The bus they burnt this afternoon

Not more than a ten minute walk from where I live. So sheltered are we in our little enclave that we had no idea about any of this until our office runner/assistant Shyam came back to say that the cigarette-wallah was shut, the grocery store was shut, and that buses and autorickshaws had been set ablaze by Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena goons. I have to say it was a little freaking out to see your neighbourhood on the news. But when I went out at around 5pm to take these it was as if nothing had happened. Just a few cops looking bored and having to watch over a burnt bus that had now stopped attracting curious spectators. It was as if nothing had happened at all.

Thackeray has been on a xenophobic campaign to rid Bombay (or Mumbai has he insists) of 'outsiders' - mostly poor and working class people from Bihar, UP and elsewhere in North India. Bombay for Maharashtrians he says; jobs for our people; everyone must learn Marathi; all commercial establishments must have signs in Marathi as well. It is endless and I am worried about this madman being elected next year. The recent spate of violence began on the weekend with MNS thugs beating up and seriously injuring people who had come to Bombay for interviews and jobs with the Railways. Their grouse is that outsiders come and take their jobs away.