> > How I agree! > > It's a totally toxic state now, and the Gujaratis in Mumbai seem to be > mirroring the native Gujarati. > > Isn't it ironic that after campaigning against all not from Maharashtra, > the Thackerays should now find so much in common with the Gujarati? > Presumably the Gujarati vote in Mumbai goes to the BJP, not to the Shiv > Sena. > > What happened to the Gujarat and the Gujarati that we knew forty years, > even twenty years ago? This shows what can happen under 'soft' Hindutva, and > under the 'good' Taliban. >
I stayed for a year in Mumbai, and so did a lot of batchmates from MBA and we never had a problem find a place to stay even though I was a meat eater (even beef, though we never cooked), smoker, and regularly had people over drinking alcohol late into the night though we had to watch noise levels. I've heard a lot of things said about the Gujaratis (mostly by Marathis), but I never experienced any discrimination due to my beef eating and bacchanalian lifestyle. So yes, the anti-meat rule is almost exclusively to keep out Muslims. I think it is a fact of life that if the sub-community you are a part of is causing trouble, you will face social repression. And as a member of that community, you cannot just shy away from the responsibility of reforming your sub-community. Its either that or you change your name and forgo that particular identity. This could be one of the reasons my family largely excluded the Menon surname as not to be identified with those responsible for quite a bit of caste based discrimination in Kerala (though they will never admit to it). Even I would be wary of lending my house out to Muslims (or any other communty which is identified as causing terrorism or generally disturbing the peace), unless I knew them or they were referred to me from somebody I know well. Face it, apart from the LTTE, IRA, all other major terrorist groups I know are Islamic in origin to my knowledge (fringe groups like Maoists, ULFA etc. being ignored). And I would also be vary of those in khaki shorts and carry around a long wooden stick. Kiran
