The last week saw mahyem errupt in Bangalore. The city was torn by riots and incidents of violence. Lots of public vehicles were gutted, most of the offices and shops remained closed and the city almost came to a standstill...Dr. Rajkumar, one of the forerunners of the Kannada film industry passed away on Wednesday afternoon. Till this day I haven't witnessed such mass commotion break out due to death of someone. I do not wish to belittle the sentiment of the people of Karnataka and Dr. Rajkumar's stature but I fail to understand how could someone command so much passion amongst the masses. Like the autowalla that drove me home that evening said "Woh Karnataka ka Raja tha. Koi politician bhi maare to itna riks nahi hota. Ab to sab kuch band ho jayega." If people has taken out processions showing their grief that would have made a whole lot of sense. I do not think any civilized society can warrent such a rowdy behavior the intensity of emotions not withstanding.
What Bangalore witnessed last week was not public outpouring for their deceased hiriyaNNa (elder brother), neither was it an outpouring against the outsiders, the IT industry, the North Indians, the Tamils. It was a very lucid attempt and albeit a very successful one at causing mass hysteria and holding the entire city at ransom. Acts of violence like riots are never committed because people FEEL too religiously/emotionally about a matter, thats just the facade, the underlying reason IS always a chance to loot people without any consequences. It gives people (read hooligans) a chance to have the wildest wet dream possible, breaking building, robbing shops, settling scores...
There have been a couple of posts about this incident on the blogsphere, some very enlightening other that try to make a whole deal about how people are not happy with the IT industry etc. But I earnestly believe there is no justification behind this commotion except the one that is very basic to human nature, humans by nature are prone to loot and plunder. These riots give them a window to do this in today's so called civilized society. One can always weave a multitude of reasons on top of this but then again they are fit to burn in the same fire that incinerates the city.
Some interesting reads you can follow:
http://sriyansa.wordpress.com/2006/04/14/two-eventful-days/
http://www.landoflime.com/archives/writ
http://community.livejournal.com/bangalore/298061.html
I also think this outsider v/s us debate has gone on too long and is pure balony. Most of the people from outside would love to go back home. There is nothing left in Bangalore that would make someone linger on. Bangalore does not deserve the cosmopolitan tag that it so loves to flaunt. It not the infrastructure that makes a city cosmopolitant but the attitude of people that inhabit it, and sadly Bangaloreans/Kannadigas have not been too welcoming to the outside world.
Would I have expected something like this to happen in Bangalore? NEVER... The city is dead, long live the city.
Would I have expected something like this to happen in Bangalore? NEVER... The city is dead, long live the city.
4 comments:
OTOH ur english looks so polished ... didnt know u were so good
Shireesh
..."sadly Bangaloreans/Kannadigas have not been too welcoming to the outside world". Why do you generalise so, Mr. Abhishek? Looks like you do not know Kannada people. Is the TV/news paper your only source of information to draw such conclusions on the people of a whole state?
I speak from personal experience. I agree that most of the educated, working people I have interacted wid are really nice (read my earlier post on bangalore) but they DO NOT comprise all of Bangaloreans, there is a big part that does NOT like outsiders and that includes a lot of people in the administration. Its like everyone is out to loot you.
Why don't you just leave???????? And go to where you belong?? Do you belong to someplace at all... Where ever you are from... you have left the place for God knows what reasons???? And where you are staying now , you are busy spreading false ideas about kannadigas and Bangalore....
We have too many people like you on the roads mister... Leave the city if its bother you sooooo much ....and trust me .. No one will ever feel the loss.... We need some space here... for actual Bangaloreans.... to live, to shop, to eat out , to take a stroll, to drive, to walk with their kids , to watch a movie, and to even breathe... like we used to do before ppl like you came here ate here, shat here and SPAT here like this .. after all ,this city is ours..... if someone struggled hard to build it... its we... if someone will ever do something for the betterment , its we.
All you people out there can do is sit and write such useless blogs .. not that it hurts our sentiments.. we actually don't care as much as you want us to...
Its just that you guys have the cheek to do it...which baffles us... why blog about such stuff ... if you have it in you.. stand in a place like Vidhana Soudha and speak up... after all you want to be heard .. DON'T YOU?????????
To say in your words.. what u actually know to do is jis thali mein khaate ho... usi mein chhed karna
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