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July 14, 2005
All South Indians are not Madrasis
This was published in today's Mumbai Mirror.
Indira emailed me after last week’s piece and listed her “Four Pillars” of Matunga; Giri Stores, Mysore Concerns, Anand Bhuvan and Nalli Silk Stores. The funny thing about this list, as I emailed back to her, is that, except possibly for Anand Bhuvan, the other three don’t even come up in the far distant horizon of my vision. This is an entirely Tamil vision of Matunga, “little Madras”, as she calls it.
As a Gujju, I can’t but wonder what the “Four Pillars” for Gujjus & Kutcchis would be. Probably Garnish/Classic, Anand Bhuvan/Air-conditioned Udipi, Chheda Stores and Pramanik/Milap. The Udipi joints will feature on all lists, simply because idlis, dosas and vadas are now universal.
Its amazing how Matunga can be so different for different people. In my first piece, I had mentioned about the “right” place to live in. That depends on who you are. The “right” place, if you’re Tamil, is to the left of the main road when you’re facing Sion, i.e. the Westside and the “right” place for Gujjus, is to the right of the main road, i.e. the Eastside.
Most Gujjus (for that matter, most north Indians), believe that everyone south of Mumbai is a “Madrasi” and speaks “undugundu”. It was thanks to the multi-cultural nature of Don Bosco, that reasonably early in life, I figured out that “Madrasis” were not all “Madrasis”. That just like there are Gujaratis, Marwaris, Punjabis, Sindhis, there are Kannadigas, Malayalees, Tulus, Reddys, Kammas, Tamils, etc. Two of my best friends are Tamil, both coincidentally staying on the Eastside and from them I also learnt the difference between Palghat Brahmins, Iyers and Iyengars, that ‘panande’ means twelve and the reason why many Iyengars have blue eyes.
Sadly, this East-West divide is reducing. Simply because, most Tamils are leaving and either migrating to the US or going away to places like Chembur, Dombivli and Sanpada. With each new construction boom, Gujjus and Kutcchis are are taking over both sides of Matunga.
And very likely, 10-15 years from now, Mysore Concerns will sell fresh gathiya and jalebis, the smell of fried besan, replacing the coffee aroma that currently pervades the vicinity. Nalli Silk Sarees will become Pramanik for Ladies, and Giri Stores will become a Navneet Publications outlet. Only the Udipi joints will remain, but they were never Tamil to begin with and are run by Naiks and Shettys originally from South Karnataka.
PS: Swapna emailed me, saying that if I have problems with Matunga East (the Matunga that I write about), what about the plight of those like her, who live in Matunga West! For those who don’t know, Matunga West is a cluster of roads nestled between Mahim and Dadar stations, with Ruparel college and Star City (earlier Badal, Bijlee, Barkha) as its most famous landmarks. The two Matungas incidentally are connected by the “Z” footbridge.
Its weird! Just as we are more racist towards blacks than the whites were ever to us, Matunga East’s attitude to Matunga West is worse than the South Mumbai attitude to Matunga East. Forget about a superiority complex…people in Matunga East don’t even acknowledge that the other Matunga (West) exists.
Posted by bhavinj at July 14, 2005 06:46 PM
Comments
That's true. Just look out for my khakhra piece in a couple of days.
Posted by: Bhavin ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.manfrommatunga.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 7, 2006 06:16 PM
Hibiscus,
South Indian concerns (SIC) is different from Mysore Concerns (MC). SIC is the place across from Bhajana Samaj and besides Shankara Mutt. SIC specialises in serving Tamil/South-Indian meals. MC is the shop that is famous for its coffee.
Posted by: RajeshRamachandran at May 5, 2006 03:19 AM
Arre Bhavin Bhai,
As a Tamilian who pretty much grew up in Matunga East (both my parents are from Matunga), I am reading all your articles with tremendous interest. Your description of many things is spot on ("Gujju-Tamil divide along main road", "Anand Bhuvan", etc). I thoroughly enjoyed living vicariously your "idli-rasam" experience. You have to hand it to the Anand-Bhuvan and Mysore cafe types to invent new "south Indian" dishes to keep the Gujju palate interested. I am just wondering if you have any thoughts on the Jains living in Matunga. Some of the best "Kakras" are made by Jain gujjus on the Aurora side of the main road.
Posted by: RajeshRamachandran at May 5, 2006 03:15 AM
Mysore Concerns is the one that sells coffee just off the circle. South Indian Concerns is near the temple above or besides Nallis on the road from Bhaudaji to the post-office.
Posted by: MFM/Bhavin at January 10, 2006 04:43 AM
Hmm, it turns out South Indian Concerns may have been the older name of what is now Mysore Concerns... need someone with a long memory here, I guess.
Posted by: hibiscus at January 8, 2006 09:26 PM
Man from Matunga! Nice to see you back. Ok tell me, is there a Mysore Concerns and also a separate/different South Indian Concerns around there? I know MC and have just heard about SIC, and also heard it said SIC been there for a while, although I personally have seen MC (and bought their coffee) for ages.
Googled and found that you're back in the ether world, so let me leave it to the expert to answer. Photographic evidence is welcome. :D
Posted by: hibiscus at January 8, 2006 09:22 PM
Ignorance is bliss!
Posted by: MFM/Bhavin at December 21, 2005 06:32 PM
All south indians are not madrasis now but all were madrasis some time back.
Posted by: raj at December 20, 2005 04:13 PM
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