Maratha latecomers

If I never learnt to speak Marathi fluently in my childhood, it was because then there was no impetus to do so.

- Coomi Kapoor

Sitting in the safety of Delhi, away from Raj Thackeray's slap-happy goons, I admit ashamedly that although my formative years were spent largely in Mumbai, my Marathi remains rudimentary. I am not alone – just 36% of people in the city consider Marathi their mother tongue. Yet, once again, there is a move to exhibit Marathi chauvinism by compelling residents of this cosmopolitan, multicultural metropolis to speak the same language as the rest of the state.