What's in a name?

Marwari - an ethnic Indian community - has its roots in the state of Rajasthan. The term Marwar has its origin in the area encompassed by the princely state of Marwar, marked by the current day Jodhpur region of southwest Rajasthan. However, a major section of Marwaris today associate themselves to the region around Jhunjhunu, Churu and Shekhawati situated in the northeastern part of the state. The native language of the community, also called Marwari, resembles Hindi and has a Rajasthani flavour. The people of the group are mostly followers of Hinduism and Jainism. Agarwal, Khandelwal, Maheshwari and Oswal are prominent groups of this community.

Marwaris are good businessman by birth. Given this quality, they have forever been migratory in nature. Travel history of the Marwaris date back to 18th century Mughal and Rajput dynasties - a period during which they travelled to different regions and used their skills to offer banking and other financial services to the rulers. There are significant accounts of Marwari establishments in current day metropolitan cities of Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai that were reported in the early 19th century. With the collapse of the Mughal rule and the Rajput states, even though the community initially faced the trouble of declining importance in the finance world, they saw an enhanced opportunity in running businesses during the British era. Towards the second half of the 19th century, the community had its strong presence in other parts of the country including the current day northeast region.

This bunch of folks are famous for their inherent social character. The civic solidarity and sense of collectiveness that the community preaches and practises is a testimony of this nature. Whether it be a joyous wedding ceremony or a sad demise, the people of this community believe in standing up not just for their near and dear ones, but for anyone in their approachable periphery. This way of life goes well in hand with their trade, businesses and financial services.

Owing to these famous notions about the community, I remember how in the ninth standard my economics teacher in school demeaned my ambitions of taking up technology as a career and assured that I would become a businessman right after school. On a lighter note, my friends in college would ever so often leave the accounting work among the group for me, saying "ye marwari hai na, ye kar lega". It is also natural to me that I like being in groups. Whether it be meeting relatives and friends when I visit their city or it be helping friends and colleagues in my city of residence, I feel a natural push to be around and available for folks.

About four months ago, it was an internal impel that made me consider writing this blog. I used to write poems prior to this but never had the urge to make them public in a systematic way. While few of them were published on different platforms, they remained scattered across social media and my college's periodic magazine. However, this time I had a natural thrust and I didn't want the itch to fade away. While I did give a little thought to what the name should be, I couldn't afford spending nights over it - for my urge was also because of my desire to do something new at the beginning of every year - and I couldn't let that time pass.

On pondering over what the blog would eventually look like, I was certain that irrespective of the topics I end up writing about, the blog would be a reflection of my thoughts and experiences. I also realised that while there may be thousands of attributes - both positive and negative - that people would associate with me, one trait that I could connect to very well was being a Marwari. In addition to this, I believe that unless one strives to, it is very difficult to keep one's culture and traditions alive amidst the western cultural hegemony. Keeping these in mind, what better way to leave yet another Marwari footprint than a digital impression with this name? - for it is a well known fact that what enters the open internet once, remains here forever.