अट्या पाट्या 8: ‘Confused’ Patya

Some shops are so confused as to how they should put up a Marathi signboard that they end up making a fool of themselves… This Bata shop is a classic example!

Marathi Film Industry in top gear

Year started on a good note for the Marathi Film Industry, with phenomenal success of Ek Dav Dhobipachchad. As the industry undergoes a renaissance, big corporates (Reliance, ABCL, Mukta Arts and Zee) are falling over each other to grab a share of the pie.

Incidentally, Jaya Bachchan who seems to be ‘allergic to all things Marathi’ is producing Umesh Kulkarni’s Vihir… Wot sayz Raj?

अट्या पाट्या 7: ‘Central Sarkari’ Patya

Sarkari and semi Sarkari signboards have always stuck to bilingual and trilingual formats…

Mind you... ‘Hindi Falak’ is not same as ‘Marathi Patya’… don’t be led into believing that the EC signboard is in Marathi!

Microsoft in Marathi

Microsoft introduces Language Interface Packs for 12 indian languages including Marathi… so now you can use e-mail, Instant Messenger, online storage, photo gallery, social networking, calendar, online storage, personal home page, and more in your mother tongue… Good, no?

अट्या पाट्या 6: ‘Honey, I painted it myself’ Patya

Looks like this kanjoos shopkeeper has not changed his signboard since 1950s… and did not want to spend on a painter either… so he seems to have tackily painted the Marathi part himself!

12 new frog species found in the Sahyadris

Since time immemorial, Sahyadris (Wrongly called ‘western Ghats’ by the Anglicised Janta) has been the cultural, historical and ecological backbone of peninsular India. Spread over 5 states this ancient mountain range never ceases to fascinate 3M… from ancient cave temples to forgotten forts and from innumerable birds to fascinating animals. The area is one of the world’s ten "Hottest biodiversity hotspots" and has over 5000 species of flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species and 179 amphibian species. At least 325 globally threatened species occur in the Western Ghats.

Recently, a team of biologists has discovered 12 new species of frogs in this region. This discovery once again exposes the crying need for a joint policy across these 5 states to conserve the biodiversity of this endangered region.

अट्या पाट्या 5: ‘I was always Marathi’ Patya

Then there are shops which had 'Marathi only' signboards long before MNS was born!

बाई मी विकत घेतला श्याम (Bai mi vikat ghetala Shyam)

अट्या पाट्या 4: ‘Big Marathi Small Marathi’ Patya

There is a special subclass of the ‘No English Please’ Patya. These were originally bilingual signboards on which English logos were large and Marathi logos were small… Now, the English logo has been converted to Marathi… so you have 2 Marathi logos… one big… and one small!

MAHAPOL POWERLIST Feb 09 Edition

click on the image to see larger version

The complete list of 25 most powerful politicians is as follows -

1. Bal Thackeray (82) SS +1
2. Sharad Pawar (68) NCP -1
3. Ashok Chavan (50) INC 0
4. Gopinath Munde (59) BJP +1
5. Chhagan Bhujbal (60) NCP +2
6. Raj Thackeray (39) MNS -2
7. Uddhav Thackeray (48) SS +2
8. Vilasrao Deshmukh (63) INC +2
9. Ajitdada Pawar (49) NCP -1
10. Narayan Rane (56) INC -4
11. R R Patil (52) NCP 0
12. Nitin Gadkari (60) BJP 0
13. Praful Patel (53) NCP 0
14. Ramdas Athavale (55) RPI 0
15. Prakash Ambedkar (51) RPI 0
16. Vinay Kore (37) JSP +2
17. Murli Deora (71) INC -1
18. Gurudas Kamat (51) INC -1
19. Sushilkumar Shinde (66) INC 0
20. Manohar Joshi (71) SS 0
21. Vijaysingh Mohite Patil (64) NCP 0
22. Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil (76) INC 0
23. Vinod Tawde (45) BJP 0
24. Jayant Patil (46) NCP 0
25. N D Patil (78) PWP 0

Party Code

• BJP – Bharatiya Janata Party
• INC – Indian National Congress
• JSS – Jana Surajya Shakti
• MNS – Maharashtra Navanirman Sena
• NCP – Nationalist Congress Party
• PWP – Peasants & Workers Party (Shetkari Kamgar Paksha)
• RPI – Republican Party of India (any faction)SS – Shiv Sena

Movement on the MahaPol ladder –
0 : This symbol indicates that there has been no change in the ranking over the previous month.
+x : Plus sign indicates improvement in ranking over last month and ‘x’ indicates how many ranks he/ she has moved upwards.
-x : Minus sign indicates deterioration in ranking over last month and ‘x’ indicates how many ranks he/ she has moved downwards.

To understand the methodology used for the ranking click here.

The figure in bracket indicates the age of the politician.

Analysis

• The members of the Top 10 Hall of fame have remained the same as in the Jan 09 edition of MahaPol, except for the fact that they have exchanged places with Ashok Chavan being the only politician to retain his rank.
• Balasaheb Thackeray has piped Sharad Pawar to the top slot. The Congress Working Committee has decided not to have a national level understanding with any party for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. This means it is not ready to recognize NCP’s strength beyond Maharashtra though the election commission recognizes it as a national party. This is a big blow for NCP politically as it is not willing to challenge this decision within the UPA. Shiv Sena’s open support for Pawar’s prime ministerial ambitions does not add to the latter’s strength but the former will gain goodwill of Marathi Manoos on this count. Also, Shiv Sena has further fortified its position giving a fillip to the strength of Balasaheb as well as Uddhav.
• Though the capacity of Raj Thackeray as a crowd puller is undiminished, he has miserably failed in translating the same into votes during the recent by-elections. This has pulled him down by two ranks.
• Narayan Rane continues to dilly-dally about his political future and has put himself at the mercy of Congress High Command. This has severely damaged his image as a strong and forceful leader and has lead to erosion of his ranking by 4 points… a hard fall indeed!
• Gopinath Munde has effectively resisted the efforts of Shiv Sena in downgrading its long time partner – BJP. In addition, he has forcefully asserted his position within the party which has pushed his rank upwards.
• Chhagan Bhujbal has become the biggest hurdle for Maratha reservation by refusing to soften his stand even after becoming the Dy CM. This has catapulted him to no. 5!
• Even though he has lost the gaddi, Vilasrao has retained his relevance in Maharashtra politics and hence has moved up by 2 points.
• Ajit Pawar’s faux pas of inducting a ‘History Sheeter’ in NCP by publicly garlanding him has pulled him down by 1 step on the Mahapol ladder.
• Amongst the rest of the 15 politicians, there has been very little churn expect for Vinay Kore. The response to his ‘Prati Kolhapur’ rally at Shivaji Park could be compared to some of the major rallies in recent times held at the same venue… catapulting him to the no. 16 position.

MahaPol can be directly contacted on mahapol25@gmail.com

This post has been made on behalf of MahaPol as he was having login problems.