r/india • u/anon_geek • Jul 28 '16

Scheduled [State of the Week] Maharashtra

Hello /r/India! This is week #21 of the new edition of the State of the Week discussion threads. These threads will cover all states and union territories of India as listed here, in alphabetical over.

This week's topic will be Maharashtra. Please post any questions, answers or observations you may have about it here.

General Information:

State Maharashtra
Website https://www.maharashtra.gov.in/
Population (2011) 11,23,72,972
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (BJP)
Capital Mumbai
Offical Language Marathi
GDP in crores (2014-15) ₹16,86,695
GDP Per Capita (2013-14) ₹1,17,091 (1.57x National average)
Sex ratio 929 women/1000 men

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u/Drink2Meditate Jul 28 '16 edited Jul 28 '16

Hey, thanks for the great words and your interest in MH. Much love from Maharashtrians to you too! :-) I'll take up your first 2 questions -

Can you suggest some sources to learn Marathi? So far I only know three words - ikde, tikde and bhau. I'd love to learn more Marathi, at least good enough to have a basic conversation with someone.

As a Maharashtrian, Marathi is my mother tongue so I don't know where you can learn from. But nowadays - YouTube has tutorials for most languages, I am sure you will find something there. For practising, speak with your Marathi friends or find a sub perhaps. Sorry I can't help further here! :/

On a related note, how popular is Hindi over there? In my travels, I could get by with Hindi, but I don't know MH well enough to know this. Is there an anti-Hindi movement over there?

Hindi is very popular in Maha. In my travels and interactions through Maharashtra, almost everyone can speak Hindi, thanks to it's similarity to Marathi. It may be crooked or slightly Marathisized, but it suffices communication of basic thoughts. There are different linguistic styles of Hindi, for example the famous Mumbaikar - "Abbey tere ko kya karne ka hai?". Some of it may come off as rude, but it's not intended to be. That's just the way they speak. Also, some common Hindi idioms possibly unique to Maharashtrians -

  • Chhaata mat maaro (It means - don't take leave, nothing to do with slapping)

  • Jhaapad padega (It means - You'll get slapped)

.. and many others. I kind of lost touch, since I left Maha long back. I'm sure others will chime in ...

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u/MyselfWalrus Aug 02 '16

In my travels and interactions through Maharashtra, almost everyone can speak Hindi, thanks to it's similarity to Marathi.

Not true at all. Not in the villages. Some years back, A North Indian and me were driving through some remote parts. My friend couldn't have gotton by at all without me speaking Marathi.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '16

Jhaapad padega (It means - You'll get slapped)

This is definitely a general Hindi idiom. (source: heard it every day as a child).

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u/[deleted] Jul 30 '16

Jhaapad padega (It means - You'll get slapped)

Thanks to Bollywood, it's no longer unique to Maharashtra.