Fear and Loathing in Mumbai

10

Watching the images of innocent taxi drivers, street vendors, and commuters being attacked by MNS activists I could only think that while Raj Thackeray and his supporters have instilled fear in the hearts and minds of North Indians living in Mumbai, they may get more than they bargained for. They have sown the seeds of the deepest resentment, loathing, and discontentment. The humiliation meted out by Thackeray and his ilk will not soon be forgotten, not just by their victims, but by every non-Maharashtrian living in the city. What Mumbaikars prize more than anything else about their city, is the ability to step out at any hour, unmolested, and roam the city unharmed. I can go as far as saying, there is an implicit system of trust. In a city peopled by millions, where rules of segregation and separation simply cannot apply in the way they do in....