The Great Bangalore Fiasco
4 Comments Published by Apocalyptus on Tuesday, April 18, 2006 at 11:47 AM.
I don’t really know to what extent Arnab's story of “Imran Kissme” will come true, but being at Bangalore, I can very well imagine what it could be like after the “Passing away of Rajkumar” fiasco.
With due respect to Dr Rajkumar, and the sentiments of the Kannadigas, I feel the public outrage was not only uncalled for, it was pointless, needless and extremely foolish.
It is well understood and accepted that Dr Rajkumar was not just a filmstar here, he was one of those very few people who played significant roles for the well-being , recognition and progress of Bangalore, Karnataka, Kannadigas and most importantly the Kannada language.
He was a person of as big a stature in Karnataka as NTR was in AP, MGR in Tamil Nadu, Sachin Tendulkar is in Mumbai, Amitabh Bachchan is to the whole of India and George W. Bush is to Tony Blair.
CORRECTION : According to my Kannadiga friend Archana "Dr Rajkumar had done nothing to the city of Bangalore, the state of Karnataka, the Kannadigas.....it is to the language he has contributed so much. As you might have already read elsewhere, we respect him for his humbleness, humility, his achievements being an SC/ST 3rd standard failure, inactive politics etc etc but yeah, the violence was not asked for...atleast not the deaths...."
How is a normal human being supposed to behave when he/she loses a near and dear one forever? He can cry, he can scream, he can curse GOD, he can faint etc etc. But is he ever going to beat up others who have nothing to do with it, throw stones at them, break window-glasses in buidings, set buses and cars afire? Well… this is what happened here for a couple of days killing at least 8 people (that’s the official record) and seriously injuring about 250 (officially again).
Shops were forcefully closed down. Shop-owners were beaten if they didn’t pull down the shutters fully. Cars , bikes and other vehicles were put on fire and drivers/riders beaten up brutally if they didn’t have photos of Rajkumar with a garland pasted at the front and rear of the vehicle. In fear, almost every company (including mine) gave each of its employees two print-outs of Rajkumar’s photo to paste in the front and rear of their vehicles.
Buildings, shops, vehicles, roads were damaged. In many parts of the city there were needless instances of violence.
I really wonder if these rowdies were really fans of the great man. No. They were not. Dr Rajkumar was synonymous with gentleness, politeness, kindness and simplicity. These uncouth vandals gave him the worst kind of farewell a person like him deserved. They were creating trouble for everyone else only for the fucking sake of it. Only they know what pleasure they were deriving from it.
Although Bangalore Police is one the most (if not the most) corrupt and irritatingly discriminative species on earth, the mischief-makers shouldn’t have beaten up the Policemen. I understand that they didn’t want to waste this opportunity to hurl stones at or beat the guts out of the damn Bangalore cops, but still, they have only put themselves in trouble because the electronic media has covered the whole incident of cops being beaten by some people. Though everybody watching that on TV has enjoyed it and relished every bit of it, the guys who did so are being searched for by the cops with their photos obtained from the videotapes. You can’t do anything to the cops although they can do anything to you anywhere anytime and without any reason. OOOPS…..did I say ‘cops’? Sorry….’Bangalore Cops’ that is....
*****MORE RIOT PHOTOGRAPHS
With due respect to Dr Rajkumar, and the sentiments of the Kannadigas, I feel the public outrage was not only uncalled for, it was pointless, needless and extremely foolish.
It is well understood and accepted that Dr Rajkumar was not just a filmstar here, he was one of those very few people who played significant roles for the well-being , recognition and progress of Bangalore, Karnataka, Kannadigas and most importantly the Kannada language.
He was a person of as big a stature in Karnataka as NTR was in AP, MGR in Tamil Nadu, Sachin Tendulkar is in Mumbai, Amitabh Bachchan is to the whole of India and George W. Bush is to Tony Blair.
CORRECTION : According to my Kannadiga friend Archana "Dr Rajkumar had done nothing to the city of Bangalore, the state of Karnataka, the Kannadigas.....it is to the language he has contributed so much. As you might have already read elsewhere, we respect him for his humbleness, humility, his achievements being an SC/ST 3rd standard failure, inactive politics etc etc but yeah, the violence was not asked for...atleast not the deaths...."
How is a normal human being supposed to behave when he/she loses a near and dear one forever? He can cry, he can scream, he can curse GOD, he can faint etc etc. But is he ever going to beat up others who have nothing to do with it, throw stones at them, break window-glasses in buidings, set buses and cars afire? Well… this is what happened here for a couple of days killing at least 8 people (that’s the official record) and seriously injuring about 250 (officially again).
Shops were forcefully closed down. Shop-owners were beaten if they didn’t pull down the shutters fully. Cars , bikes and other vehicles were put on fire and drivers/riders beaten up brutally if they didn’t have photos of Rajkumar with a garland pasted at the front and rear of the vehicle. In fear, almost every company (including mine) gave each of its employees two print-outs of Rajkumar’s photo to paste in the front and rear of their vehicles.
Buildings, shops, vehicles, roads were damaged. In many parts of the city there were needless instances of violence.
I really wonder if these rowdies were really fans of the great man. No. They were not. Dr Rajkumar was synonymous with gentleness, politeness, kindness and simplicity. These uncouth vandals gave him the worst kind of farewell a person like him deserved. They were creating trouble for everyone else only for the fucking sake of it. Only they know what pleasure they were deriving from it.
Although Bangalore Police is one the most (if not the most) corrupt and irritatingly discriminative species on earth, the mischief-makers shouldn’t have beaten up the Policemen. I understand that they didn’t want to waste this opportunity to hurl stones at or beat the guts out of the damn Bangalore cops, but still, they have only put themselves in trouble because the electronic media has covered the whole incident of cops being beaten by some people. Though everybody watching that on TV has enjoyed it and relished every bit of it, the guys who did so are being searched for by the cops with their photos obtained from the videotapes. You can’t do anything to the cops although they can do anything to you anywhere anytime and without any reason. OOOPS…..did I say ‘cops’? Sorry….’Bangalore Cops’ that is....
*****MORE RIOT PHOTOGRAPHS
Labels: Bangalore, Fun, serious, South India
Mr Ganda,
You don't have the right to attack me personally by saying things like "U come across as an opinionated B@$!@~#". Hence, I deleted your abusive comment.
It's a democracy and everyone has the right to voice his/her own opinion refraining from personal attacks. And I don't think anywhere in my blog I've posted anything objectionable about Kannadigas or Bangaloreans in general. I only expressd my grievances and shared my experiences with a certain section of them. Never did I suggest that all of them were bad people.
Whether you are a "non-Kannadiga" or not hardly makes any difference to me. I don't know who you are or where you are from and neither do I want to know.
Just get this, and get this straight......before making any moronic comment read my posts properly and understand what I'm trying to convey.
I don't really know if "Gajanur Ganda" is your real name....but the surname is very interesting.......I hope you know what it means in Hindi - the exact adjective to describe your language and mentality.
On 4/20/06, Gajanur Ganda anonymous-comment@blogger.com
wrote:
Dude i have been reading ur posts on bangalore for quite sometime now. U come across as an opinionated B@$!@~#..,
Whatever happened to u in bangalore cud have happened in any other town. So stop blaming the city.. If u don't like it just pack ur bags and leave.period. I am a "non Kannadiga" and has lived in bangalore all my life. I have never faced issues with the people here.Infact I am proud to be a Bangalorean...
I guess ur not happy with ur job which is getting reflected in ur hatred toward the city. I know many "naarth Indians" who r happily settled in this city and have told me they are happy to get away from their hometowns.Take this free advise , consult a psychiatrist.. u are in dire needs of therapy before ur "Mohammed Alish" punches get u into trouble..
Regards,
Proud Bangalorean
--
Posted by Gajanur Ganda to HERE I AM . . . at 4/20/2006 12:43:26 PM
ahem ahem...
technicalities Dev...
1) Dr. Rajkumar has done nothing to the city of Bangalore, the state of Karnataka, the Kannadigas.....it is to the language he has contributed so much. As you mite have already read elsewhere, we respect him for his humbleness, humility, his achievements being an SC/ST 3rd standard failure, inactive politics etc etc which i wont dig in to... but yeah, the violence was not asked for...atleast not the deaths....
2)NTR...i.e N.T.Ramarao was from Andhra Pradesh, not Tamil Nadu...he served as the CM of AP. MGR is from TN..
3)The mobs have attacked several buildings/vehicles which did have posters and pictures of Dr Raj....having a picture would not spare..
4)Which shop was forcefully closed down? That is a next to impossible.....No shops were open[mostly out of fear and others call it respect]
5)I would give credit to some insane behaviour by some insane people for the violence....but again would rather not call them fans or not fans of Dr. Raj since a fair amount of violence was also triggered due to helplessness
6)I would dare not expect somebody/anybody get hurt or be happy when that happens...that include the bangalore policemen/Dr. Rajkumar/the FBI/Osamabin laden...
@Archana :
Thanks. Corrections made. :)
And as far as other points made by you are concerned, I'll answer all of them when I get time, may be in the afternoon.
umm...that does not quite sound what it intends to say...I was merely trying to say that its not blind fanatics that people are, its not hero worshipping cos he acted in so many movies, its abt the person he was...
and are you trying get stones pelted my way??!!