's Bandra residence. "It was such a wonderful confluence of cultures. Rafi sahab had a genuine problem pronouncing the fluid Marathi `cha' so I wrote the entire song without using that syllable. He could not read Marathi very well so Shrikant Thackeray who was adept at Urdu wrote the lyrics in that language to help him.''
The list of faithfuls spans as far as London, with a BBC television newsreader some years ago doing a commendable `Tsavan' when referring to S B Chavan, the father of the current chief minister.
Which is why Gandhian thinker Vasant Pradhan believes that the correct strategy to win people over to the cause would be to display the best of what the language has to offer - rather than harsh words, especially if they are in Marathi.
"I think all those who come to earn a living in Mumbai do respect the local culture. The right way to make more people warm to the language is to dispense with the politics and show them what a wonderful legacy we have,'' agrees Shahir Vithal Umap, a cultural icon whose songs mirror the plight of all downtrodden communities.
In fact, common Mumbaikars who do not speak the language at home have received a warm introduction from their housemaids - one Bandra housewife asked for a lesson in Marathi after her servant referred to her husband back in the village as `malak' or master, and then addressed her mistress as `bai' (which means `lady' apart from `maidservant').
Others are grateful to the state-run media for having familiarised them with legends like Balgandharva and P L Deshpande. "In the 70s and 80s there was Chimanrao and then Shwetambara on Bombay Doordarshan, who ensured you got your daily dose of informal instruction,'' says Veena Shivdasani, an elderly Sindhi who may not pick up the Marathi dictionary but loves listening to `Naach re mora' on radio.
In fact All India Radio with its steady broadcast of bhavgeet and natyasangeet, and Mumbai Doordarshan under its former head, the non-Maharashtrian Mukesh Sharma, have indeed extended the reach of Marathi as seen from the calls their shows receive from other linguistic communities.
"One inevitably picks up the local language by virtue of domicile,'' says a government servant of non-Marathi origin. "In any case, the two presiding deities of the state, Ganpati and Lata Mangeshkar, have all of us spellbound,'' he adds.
SOURCE:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Pleasant-tongue-does-the-trick/articleshow/5217037.cms
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