Churumuri is pleased to introduce a new contributor, SRINIVAS BHASHYAM. Film journalist turned film maker, Bombay-based Srinivas has worked as a deputy to two South Indian greats, Kamal Hassan and Mani Ratnam.
In his first despatch, Srinivas says the violence that marred the funeral of Dr Raj Kumar was partly motivated by the frustrations of Kannadigas who have become aliens in their own planet.
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EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK.
Yes, this is a little bit like that.
A FEW THINGS YOU WANTED TO SAY ABOUT KANNADA BUT WERE AFRAID TO BLURT IT OUT.
Sad but true. Dr. Raj Kumar’s death and the partly predictable chaos that upset the saleable new image of Bangalore was fascinating to put it mildly.
The television channels and their anchors based mostly in Delhi and a few in Mumbai juiced it to death on that lean, mean day. They played the footage of the lathi-charge and the mob’s retaliation in tedious loops.
If you heard the voice of a man who tried to be unnecessarily defensive and explanatory, whining like a pathetic bureaucrat from the city corporation post his lunch-time, you guessed right, it was the Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.
The film actors mouthed worse clichés than we all keep paying them to spout onscreen and indulged in their favourite vice of ‘eating footage’.
KAMALAHAASAN was consistent in that he spoke about himself and his movies but to give the self-proclaimed narcissist his due, he actually managed to somehow connect it to Raj Kumar every now and then. Kamal repeated the fact that Raj Kumar was an unusually humble star and carefully avoided any remarks about his acting skills or movies.
U.R. ANANTHAMURTHY came up with an ‘original insight’ (he prefaced it thus himself), that Raj Kumar was the first actor to bring the realism of a social drama to the mythological characters and the drama of the mythological to the social (sic) characters he portrayed.
No point in denying the second part of the postulation but the first part is very debatable, if you know what I mean. But original nevertheless.
RAMACHANDRA GUHA tried to explain the inherent ties between politics and films with language in South India. He pointed out that all the top male film stars in the Southern states have always made an issue of their respective languages. They have always proclaimed that ‘they would die for their language’. The author of several books on cricket, quickly slipped in a reference to the game, somewhere along the way, of course.
But he didn’t have the time to elaborate on this: Post-independence, the dominant language of the South, Tamil, has been rebelling against Hindi, the dominant language of the North (Tamil Nadu was the first and only state to refuse to telecast the compulsory Hindi news at primetime in the days when Doordarshan ruled the telewaves; just a couple of years ago, ZEE network was neither available and nor in demand in most of TN!).
Similarly Karnataka has always been insecure about Tamil and its undeniably aggressive culture.
GIRISH KARNAD was the sole voice who took the calculated risk of being slightly undiplomatic. He said that in the West, they actually plan elaborately for the funeral and various arrangements, in case one of their prominent personalities is unwell or old; in our culture it is considered apashakuna (inauspicious) and ill-mannered to even consider such matters.
Karnad implied that the family and the authorities could have anticipated and avoided the organizational eff-ups that provoked part of the violence.
Karnad obviously is an ambitious man–sense over sentiment? Now, if he is really a brave man, he should proffer his postmortem to the Tamilian populace in reference to their s-u-p-e-r-s-t-a-r, RAJNIKANTH?
It’s a pity the television channels didn’t ask for the expert opinion of Thomas Friedman but then let us wait for our NRI friends from across the Flat World to forward us his column in the New York Times.
The migrant populace, a substantial percentage of them having moved into Bangalore during the last decade, were unaware of the kind of sway that Rajkumar held over the masses before his semi-retirement.
So, most of them, like the television anchors up North, were puzzled by the thousands of youth who were seen reacting passionately to the death of a 77-year old film star. “If so many people still loved him so much, how come his films had stopped becoming hits long ago?” they whispered as they stared at the broken glass façade of their office complex.
THE POLITICALLY INCORRECT THING to blurt out now are the open secrets–those that most of us familiar with Karnataka and Bangalore have known for long: All the curious mobs that took ticket-less train and bus rides from all over Karnataka to land in Bangalore on those two days were not necessarily the ones who would buy tickets to a Raj Kumar movie.
Most of them were semi-literate, under-employed youth and have fostered a growing resentment towards the capital city and its culture. It is not difficult to see that they resent (and are jealous of) the visible affluence of Bangalore which is obviously a mismatch with the rest of the state.
Most of these fancy buildings they gawked at housed IT and MNCs who pay their drivers the kind of salaries that their fathers fantasized about.
In this, their moment of spontaneous pus-eruption, they took the chance to vent their frustration.
To make matters worse, they know that most of this sudden affluence belongs to the non-Kannadiga in Bangalore. The same kind who is usually just not interested nor has the time to learn the local language or be sensitive to its culture.
This is undoubtedly the only capital city in the country where there are resident families who have been here for decades without bothering to acquire a functioning knowledge of the local language. It is also a fact that in many areas of Bangalore, this is simply not necessary. The eager-to-please Bangalorean ensures that you can function with a smattering of Tamil, Hindi or English. No other city has as many rickshaw drivers and shopkeepers who can manage some English, Tamil, Telegu and/or Hindi.
The kind that owns and patronizes most of the malls, pubs and shoppees that are symbols of Shining India’s indulgent façade. This potent scenario is starkly similar to the Marathi versus the Gujju-Punju-UPite one in Mumbai which the Shiva Sena tries to exploit every now and then.
The three professions that have a majority of Kannadigas and Kannada-speaking men and women in Bangalore are the police force, the autorickshaw drivers and the bus drivers/conductors.
And most of them, if you ask them, always complain about this ‘outsider’ phenomena, although rather lamely and minus the kind of virulent fanaticism that one will encounter in their counterparts in Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu.
The Kannadiga-mob has been feeling alien in its own planet and their pet xenophobia needed to be taken out for a walk on the wild side. Perhaps for the first time after the Cauvery riots of long ago, they have exploded briefly.
When this hero of the marginalized local, the last pop-symbol of their language/culture died, they hardly needed an excuse to swing their collective fist and scream a F***K YOU! At all this which they failed to exploit and achieve in their own home ground.
It’s got a perverse logic of its own.
So, it’s all a little bit like the topic of sex. It’s everywhere and we all exist because we all have been doing it. But we want to avoid talking about it. It is indeed complex and can’t be fully understood.
So maybe we should do the safe thing and avoid discussing it. Thankfully, the legendary “parvagilla, adjust maadi” temperament of the Kannadiga lulls him back into his complacency ASAP.
One plate khaali dose and by-two kaapi later, God is back in his seat and all the bisi-bele particles in this chow-chow baath universe begin to settle down. Justtt….
Teebs,
This is your old pal, Arun [remember the old Shanti! website-building days?] here. Btw, nice article on the Rajkumar riots. But it did not have a comments section. Was that inadvertant?
Srinivas,
The social dissection of Bangalore has not come a day too soon.
Be a Roman while in Rome is what my school teacher told me.
But then Bangalore is no Rome, is it!!
So… you can still continue to be Punjabi or Maharastrian or Tamil or Jat or Marwari or god knows what else, while blissfully living in Bangalore! For ever.
Shame on us Kannadigas, the ‘Basha Nirabhimanigalu’ that most of us are!
Welcome to Bangalore… Oops sorry. Vaango Annai. Soukhyama!
With Kolar, Bellary and Chitradurga districts with major chunks of Telugu population; Kolar Gold Fields, Bangalore, Bhadravati and Kollegal being predominantly Tamil; Belgaum, Nippani, Bidar going largely Marathi-speaking; the district of North Canara speaking Konkani; South Canara district being the traditional homeland of Tulus; Kodagu being a land with its own language, history and culture; and the sizeable spread over of the Urdu speaking population, the actual Kannadiga population is just around 37 per cent in the State.
Identity crisis is unavoidable and we should have frustration release booths where we can go and bang our heads to the mirror!
Yes, I agree with Raghuram, you can continue to be what you are in Bangalore. You hardly find any kannadiga in software, banking sector or in any other areas. We have become a minority in our own state. We ourselves are to be blamed for this. We are too mild. We do not come forward when there is an opportunity to prove ourselves. Raj is great in his own field. We should be proud we had such a star amongst us. Raj, we love you! We will try to bring kannada to a place where it should be at least in its land.
Saras
But, is it really because of outsider affluence ? I think people dont know how to behave during such mourning periods. We could see guys clapping and whistling when Dr.Raj’s body was put into the freezer-coffin. People were jumping and waving their hands when camera was focussed on them. Yake intha vichitra varthane ? I think real fans like us, were sitting and mourning in front of the tv.
What Mr. Gundu says is utter nonsense. Konkani, Tulu & Kodavas have more Kannada pride than the original speakers!!!!!!! If Kannada is alive & active outside Karnataka, it is because Konkani & Tulu people. They run almost all Kannada Sabghas all over the World. Don’t try to separate them from Kannadigas. Remember Maharashtra has 1200 small & big Kannada speaking areas. Kerala has one entire district. Tamil Nadu has Nilgiri, Erode & Dharmapuri, Andhra has Hindupur, Cuddapah etc……….
Update your knowledge. Bhadravati has just 15% Tamilians. It is not a Tamil majority town. Don’t talk rubbish………….
That’s what satish, Tulu, Kodava and Konkani people will never go around with black paint in their hands to paint the faces and asses. The statistics may not be entirely correct but my point remains. The majority of the Mysore/Bangalore people never really ventured outside the cool climate and now feel threatened. I’m not trying to separate anyone from kannadigas. It is only those masked Kannada Chaluvolis that’s the threat!! good luck
I think some commentators missed Srinivas’ points. My reading of his article was that he does not agree with the rioters, but tries to ‘deconstruct’ their behavior. The notion that they needed an outlet for expressing their pent up xenophobic rage is interesting, albeit one that be debated.
The rage, whether fueled by genuine angst at the loss of their roots or whether it was sheer envy, or whether it was driven by a rationale a la James Dean, are reasons was not borne by what the goons did. They destroyed symbols of state authority – KSRTC buses, police vans. They stoned & mand-handled police officers, who were by and large Kannadiga. They did not stone many multinational estabilishments, cosmopolitan restaurants or clothing showrooms.
While there is a pent up xenophobia in a lot of Indians (especially those who claim to be proud of their state), it is rather interesting that the self-same ‘patriots’ never hesitate to settle down in other parts of India or the world. Per capita, I’m certain that New York and the Bay Area have more than a handful of Kannadigas, Bengalis, Maharastrians and Tamilians who lament the “loss” of their native places, whilst being completely oblivious of the fact that they are the engines that are doing the same to Americans who were born in those places. The irony of it all!
It is very hard to analyze mob behaviour and try to seek an explanation. In fact, there might not be any valid reason for such events. My own reading of this is that it was a highly emotionally charged atmosphere and things spiralled out of control. Various news and media channels instead of trying to report facts as they were tried to dissect this and came up with a variety of explantions not unlike ‘The Six Blind Men of Indostan’ while describing an elephant. Added to this was an overdrive of people (mostly from outside B’lore) trying to point out about how ‘one never expected Bangalore to be like this’ and an opposite reaction of people (based in B’lore) talking about how the natives have been left out of everything.
Every major city in India has its dark side be it Mumbai (93 riots), Delhi (84 riots), Kolkotta (World Cup 96), Chennai (during MGR’s death), Hyderabad & Ahmedabad (communal clashes) fuelled by mob behavior. These disturbances in Bangalore too should be treated as one such incident.
On the day Rajkumar’s death and funeral day the madness or shall we call it frustations of havenots (need not be particularly against non-kannadigas)against haves and there easy targert was government property and some policemen. Rajkumar must be turning in his grave restlessly for the behaviour of his “Abhimaani Devarugalu”.
Snehitare- Bangalore is a Gone case. As our popular NAGE HABBA speakers say – One has to stand in front of the Kempegowda statue and cry – Elli Kannada ? Ange Ennada (Rajaji Nagara), Itu Ekkada (telugu- visweswarapuram). Ellide Kannada????? Kannada is indeed a minority in Bangalore. But my bigger worry is – The same leech is catching up my beautiful Mysore. What will happen when all the ills of Bangalore will spill over – thanks to the BMIC – which has received the SC clearance??? Unless we colletively fight to bring some sense in orderly and agreed development, there will be chaos, squealing in the same points in this web site – 10 years hence. Terrifying times ahead
Ekendare, Annavru eshtu bega nammannu Agaluttarendu yaru tilidiralilla. Idi Karnatakadalli akhandanagi ishtapaduttidda eakaika vyakti avaragiddaru & kannadada janaranella tamma ondu kareyinda ondugoodisuttidda avarannu kaledukondaga janara vartane Annavra vyaktitva gottiddavarige atirekavenalla.
Mr Saraa u can really find kannada people in bangalore but not kannada speaking persons software andare englishnalle mathu aadabeku antha andukollode problem aagirodu. Kannadadalli mathu aadidare alva gothu aagodu avaru kannadigaru antha!!!!!!!!!!!!!