Sign of the Times?

Some time back, I had the opportunity of hearing Kumar Ketkar (currently chief editor of Loksatta and formerly editor of Maharashtra Times and other leading newspapers) speak at a private function. It was a freewheeling talk without structure but a lot of relevance. I usually don’t agree with his political views, but his talk that day was not political. He spoke of the genesis of his leftist leanings and the part played by his school, teachers, friends, etc. in his life. An important point that he stressed quite elaborately was the manner in which Marathi was fast losing relevance in contemporary times in Maharashtra in general and Mumbai in particular. He was quite saddened by the fact that not a lot of people could articulate effectively in Marathi. Most of the people present there nodded in silent agreement… Marathi has indeed been reduced to a second-grade language, they thought.

Cut to yesterday…

I was commuting home after a long day at work when I saw a huge billboard exhorting people to take their pick. On choice were two newspapers, ‘Mumbai Mirror’ and ‘Maharashtra Times’. The offer was to choose either one of these dailies as a complimentary accompaniment to a subscription of ‘The Times of India’.

I could not help but cringe at the thought of pairing up an institution like ‘Maharashtra Times’ (true it has lost a lot of its sheen in recent times, but it remains a Maharashtrian institution in spirit) with a sensational tabloid like ‘Mumbai Mirror’.

I know this isn’t fully representative of a general apathy towards Marathi, but it does go a long way towards that! And I couldn’t help but nod silently as I thought back to Kumar Ketkar’s words while staring at the hoarding before the traffic lights turned green and the bus lurched headlong into the rush hour traffic.