Mumbai has a royal guest

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">The roaring in Mumbai is real this time. For the past 34 years, Mumbaikars'' have only recognised the roar of one tiger. The tiger that roared from his Bandra home in interviews to the media or from spacious grounds of the Shivaji Park, exhorting his men to launch agitations.<br /><br />But Sena chief Bal Thackeray, described as a tiger by the media, has a formidable rival now.Not any other leader but the real big cat on the prowl. First there were pugmarks, then droppings, which were sent for testing. And now, it is an image on video.<br /><br />It is confirmed now. After a gap of 83 years a tiger, or may be a couple, were sighted in the forest of Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivli. Mayur Kamat, a wild life lover, did his best to capture the magnificent beast on his video camera. <br /><br />Mumbaikars are now thrilled to know that they now have a royal guest or two among them, the political tiger has begun preparations to roar. But this time the roaring will be only after proper "<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">nirdhar</span>" (decision).<br /><br />After the BJP''s "chintan baithak", it is now time for "nirdhar shibir" (camp) by the BJP''s poll partner in the state, the Shiv Sena. It has chosen the same venue where the BJP held their chintan baithak. The "nirdhar shibir" is being held on Wednesday and Thursday with poll winning strategy topping the agenda.<br /><br />With a dream to sweep the polls in the state along with its poll partner the BJP, the Sena is probably forgetting its original agenda - preservation and protection of Marathi in cosmopolitan Mumbai - the base on which it built its party. <br /><br />An alarming situation on the Marathi front persists in the city, which is time and again brought into focus by the media, and the bleak future is depicted by the closure of large number of Marathi divisions from schools in Mumbai. I don''t know if the Sena has this topic on its agenda for the "nirdhar shibir".<br /><br />A total review of education system should be on the agenda of each party, considering the grim situation on the college admission front in Mumbai. High cut off rate (88 pc to 90 pc) for the science stream in some good colleges is giving rise to frustration among students. The situation of those who scored below 60 per cent is pathetic as they would find it difficult to get an entry even for Arts stream.<br /><br />The Sena has always been successful for the last three decades in attracting youngsters in its fold, thanks to Thackeray''s fiery and appealing language. Uddhav - his son, working president of the party and heir apparent to the throne - lacks the appeal and charisma of his father. If he wants to keep on attracting youngsters in the party cadre, he will have to influence the government to make better policies in the educational field. <br /><br />But unlike his father, Uddhav is not a roaring lion, though he too is a wild life lover and wild life photographer. Keeping with his usual practice, he may take out some free time from the "chintan shibir to ''shoot'' the tiger. For him politics and photography go hand in hand. Recently he created a pond in the Sanjay Gandhi Park for animals to drink water. Is it an "invitation'' for the tiger to catch the big cat on his lens?<br /></div> </div>