Maharashtra Mazha - Diwali Ank

In my mother’s heap of Diwali Ank, I came across a copy of “Maharashtra Mazha”. Being an avid trekker myself, the image of Konkan kada on the cover attracted my attention. I opened the issue half expecting articles about travel and trekking in Maharashtra… to my utter surprise this was an MNS diwali ank… With Shirish Parkar donning the editor’s cap!

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I was surprised to see there was no anti-bhaiyya vitriol in the entire issue… in fact the Marathi Manoos was prodded about the fact he is responsible for the situation he is in! Mahesh Manjrekar’s article was straight forward… if you don’t respect your mother tongue, how do you expect others to respect it? Raju Parulekar’s analysis on Mumbai’s history lacked depth… But Deepak Pawar’s articles emphasized that action not rhetoric is required to save Marathi!

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But the article that I liked the most was मराठी खाद्यसंस्कृतीवर आपलाच हल्ला (Marathi culinary tradition under our own attack) by Sajiv Sabade. He clearly showed how Marathi Manoos is fast forgetting traditional diet in lieu Punjabi and Udupi cuisine! And what he said was so true… 5 years back, 3M married a true blue Marathi Mulgi in Kohinoor (a hotel owned by Marathi Politician - Manohar Joshi) in traditional Marathi ceremony but all the dishes were Punjabi!

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The biggest joke was that when this article was lamenting the loss of traditional cuisine, McDonald’s ad in Marathi took the vantage position in the magazine!

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