i am now convinced that riots are organised and orchestrated to the point of planning the 'outraging' event as well. i did not hear of any statue getting desecrated or even touched in the few days before the riots started. Nor has any news channel shown the body of the dead 23 yr old Dalit, but hours of screen time for, presumably, his weeping mother. And if it is such a 'spontaneous' reaction, then why appeal to the leaders of the Dalit parties to stop the rioting?
Rioting obviously is not merely a reaction to an incident, but tries to extract it's pound of flesh as well. Here, the 'pound of flesh' is ludicrous. A holiday on December 6th? What for? So that an already ineffectual government gets an extra day to doze off? Atleast demand something better, like reservations or something. Or is the Dalit community's self-respect at such a low, even after 60 years of pampering, that a holiday in the name of a dead leader will make them feel better???
But amidst all the rioting and ransacking and looting, it was nice to hear that there were no innocent lives lost. The only ones dead are some rioters. Good for them.
30.11.06
26.11.06
24.11.06
Poster of 'Huballi'.. notice the larger than life worm's eye view
My funky green Goa shirt
Another movie poster.. notice Rajkumar on the top left hand corner "blessing" the movie.
Rickshaw driver's licence
The old, the new and the unchanged
Vijay Mallya's contribution to the world of architecture. Very art deco.. or a shrunken copy of Empire State building
Alien...
3 weeks in an alien land. Actually, three alien lands.
First, Bangalore/Bengalooru/I.T. City. Although my dad's from Karnataka, i
don't know one sentence of Kannada except saying 'Kannada Barudilla' and
counting upto ten, that one courtesy of some Kannada comedy seen on TV ten years ago. Made it interesting to talk to rickshaw drivers, especially when Abhimanyu pointed out road names on the Eicher map to a confused one. But by the end of the trip learnt one cool phrase thanks to N.C. Rao: Mella Yenta!!!! And some useful ones like Sullimagga.. used only for errant rickshaws.
The three-in-one city is damn weird. It supposedly runs on IT but shuts at 11 (even nightclubs!!!). Rickshaws have sexy electronic meters and highly visible driver's licences but charge at their drivers' whims. Lots of green spaces but 'Keep off the grass' signs. And a flyover with a traffic signal at the top (talk about mistakes...).
The identity crisis in the city (and the state is large) is apparent at every turn. Cox Town and Fraser Town are neighbours with Basavanagudi and Koramangalam. The lack of any famous home grown Kannada heroes and heroines leads to film stars (even minor ones) elevated to god-like status. And now Bangalore's identity crisis between Pensioners' Paradise, Kannada Pride and IT Hotspot will surely lead to name-changes, a lot like Mumbai's been facing over the last twenty years.
But i don't mean to bad mouth the city. It's nice and pretty and the weather's quite awesome. Policemen are nice, rickshaw drivers are chatty and people are generally not bothered with someone holding a video camera in their face. It's just that i feel Mumbai gets jealous when i start liking another city. hehe...
And i simply loved their movie posters! Unfortunately couldn't get the one i wanted to take home, almost ripped it off a wall once. The poster is for a movie called 'Hubballi' which is a small city in the north of Karnataka. Looks nothing like in the movie. Cool poster. Found the hero's restaurant while walking under the signal flyover. He's bought over the neighbouring two buildings also...
First, Bangalore/Bengalooru/I.T. City. Although my dad's from Karnataka, i
don't know one sentence of Kannada except saying 'Kannada Barudilla' and
counting upto ten, that one courtesy of some Kannada comedy seen on TV ten years ago. Made it interesting to talk to rickshaw drivers, especially when Abhimanyu pointed out road names on the Eicher map to a confused one. But by the end of the trip learnt one cool phrase thanks to N.C. Rao: Mella Yenta!!!! And some useful ones like Sullimagga.. used only for errant rickshaws.
The three-in-one city is damn weird. It supposedly runs on IT but shuts at 11 (even nightclubs!!!). Rickshaws have sexy electronic meters and highly visible driver's licences but charge at their drivers' whims. Lots of green spaces but 'Keep off the grass' signs. And a flyover with a traffic signal at the top (talk about mistakes...).
The identity crisis in the city (and the state is large) is apparent at every turn. Cox Town and Fraser Town are neighbours with Basavanagudi and Koramangalam. The lack of any famous home grown Kannada heroes and heroines leads to film stars (even minor ones) elevated to god-like status. And now Bangalore's identity crisis between Pensioners' Paradise, Kannada Pride and IT Hotspot will surely lead to name-changes, a lot like Mumbai's been facing over the last twenty years.
But i don't mean to bad mouth the city. It's nice and pretty and the weather's quite awesome. Policemen are nice, rickshaw drivers are chatty and people are generally not bothered with someone holding a video camera in their face. It's just that i feel Mumbai gets jealous when i start liking another city. hehe...
And i simply loved their movie posters! Unfortunately couldn't get the one i wanted to take home, almost ripped it off a wall once. The poster is for a movie called 'Hubballi' which is a small city in the north of Karnataka. Looks nothing like in the movie. Cool poster. Found the hero's restaurant while walking under the signal flyover. He's bought over the neighbouring two buildings also...
Next comes Goa. Wow! Never been there since i was ten, which i realise was not the correct age to go there. Don't need to say more. Spoke in Konkani confidently to lots of locals, especially after a couple of days there. Bought my first authentic festive shirt!!! Notice the 'Reebok' tag on the collar...
Surely won't be wearing it ever again though!
And my native place, the seemingly unpronounceable Bankikodla (try again if you didn't get it right the first time). Went there after 10 years. Didn't recognise most people, but remembered the crossroad near the house perfectly. Odd how one remembers spaces more clearly than people sometimes. Even within the house, i remembered the exact layout of the living room with the one glass pane on the roof while looking at a cousin like i've never seen him before.
And after all that, i realised that the things i miss the most while i'm away are the things i hate the most when i'm here.
And i may have a thesis blog... so check that out when i put up the link.
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