Man From Matunga

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November 07, 2005

Birds of a Feather....

This article appeared in today's Mumbai Mirror.

Thomas Schelling won the Nobel Prize for Economics a few weeks ago, mainly for his work on “game theory”. One of his many theories, that has since been shown to be accurate, is the one on “racial segregation” where he shows that even with secular-minded families, there is a tendency to live with one’s own kind so that eventually, without pre-meditation, most neighborhoods become segregated.

He uses the example of white and black communities in the US to show that in predominantly white communities, the advent of black families can quickly tilt the balance towards a black neighborhood, as neighboring white families often move away and other black families quickly come in to take their place.

In Greater Matunga, the segregation is not color-based, but is community-based. Gujjus and Kutchhis predominate in virtually all neighborhoods, to the extent that in some areas (e.g. Manikrao Lotlikar Marg, the lane where I live), they form virtually 99% of all households. Tamils are now mainly in the area around Indian Gymkhana, the Maharashtrians in Hindu colony, the Roman Catholics between Don Bosco and St. Joseph’s and the Parsis in Parsi colony.

Within these segregated areas however, individual buildings may sometimes be different. So we have a building for Syrian Christians off RAK Rd near Talwalkar’s, and a bunch of Sindhi families and buildings near SIWS college and on RAK Rd.

Even the help congregates in specific areas. The cooks, all hailing from near the Udaipur area, live together in small hovels in Dharavi. Virtually, all our maids and menservants live in the Matunga Labor Camp area and the chauffeurs live in Antop Hill, Dharavi or the shanties behind Auxilium.

Amma explained to me that the first Tamil inhabitant, more than a 100 years ago, was probably a station master who moved to Matunga, from Parel, maybe because Matunga was cheaper and had more open spaces. Soon, English-educated, Tamm-Brahm bachelors started coming in droves, living in rented one-room places, in buildings owned by Gujjus/Kutchhis, working in town, with the Railways, the Government or the MNCs. In the early part of the century, Matunga was predominantly Tamil. Around WWII, many moved back to their home towns due to the fear of being bombed, and when they returned, they found that the Gujjus had discovered Matunga as a place to live in and the “pagdi” system had started. Those who could afford to, stayed on, but many then moved on to Chembur, Deonar, etc.

Gujjus and Kutchhis moved in here simply because it was cheaper than Walkeshwar and Princess Street. Though the law prohibits discrimination, since the majority of buildings were and still are landlord-owned properties, it was very easy to make sure that like-minded families came to live into these buildings.

Schelling is now proving to be more and more accurate. As the Tamils move to Cincinnati and Houston, as Hindu Colony migrates to Chicago and San Francisco, as the Roman Catholics move to Toronto, Sydney and Auckland, as the Parsis fail to replenish themselves and move to London, England and London, Ontario; the Gujjus/Kutchhis are taking over.

The day is not far before Narendra Modi or his successors establish a second capital in Greater Matunga.

Posted by bhavinj at November 7, 2005 06:54 PM

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