I'm a Gujarati Mumbaikar. My family has been here ever since my grandfather could remember. My mom and dad were born and brought up in Mumbai.

Before the creation of Maharashtra and Gujarat, the entire region on West India under direct British rule was under the Bombay Presidency.

I believe that as much of Marathi native can make a claim to Mumbai, similar claim can be made for Gujarati natives. The reason Mumbai is in Maharashtra and not Gujarat - apart from its closeness to Marathi dominated areas, is due to prominence of Yashwantrao Chauhan in Congress when the State Council was reshaping the Bombay State and decided to divide it along linguistic lines. Because of this council, we have Baroda, which is Marathi dominated and yet in Gujarat.

Can I speak Marathi? Yes. Do I understand the local Maharashtrian culture? Yes and No. Mumbai is vastly different from the rest of MH in terms of culture. I'd be pretty comfortable in the ghats, but would make colossal cultural missteps in rest of MH.

Should people learn Marathi? I'm not so sure if you're going to settle in Mumbai. Along the same lines, I have similar beliefs about Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad too, and not only these cities, but every major city in every state.

Every Indian has the fundamental right to freely move to any part of India (this is major reason for my support of dissolving the special status and 370 for Jammi and Kashmir) wherever they wish, for whatever reason.

Now, while we shouldn't violate this right in the name of culture or language, I also believe that if you're moving to a different state, you should learn the language and absorb the local culture and assimilate yourself, even if slowly overtime - this is valid, but except for the biggest cities. Now, my belief for big city exclusion is more valid for something like Bhopal versus a small-BIG city like Guwahati, Assam, but it is there nevertheless.

My two ¢. I'm sure, you can agree with this and also disagree, as that is your right. Also post your own opinion why you do that. But, that doesn't mean you have to descend into language or culture based racism. Be Nice, Be Respectful. BNBR.