The day Bangalore burnt - My view on Dr. Rajkumar's funeral frenzy

Here are the scenes I saw and heard on TV..

a) A Traffic Cop with a totally crushed lower leg.. The first three words are important. A Traffic cop.

b) A Police Beat cop being mercilessly thrashed by a mob.. TV Camera crews exactly posted at vantage locations to shoot all the action.. three people pinning down a policeman while the fourth aims a mid sized rock on his head.


c) A Police Mahindra DIV right in the centre of the Kanteerava Stadium.. It first shoots a Tear gas shell on a till then peacefully queued up crowd , mind you.., where some people are wanting to get out of line or something.. the crowd scatters ... it then immediately shoots another shell right in the direction where the crowds were fleeing.. The result? Utter Pandemonium., Frustration, and of course Retribution.

d) Tyres burnt In JC Road, Bellary Road, Malleswaram, Rajaji Nagar, Wilson Garden, Double Road, Residency Road, Corporation, Majestic, Sanjay Nagar, even Sadashiv Nagar.

e) All three sons of the actor crying almost hysterically, the younger son pleading over the microphones to the crowd to allow the procession to pass peacefully so that they can complete the rituals on time. The wife of the actor pleading on state television of keep calm. A Pitched battle between rioters and policemen just 100 meters away from the main vehicle. The truck carrying the tricolor wrapped body Not even an inch spared by the crowd while burying the actor.. Again TV Crews lapping up all commotion. Three sons return 5 hours later to complete the rites. TV channels claim, Rajkumar bid adieu with "full state" honors.

f) CM of Karnataka, saying on national television "Ohh this will pass as soon as the funeral is over. Right now everything is under control. I dont see any problem. We dont have enough cops since most of them are attending duties in Kerala and Tamil Nadu"

g) The whole media and cine fraternity turn up to show condolences. Lakh strong Crowds throng just to catch a glimpse of the dead celebrity.

h) A woman is walking with her child With the rest of the mob. The mob nearby tries to over turn a Tata Sumo. They succeed and are in the process of disintegrating it. The woman decides to join the fun. She leaves the child watching, smashes the window of the sumo.. Nothing is shown after that but I suspect the child was taught how to do it too..





Here is what I saw
1. A bus being stoned . An office window smashed, A Huge Angry procession, of people , chanting slogans.

2. Huge columns of Smoke billowing from a place where I later learnt was a fully functional Petrol Pump ( Or Bunk as is called here..)..

3. Loads of stones. and tyres.. People roaming around in columns and columns of bikes stopping every other passerby. Many of them had CamCorders.. and Digicams.

4. All Public vehicles, rickshaws and cars had huge posters of Rajkumar pasted

5. The first two days have no cable television to the homes. apart from Kannada channels. THey show nothing but Rajkumar's funeral telecast, his songs, mob battles and celebrities expressing condolences. From Friday , there is not a single channel showing Rajkumar, all start beaming movies and completing their soaps and game show commitments.





Here were the road side comments I heard..
a) " People were beaten mercilessly . They had to retaliate"

b) " Its an emotional issue. He was our most important icon symbolizing Kannadigas, their culture and ethos.. It was mishandled. "

c) "These are basically Tamilian hooligans. They wanted revenge for Rajkumar not supporting them on the Kaveri issue"

d) " These kind of things happen in Mumbai and Delhi too. Crowds can transform into the same demonic form anywhere in the country or the world in such times of distress. Didnt riots happen in Madrid and Paris? We see belfast in flames every other day. What happenned after Katrina? "

e) " This is the worst of Bangalore I have seen in 58 years of my life here. I liken it to the Tamil - Kannada rioting of the mid 80s. here"

f) " These are people who have come from as far as 300 kms.. They had to be given a chance to see their idol. Instead the police was oppresive, the organizer sloth, and the government un-sympathetic."

g) "We Kannadigas are very emotional people. We are a bit different from all others. Its not right to say bad things about whats happenning now. "

h) "You should have seen his resolve when Veerappan kidnapped him. He is the only actor who has repeatedly shunned political careers,or economic gains . He has worked for the upliftment of Kannadigas and preserving our culture. Annavaru (Big Brother) is a jewel for us "

i) "Its said that 100 people immolated themselves, when MGR died, if they really were fanatic fans like we have in Tamil Nadu they should have done that.. and so why burn other's property? "

j) "I am just happy I enjoyed two holidays"

k) "He died a natural death. He had no problems. He is already so old . Why on earth did these crazy rustic kannadigas have to make such a hullabaloo , damage state property, bandhs costing crores of private and government losses by the hour. ??"

l) "Crazy Piece of Sh*t. What a shame. They should have given shoot at sight orders when all this started happenning"

m) "He is greater than Amitabh Bachhan. He deserves the Bharat Ratna. "


Here is what I learnt/ have to say
1. Rajkumar was a colossal cultural icon. The Most important one for Karnataka. A career spanning from 1951 onwards with more than 230 films. A thespian actor, theatre personality, a notably humble soul and a helper of masses with a huge contribution to the average Kannadiga's lives as a role model. In a regional context, its very hard to map him to a national personality who has had such a tremendous impact, especially when societies in south india , have a very very high priority for films , theatre, and cine personalities in their everyday life, when it comes to social , communal or regional education, upliftment, changes or advances. Cine Stars are the biggest of the biggest role models in south india , and in that view its a huge loss.

2. Karnataka has a state flag? yellow and red horizontal stripes? I never knew any state had a State flag before. Or maybe all of them do :) . All crossings in Old bangalore do have these flag posts and all such flags were in half mast. The crowd had hundreds of such flags.

3. You cant build a mega city in 5 years with 100 multistoreys, Forum or Bangalore Central and expect the culture/environment to be that of one. Atleast not in India. Believe me, the 4 metropolices have far more population, area, industries, diversity, and ofcourse malls. (unless you think IT is the only industry that exists in the world) So please accept that there is still a long way to go. What people lament is that for the kind of investment that flows in this city and for the kind of taxes we pay, there is zilch infrastructure. You have swanky buildings, created by some MNCs , who suck back the cost of those buildings on their Indian 2nd grade workers within half a year.. and create flowery names of social organizations who do nothing but crib at the infrastrcuture.. "Look at Delhi and its law and order and roads now.." is the typical refrain. But apart from the roads and the other visible , tangible improvements that you want. perhaps the more important improvement is that in the mindset. Are you geared up to live in a megacity within you? Are you the real cosmopolitan? Why do we have Bomb Blasts and Water Loggings in Mumbai and the city still manages to get in shape by the evening? What makes the aam junta care for the public transport or government property in Mumbai? Why do they queue for buses or have a sort of method in their madness? (leaving aside Shiv Sainiks and the underworld of course).



4. Its not about the Tamilians or the "Northies" who have polluted Bangalore as some like to say. 5000 famililies a month's influx is not a joke and just more apartment houses from Mantri or Sobha just doesnt suffice. Your culture needs to adapt too, upon your exisiting one ofcourse. I can mention many things which can be bettered from the social aspect, but then I am a small individual, I believe I am underknowledged too and its too big a thing for me to comment on. Moreover there are similar serious negativities in all cities and states of our country.



For the Tamilians or the "Northies", just paying the taxes and blame passing isnt enough too.. Most of the outsiders treat the city as a step city. just the source of their income and nothing else.



5. Its a shame, this vandalism and all. Maybe this was just a rare occurrence , a sudden blip or But spare a thought for the extent and rapidity of collapse of law and order and the other aspects of administration . There was no sense of how to manage huge unruly masses, the police force really looked miniscule. I still feel , that the number of the policemen wasnt the real issue. They were as chaotic in their approach as the mob. and most of the city looked as if it was taken over by some rebels. Anyone could have done anything.. Whats more the politicans and celebrities were totally exposed and just protected by a single ring cordon of policemen most of the time. I dread at the thought of how easily any terrorist organization could have taken advantage of all that , had it had foreseen that high risk people would be exposed in such a way.



All these are my comments, entirely personal, so fellow bangaloreans, and Kanadigas, please vent your ire only on me, and not on my twin "super class"es of Northies or Non-Kannadigas