Reminiscing about the days when Marmik was launched, Balasaheb Thackeray with characteristic humour said at the `Marmik Mehfil': "Those days, the Sunday supplements of newspapers carried stories like `Ill-Effects of Diabetes'. Why explain ill-effects of diabetes to someone who's suffering from it? Why not give readers something heart-warming to read on weekends? That's why Marmik was launched. A friend, Shrikant Gadkari, approached me with a telephone directory and pointed out the number of non-Maharashtrians occupying top positions in various companies. I started listing these names in Marmik under the columnhead `Vacha ani Thanda Basa' (Read and sit silent). But the Marathi manoos doesn't get roused unless he's bitten. So I renamed the column `Vacha ani Utha' (Read and rise). Later, Dada (Prabodhankar, Balasaheb's father) suggested I form an organisation. And it was he himself who suggested the name Shiv Sena."

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.