Amidst the ruckus
over Cauvery issue, four friends from Chennai embarked on a remarkable journey
to the city which was subjected to the vandalism of a different degree for more
than 2 weeks. Bangalore or Bengaluru as you may call has always been a
favourite city for those who live in Chennai and around. A weekend getaway, a
college get together, a weekend of tireless pub hopping, a lazy stroll in
brigade: shopping and drinking beer, a visit to the Blossoms Bookstore, tasting
freshly brewed beers in a local brewery and many more are the official reasons
for anybody who visits Bangalore at least twice every year. But the four
friends’ agenda was slightly not of the ordinary sort, though they didn’t want to
totally avoid the local clichés as well. Not all would take the risk to travel
to a place which was on curfew for four straight days when people started
ransacking the city over the Cauvery water issue. Despite continuous warnings
from parents, friends and random strangers on road, their decision was final; a
promise made is indeed something which has to be kept. When the two
neighbouring states bickered endlessly and was almost on the verge of tearing
each other apart, they didn’t mind the communal differences or the political
gamble. It was their friends’ engagement and they had promised to attend. And I was fortunate to be one among them. In
a world where emotions and relations have lost the value, the decision we took
sounded surreal and anachronistic.
As the Shatabdi
express rattled through the plains, I sought refuge in a book from the tiring
boredom. The food served was manageable and the person next to me was not. He
kept pushing my hand off from the arm support between the seats and kept peeping
into my book. Despite all the annoying entertainments we were subjected to, all
of us were indeed quite apprehensive about what we might have to come across in
Bangalore. The Indian media rejoiced over the vandalisms for more than a week
and even after the curfew was lifted they quite celebrated with a few fictional
protests as well, spreading chaos and fear among the citizens. And to a certain
extent as far as my Dad and few others were concerned, I must say that they
were quite successful too. The certainty of a rail bandh was one of the things
which disturbed many. But apparently there was none and we reaching Bangalore 2
minutes prior to the scheduled arrival was the biggest confirmation anybody
could ever give.
Bengaluru like an old friend welcomed us with
the usual familiarity and with that old charming drizzle. The ground rule was
not to talk in Tamil taking into consideration the on-going protests between
Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. These are the instances when you thank all Gods(
despite being an atheist) for being a polyglot. Our conversations and bickers continued
in English and a much heavy accented South Indian Hindi. The cabwala who spoke
native Kannada, switched to Tamil after listening to us for a few moments.
Apparently, in the 21st century literate India, cab drivers are
polyglots too.
But why so much
tension in the air? Why there is a protest between two states on water? We have
several rivers which originate from Pakistan and still flow peacefully to
India, when on either side you may find a battalion soldiers ready to strike.
Pakistan without any doubt is of course the most sought after enemy and the
most forgiven sibling too, despite its endless mischiefs. When countries keep
peace when it comes to water, why two states within the boundaries of the same
country have disagreements going on for several years now. Is it really because
of water? Or is it something else? Is the issue being politicized by the power
hungry megalomaniac politicians of each state? Are the common men being fooled?
As the smell of burnt buses still lingers in the night air of Bangalore, one
cannot resist from pondering on the above questions; the questions for which
one might never find answers to.
I decided to go “Bookless
in Bengaluru” and tried to comprehend the issue. For a change without resorting
to the comfort of couple of pages and the smell of old books, I walked around places, met people, had tea and benne masala dosas from street food
joints, had beer from breweries, still, I couldn’t find even a single soul either
restless or in peace, who was excited about the whole Cauvery affair. Despite the
continuous banter we had in Tamil, none of the local Kannadigas seemed to even care who we are or where we are from. From
this ignorance, it is quite clear that the people have no animosity and most
probably whatever happened over the past week was the final staging of a much
awaited and practiced political drama. Of course, there might be a need of water,
like everybody has, but is it so big an issue to go for each other’s throat? The western media rejoiced over this and even
went to the extent of stating that there is a water scarcity in India. Let me
tell you folks, we do receive considerable amount of rain every year as a
country and our problem is not just about water. The other day, I gave an interview for Al Jazeera’s Stream program, where I said, India has enough amount of water, but
we are fighting a bigger war. Our issues include communal, caste, language and
a lot other differences which are still prevalent in modern India; not an easy
thing to manage considering the level of diversity India carries.
