Culturally correct

Kyom darte ho? Bolo Hindi.

That's the rather quaintly malayalified teaser for a spoken Hindi column in one of those assembly-line career magazines. The pitch, here, is for job aspirants from Kerala looking out of the State. And who can't say their hain from hoon. In these times, when cultural multiplicity doesn't quite mean what it suggests, a bit of functional Hindi shouldn't hurt. Anything goes, as long as it helps social existence.

Migrant population. There's something galling about its sound. I think inter-state work permits. I think tests to prove affiliation to the Local Culture. I think separate queues for the settlers and floaters. Last time I checked, there was no Constitutional provision that validated physical violence on grounds of ethnicity. The local is a migrant, elsewhere. But obviously, Raj Thackeray disagrees.

The mobilisation of Maratha hostility against the corrupting influences on the city of Mumbai is also pegged to a familiar divisive agenda that may even work in favour of political rebels who have drifted off the Sena's first family. But more importantly, the grain of hate has just spun another charged debate on the question of progress at the cost of cultural identity.

In Bangalore -- one of the country's more culturally inclusive metropolises -- posters have come up saying "Learn Kannada or leave Bangalore." These are minor elements of defiance that don't cloud the overall sense of amity and tolerance that this city is rooted in. But it's hard to miss this tone of expectant glee when some of them discuss the Mumbai situation.

This was random talk at a house party. Soon, it drifted to Mumbai and what it meant for the rest of Us. "No offence (you being an outsider, you see), but just wait... this will spread to other cities." Point noted.