Message from the Maharashtra Anti Corruption Bureau. http://acbmaharashtra.org. Online and anonymous complaints are possible.

The disastrous effects of corruption on our public life are clearly evident to all of us. We all wish to live in a corruption-free society. While there are adequate laws to punish the corrupt and agencies to investigate and prosecute the culprits, what is lacking is the will to come forward and fight corruption at all levels. Corruption has become an accepted part of life today. However, it is one of the main factors standing in the way of a higher standard of life for the common man. The problem therefore is who will bell the cat? While the investigative agencies can act on complaints given by citizens, there is a need for an equal partnership between Government and the citizens in the fight against corruption. Ultimately corruption can be eradicated only if civil society wills it so. This website has been launched with the intention of bridging the gap between the citizens and the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Maharashtra in an interactive mode. It aims to inform the people about the functioning of the Bureau while at the same time being open to their suggestions and proposals. Requisite information regarding steps to be taken for lodging a complaint of corruption/bribery has been made available on the website for the use of citizens.

We have taken this step hoping for wholehearted support from the public and we invite the citizens of Maharashtra to come forward and join us in large numbers in the fight against corruption.

Sanjeev Dayal , IPS

How to fight terrorism

As terrorists get bolder and bolder and more delusional, it is time to give them a reality check. Terrorists can never stop and will simply move on to the next target after one disappears. For example, terrorists elements within Sunnis go after Shias if they run out of other groups to hate on.

Here are the steps.
1> There are quite a few people, especially in the US, middle east and UK, that say, "We just send money to terrorist groups to get revenge". Report these people to authorities. Money is what drives terrorism.
2> Keep an eye out for people that have uncontrolled rage against other groups out of nowhere. These are the kind of people targeted for recruiting and action. Again, watch for the word "revenge". Report them directly or anonymously.
3> Watch out for people that say that terrorists are only against government and not the people. These are the people most likely to fund terrorists. Report them directly or anonymously.
4> You are likely to hear such words mostly from friends or other that share a common religious or ethnic background. Report them directly or anonymously. Terrorists are not followers of God, they are the devil incarnate. Hateful conversations from any religious group is bad.
5> Do not donate to charities unless you are absolutely sure what they do. Donate to Prime Minister or Chief Minister relief funds when in doubt.
6> Do not carry money on behalf of others when visiting India or Pakistan. Unaccounted money often ends up in the wrong hands.
7> Do not use hawala or unofficial channels to transmit money. The underworld fanatics get a cut out of those transactions.
8> Do not do unofficial bets on cricket games. Corrupt cricket officials get a cut out of those transactions and they are tied to extortion/terrorist groups. 
9> Walk away from conversations that are hateful. Terrorism begins in the intelligent mind and get implemented by mindless moron. Sindhi master, Punjabi blaster. (Reference: Mad Max movies)
10> Be the possibility of peace and harmony. This is the most important step. Ofcourse, kill a terrorist before he can do harm. But be an incarnation of peace otherwise.

Happiest Maharashtrian dance!

This dance wins the contest for the Happiest Maharashtrian family dance ever!

Chandrayaan!!!!

I am excited , India is going to send Chandrayaan on Moon. Imagine going on moon for vacation.
Unravelling so many mysteries of moon, I am looking forward for Chandrayan mission.
Best of Luck and Congratulations to Chandrayaan.

Mr Raj are you correct??

I went through some reactions from various factions regarding Raj Thackeray's statements?
Sitting in Dubai we have mixed reactions to these events , because we are expatriates in Dubai.

Raj made millions of Rupees by Floating Shiv Udyog Sena, The main objective was to provide udyog to marathi youths, But we never heard any fruitful Udyogs done by Marathi Youths.

If Raj is possessed he has to help Marathi youths go in to business , he should start funding marathi youths . Making them Prosperous and which in turn will definetely drive so called outsiders away.

You will be amazed to know about the kind f mafia that exists in Mumbai.
The masala mafia, shares brokers mafia, gold mafia, hardware mafia,steel mafia, scrap mafia, hotel mafia.Our parents always worked for givt companies hence we are unaware of such mafia.
Raj should first form Marathi mafia like the chinese or the israelis do and then start entering each and every field rather than sitting and advising.

Not just make big Noise against Amitabh or Jaya and be proud of that.
Regarding Kobra or Debra Monopoly which we used to hear existed in the last Decade in Pune is now diminishing. Punietes are coming out, I can see so many of them in Dubai and main complain of lack of opportunities. Real estate is booming in Pune and so is the outside population.
My friend was telling the camp area is completely encroached by outsiders.

Not that I am against it, we came out for opportunities, My kin went to Bangalore , Hyderabad, U.S.A for opportunities. You can see Marathi Mandal in all other countries becoming stronger and we hope The marathi people and language also becomes stronger and stronger.
I still feel ashamed of the quote by Jaywanti ben Mehta" Mumbai Tumchi Pan Bhandi Ghasa Ammchi" still as Shivsena had supported her she had won from Mumbai- Amazing.
If she was is in Tamil Nadu or even Karnataka, she would have been kicked out from that state.

Increase electricity prices in Mumbai and Pune...

The failure of monsoon highlights the power distribution issues affecting Maharashtra. The electricity prices in Maharashtra should be probably prices based on availability and distance from the source. This means that Pune and Mumbai would have to pay much higher prices compared to Vidharbha. The high price would also act as a natural push towards conserving electricity.

And if something similar is already being done, the prices have to go up even more. High enough so that nobody forgets to switch the light off in Mumbai or Pune at the cost of a more rolling blackouts in the rest of the state.

Corrupt sons of soil

In a very convoluted way, Raj Thackeray is asking son of the soils not to be corrupt. By requesting them to not issue fake certificates. Domicile and ration card authorities earn millions of rupees during the medical and engineering admission process in India. People are ready to pay tens of thousands to avoid lakhs of capitation rupees in many cases.

But the paradox is that sons of the soil fight over these low paying jobs just for the corruption money. A municipal school teacher teaching English is there to take her daily rest and relaxation. Asking them to shape up is not going to cut it. If you want honest officials, you have to open these jobs to a merit based admission process and provide good salaries. And stop stuffing these posts with sons and daughters of the soil that happen to know some politically connected person.

The one good(?) thing about these corrupt officials is that they do not care as to who is on the other side of the table; Maharashtrian or outsider. If you do not have the proper documentation to get the certificates, you have to pay up even if your last name happens to be Mumbaikar, Nagarkar, Tendulkar, Agarkar or Wadkar. Paisa nikal, phir baat kar! Soil does not matter to these officials, only cold cash does. That is where the sons of soils all over the country get their percentage. And this is how the leaders of political parties get their riches too. Corruption begins at the top and percolates to the bottom.

Horrible public schools of Maharashtra

Here is an article about the state of public schools in Maharashtra.



As I had indicated in an earlier blog, kids studying in public schools in Maharashtra are condemned to a life of misery. How about shutting down these schools and providing education vouchers for studying in private or semi-private well run schools for these kids?

Ofcourse, that will bring down quality of the private schools(similar thing observed in the US). Or the private schools will start running away to places that are hard to travel to. But atleast the Maharashtrian kid will have a chance.

Yes, we need people with different levels of education in the workforce, but these kids are condemned to low self esteem, dropping out and a life of mediocrity. Believe me, these kids are smart. But they have no chance in life coming out of these miserable schools.

Advice: Retire in home state and region....

I have always been fascinated by the insistence of Puneris and Chennaites to stay in that region under all costs. I am now beginning to understand why, given the recent events in Maharashtra. They want to stay there as they get preferential treatment there, at the cost of discrimination to other groups. And that might mean discrimination towards other groups from the same state too. Cobras and Debras in Pune constitutes the top of the totem pole, followed by Marathas and then "all others". You can answer a perfect engineering exam in Pune, but if the examiner is a Cobra and you are an "all others", you will get marks only deserving of "all others".

The lesson to be learned here is that you can work and play anywhere you want, but you do want to retire in your native state, down to the exact native region. That does put Sindhis, Baluchis and other partition migrants in an awkward position. And if you are an ethnic Marathi in Belgaum, it might not hurt to eventually retire on the other side of the border.

In a way, the blatant Indian discrimination and prejudice explain why Indians do well all over the world; training for coping up and overcoming discrimination begins at home and they are pretty good at advancing despite the odds stacked up against them. The stay home Puneris and Chennaites and Bengalurians do not do well "mentally" outside the country or state and always keep pining to go back home and frequently do. So there is a lesson to be learned from these silent but very effective discriminators, when they get their opportunities.

You might say that a couple of violent incidents in Maharashtra do not mean much. The incidents may be isolated, but the discrimination is pervasive. The only thing that seems to trump discrimination is corruption based incentives. Almost makes you think that corruption is a good thing for India; it plays out as a discrimination equalizing tax, even for doing legitimate business. With all the blatant discrimination playing out in India right now, corruption has never appeared so good.

To repeat the retirement statement, it is all about peace of mind. The looks of contempt and the subtle acts of discrimination can eventually wear you down. So make sure that you plan for a retirement in your native area in India, irrespective of whether you are Maharashtrian, Bihari, Keralite or Kannadiga. Of course, this applies only to retirement; you have to persevere and take the risk for your family and kids and your job. India is still a free, democratic country

Blueprint for the end of India?....

The events of recent weeks provide what could be a possible blueprint as to how India will cease to be in existence. All that is needed is retaliation by other states. So when Maharashtra goes after NorthIndians, they could in turn go after South Indians who could in turn go after the North Indians. During stray violence, Maharashtrians and Tamilians get killed in Karnataka, causing South Indian violence on each others. Sikhs start attacking nonSikhs in Punjab due to the attacks on them all over the country, causing an exodus there. Every state gets tired of "Mera Bharat Mahaan" and set up their own countries. Belgaum ethnic Maharashtrians and Bangalore ethnic Tamilians are sent packing, setting the stage for future border wars.

All this requires is the presence of three powerful jokers. We are dangerously close to such a scenario now, the two jokers in the pack right now are Raj Thackeray and Lalu Yadav. Firm government intervention is needed to address this threat to national integrity.

India is the cake that everyone takes for granted. There is a lesson to be learned from Yugoslavia here.

Let the backtracking begin...

Now the medical students would not have to do six months extra work.

The country that does the best job of extracting its pound of flesh from the medical students is the US. Countries like US and UK also strip off the dignity of foreign medical graduates in the name of training them to meet the high medical standards of their own country. While the US and the UK merely protect high paying jobs and immigration possibilities respectively, the case in India seems to be one of exploitation of the economically privileged. The six month rotation in rural areas mainly comprises of passing time in various "departments" of a rural hospital that has never seen a staff doctor.

States like Kansas in the US sponsor education of their state residents in exchange for a couple of years work in rural areas. Maybe that is the way to go in case rural participation needs to be encouraged for medical doctors.

Politicians will be politicians. I will leave it at that as far as motivation for this move is concerned.

नवीन बकरे आहेत...त्यांना पाठ्वा गावखेड़यात..

That is what the Maharashtra government thinks about the new medical graduates. Easy pickings for postings to remote locations. It is a not a fair idea as there is no point for new graduates to be sitting around doing nothing and having no learning opportunities at these postings. Typically these are unstaffed outposts and the students are mostly private college students that have shelled out gazillions and have social/professional/education plans in the works. A lot of them are from out of state.

If this rule is enforced, it just means the guys handing out the future "No Objection Certificates" will become quite rich and content. Rather than forcing all to serve in rural areas, how about allowing a choice for medical students and subsidizing their education for guaranteed service for a few years in rural areas?

maharashtrian cuisines and recipes

Here is the link to the page that describes Maharashtrian recipes. Click on the links provided therein if a particular recipe is to your liking.

Cuisine of Maharashtra

Or visit the Mumbai Masala website directly.

Why did I post this? The images on this blog are landing you on this पेज. I am sure you are visiting the blog to figure out how to make it! बग्ण्यात काय मज़ा आहे?

मराठी लेखन!

गूगल कंपनी ने आत्त्ता एक नविन संधि उपलब्ध केलेली आहे। इंग्लिश मध्ये आपण जेहि टाईप करणार, ते आपले आप हिंदी लिपि मध्ये परिवर्तित होते मराठी लिपि आणि हिंदी लिपि मध्ये भरपूर संबंध आहे, आणि हे माझ pratham marathi blog आइटम आहे! तुम्ही पण ट्राय करु शकता!

India search engine surprisingly good...

Here is the India search engine

For example, type in Republic Day. The search results are good and clean and very Indian oriented.

Customized search engine for Maharashtra...

The search engine shown below provides a higher priority to Official Maharashtra sites. So you can find relevant results faster. I especially hate private sites that throw pop up windows without permission. With this search engine, you will typically get good website matches if you are focused on Maharashtra based information. Let me know if you want to bump up the priority of any particular official Maharashtra website.

Speaking of Search Engines, I have created one such search engine for each of the states of India. Plus one for India itself. You can try any of those out at this link.

http://www.maharashtraweb.com/search%20engines/searchengines.htm

I have also created interactive maps related to Indian history, geography, cuisine, wildlife, festival, culture, tourism and adventures. You will find the links at the bottom of each Maharashtraweb page. Here is one to get you started, it is the history map of each of the individual states of India.

http://www.maharashtraweb.com/indiaindex.htm

Happy exploring!

Search Engine

HCL coming to Nagpur...

HCL is coming to Nagpur in search of relatively lower cost labor. I believe HCL is making a right now and this will be the move that will get additional companies into Nagpur.

Speak Marathi and keep out other ethnic groups?...

That is what Balasaheb Thackeray implied in a recent editorial. I agree with this article that it is not the case. The British have been speaking English for a long time and have not been able to keep out Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. It is not the opportunity to speak a language, but opportunity to live a peaceful life, earn a living and do business that gets people to Maharashtra or Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh.

There are many kinds of migrations into a city or area. There is the low level migration of unskilled labor, which mainly happens to escape poverty, lack of opportunities and degradation in small villages. This migration happens with Maharashtrians too. Then there is semi skilled labor that are looking for specific opportunities in construction, manufacturing or even driving auto rickshaws, cars. Then comes the skilled variety which typically nobody minds.

The issue is mainly about the unskilled and semi-skilled labor. Thanks to good governance and overall logistical and political history, Maharashtra is a well to do state. Biharis and Keralites alike end up here for jobs and opportunities.

The way to keep out other groups is to regress in humanity and be the incarnation of Rakshasas (Think of some of the desert nations). People migrate to Maharashtra because it is closer to the Gods mentioned by Tukaram and Namdeo and revels in prosperity. The day people leave Maharashtra will mean something not necessarily good. Notice that when it is time to leave, Lebanese leave Lebanon, Iraqis leave Iraq and so on. When it comes time to leave, everybody leaves and the lights go off.

If we firmly believe that Good always triumphs over Evil, migration of people into Maharashtra will eventually result in more Maharashtrian values. That will reduce non-Maharashtrians in the state. A Bangladeshi on a fake ration card living in Maharashtra eventually becomes a Maharashtrian as he embodies Maharashtrian values. So it is really not about the language you speak, but who you become when you live among the good folks in Maharashtra. So be a Maharashtrian and imbibe Maharashtrian values. That is how Ganesh Chaturti gets celebrated all over India.

Customized Google Web Search Engine for Maharashtra

I have created a customized Google web search engine for Maharashtra and all the other states of India. If you are looking for serious information, this will be helpful as government sites are given the highest priority. This allows complete control over a search. Now the searches are even more guaranteed to block out a pop up rich websites that have somehow managed to crawl it's way up Google preferences.

Maharashtrian rulers of the old...How good were they?

As I posted information related to other states on the web, I could not help noticing the fact that other ethnicities were not very happy about the period of Maratha rule. How good were the Marathas and the peshwas? I do not recollect good leadership mentioned for any of the rulers other than Shivajiraje and Ahilyabai. Plus there is a lot of historical angst about what could have been related to Shivaji's son.

So I am guessing that some of the other rulers were not very visionary and that led to the eventual erosion of their hold over the empire. Your thoughts on the issue?

Marathi Couple Celebrating Ganesh Utsav

Excellent one hour video that helped me relive my own Ganesh Chaturti day. Informative too. Ganeshotsava or Ganpati Festival is emotionally very close to the heart of all Mumbaikars. We have fond memories of this festival.As Expatriates in dubai we did not get all the requisite things to celebrate the festival . But That was the real fun when we all couples came together, took a day off from the Office and under the supervision of our Bhatji Mr Mandar Damle we prepared all the delicacies like ukadiche modak,Aluwadi etc . The Main Families Involved were The Damles from Dombivali, The Pardeshis from Pune, Dighes from Thane, and off course the Kothares from Goregaon(shifted) all settled in Dubai. We have included the Mehta Family recently. This is the first part of the video, It shows complete picturisation of day one of the Ganpati festival. You feel as if you are there, please listen to Mr Damles detail explanation of all the Vidhis . Thanks and enjoy the one hour journey.

Harry Potter and the marathi connection...

Has anyone noticed the connections between Harry Potter and marathi last names? . Patil twins are characters in the books. The death curse is "Avada Kedarva".

Leave our village...you are not good....

People in a village near Dehu are being asked to leave a village for alleged crimes. In this day and age, this is not a good way to solve a problem. Even if the allegations were true.

Chaturthi celebrations

Ganesh Chaturthi is a global festival now. Here is a PBS story about Ganesh Chaturthi being celebrated in New York. And if you have a broadband connection, you can watch some of the clips of celebration at Google Video.

The Des Moines celebration was great. A lot of money was raised for the temple and everybody had a lot of fun. As the temple is next to the river, the visarjan procession was a trek from the temple to the river. Next year, we will have some sort of music during the procession so that people can dance.

Ganesh Chaturti

There is a terrorist advisory for the upcoming Ganesh Chaturti. This will mean less women and children accompanying men during Visarjan. Security should be up to the mark in Pune and Mumbai.

Our Ganesh Chaturti here in Des Moines has Pratisthapana and Visarjan on the same day as the function is being organised in the local temple. I will be celebrating the event after 11 years.

Disaster relief and disaster creation

A safe place to send in your relief money is the Prime Minister's relief fund. Other relief funds seem to open and close during more dramatic disasters. Ofcourse, you never know which state gets hit, but the money is in reasonably good hands with the PM relief fund.

Speaking of disasters, illegal extraction of India's natural resources are one of the easiest ways the ruling parties makes easy money. It's easy to find the illegal activities. Anything that goes on 24 hours a day and without any questions asked is usually blessed from the top or the middle.

I do not know if that is happening in Maharashtra, so you can comment on that. But it is apparently happening in Andhra Pradesh and the reason we know is that it is causing damage in Karnataka. Here is another instance of sand quarrying in Tamil Nadu.

Our history books teach us that the British exploited our natural resources. But we may our own worst enemy in this regard. Ofcourse, we eventually love to blame those foreigners for using our bad river water.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

The rain has got Maharashtra real good this time around. All low lying areas are in trouble now. Thankfully, evacuation and help activities are moving along well. This will be a hugely disruptive event in the lives of lakhs of people. I remember my uncle incurring thousands of rupees of damage in his shop due to rain. Insurance is not a poor man's tool in India. So most of these folks have the misfortune of absorbing their own losses.

Maharashtra photographs on Flickr

Flickr has this feature called tags. Go to this page and you can potentially see thousands of pictures taken in Maharashtra or having some sort of Maharashtra connections. You can jump around to other related tags like Mumbai, Pune or Aurangabad.

Discussion board added..

I have figured out the way to add a discussion board to the maharashtraweb site. It requires registration and all groups will be moderated for bad language. Hopefully, that will provide another dimension for interaction for maharashtraweb users. It will also facilitate discussion of topics that are probably more dearer to your hearts than mine.

Maharashtra images

I looked around the web for photographs that capture the essence of Maharashtra. Here is a nice picture of women wearing Navvari sarees. This link has a photographers view of Maharashtra. Here is picture of a dance bar from the old days.

There have been lavni dances sponsored by Coke! And liquor industry has caught on to the trend too with their item numbers across the country. Sell them dreams and hook em!

"The World is Flat", let us learn English!

There is a lot of mention of Bangalore in the book "The World is Flat". A few years down the road, Bangalore should get replaced by Pune, Chennai or Hyderabad. Politicians in Bangalore are cashing out on software investments. Pune and its surroundings are doing great!

I am glad to see a reduction in pure Marathi Schools. Not that the Marathi curriculum is weak, but the public school teachers definitely are. Out of the 11 public school friends I knew, only one passed 12th! These were relatively smart guys studying in ultra-horrible schools.

It is nice to know that English is being planned as a compulsary subject. I thought that would be a given, but I guess one can never assume anything with politicians around! English has to be taught, given that it is a global language. Hindi should be the language that gets the axe instead of English. Most of South India seems to have done this with good results. Thanks to songs and movies, everyone gets a free grounding in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, whether they realize it or not!

If Germans and Chinese can learn English in school, surely Maharashtrians can and should? Why ostracize an ethnic public schooled Maharashtrian to a life of poverty by deliberately taking away English from him?

Link to Maharashtrian Recipes

Here is the mother of all links for Maharashtrian recipes! http://www.mumbai-masala.com/maharashtrafood.html. Go Samita!

And misal!!

 

Bhel!

 

Laadoo

 

And here's the food items!!!

Just to get your mouth to water! Here are some of the food items that were sold! 

Maharashtra mandal function in Iowa

Here is a Rangoli picture from that function. I did have the date of the function incorrect in my previous blog entry; it was some other date. The function was well attended and a lot of fun. Bhel, vada, misal, ladoo were also being sold in the function. Additional pictures from the function at http://www.maharashtraweb.com/lifeleis/rangoli.htm and http://www.maharashtraweb.com/lifeleis/aakashkandil.htm 

Untouchables

Read the book "Untouchables" by Narendra Jadhav. Provides a glimpse into the caste structure related to Mahars in Maharashtra. I am sure reading it in Marathi would be a better experience as all the songs are lost in the English version. I got especially interested in Mariaai, the god that is worshipped in the south as Mariaatha or Mariamma. I have personally seen the struggle of people as they try to balance their pull towards two religions. But I guess it doesnt really matter in big cities.

Creating Rangoli in Des Moines...

We will be attending a Rangoli creation function is downtown Des Moines on November 4th. It is being arranged by the Maharashtra Mandal of Iowa. There will be free Maharashtrian food served at the function. Entry is free; all donations will be eventually to disaster relief wing of Red Cross. Hopefully I can get some pictures that I can insert into the maharashtraweb site.