One Death stalls Six million Lives!
Today’s afternoon in Bangalore was met by the heartrending news of the demise of the acting legend of Kannada film industry (Sandalwood), Mutturaju Singanalluru Puttaswamayya, popularly known among his fans as Dr. Rajkumar. Yet in this moment of grief what rose above all was the mind-boggling manner in which the news was met by 6 million Bangaloreans.
As the news pervaded into every single home over the wire through television sets and over FM Radio, Bangalore strangely found itself choking in an atmosphere permeated with smoke from burning tires and nightmarish visions of road side vandalisms. The city dressed itself in charred remains of burnt tires and glass pieces as it got ready to bid its very last farewell to the acting legend. To a person resident in this city only for the last 4 years this was not only beyond comprehension but outright criminal. Petrol pumps were set on fire and public transports stoned to stagnancy. All stores shuttered down and people ran home “shit-scared” in the middle of the afternoon. I saw no remorse in most of the participants who seemingly had found just another excuse for open drunken revelry on the streets to feed their ever ravenous hunger for sadistic destruction of public property. Auto drivers refused to turn the meters in reverence to the great man but agreed to 4 times the fare for any tad of service. Honest remorse was as rare among the contributors as was evidently any signs of culture or civilization.
The day is closing in dismal silence and I am still to understand what inspired such out burst among people but then again I might be ignorant of some key piece of Karnataka’s history or the political picture. Yet, having hailed from the city of Kolkata where I have witnessed tragic but civilized farewell being bid to multiple persona in the rank of Nobel Laureate Mother Teresa and Satyajit Ray, winner of the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement, I would still stand in disgrace of the ridiculously vulgar demonstration of the day. The day would probably stand as one rare black mark in the otherwise bravura that was the life of Dr. Rajkumar. As the sun rises again Bangalore shall awake to realize the real loss of not only a great man but also that of Bangalore’s administrative infrastructure and most importantly the face of the tech Hub of the nation in front of the rest of the world. Bangalore, what were you thinking?
The following snaps were taken around 100 Ft Ring Rd., Bangalore.
This kind of violence that arises out of anything related to Rajkumar is the only bad thing one can remember at this time.
On another note, let’s stop using stupid names like “Mutturaju Singanalluru Puttaswamayya” (thanks to Rediff.com?). Let’s recognise that most South Indians don’t have surnames. His original name was Muthuraju, period.
Sorry for being a bit hasty with the previous comment. I should appreciate your post complete with pictures. Also, I relate to your bewilderment.
So sad – this is how they end up giving a bad name to someone who was a gentleman to the core – in his portrayal in films and in his public behaviour.
And I am sure the people who caused the violence were just opportunists waiting to loot rather than those who actually had any feelings for the dear departed.
My precious source of information on Dr. Rajkumar was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajkumar :-)
Can’t agree with you more. Looks as if it’s some small rural city. People burning cars, buses, ambulances, petrol bunks for the natural demise of their hero. Desn’t look as if we live in a metropolitan city.
Yesterday was a sad day, more so for the kind of behaviour that Bangaloreans exhibited on the streets. But I was out on the roads and the situation was really not as bad as it was being potrayed on the media. Some kind of a turmoil is to be expected as Indians are always a little bit over the top with respect to their emotions. The Government and the police should ensure that it does not end up causing damage to property and life.
Bhaskar, Thanks so much for writing about this. Believe me, I have a notepad open even now where I am collecting the information about losses incurred during the rampage. So many cars, buses and even petrol pumps have been ransacked in the name of “protest”. I was wondering and even wanted to quote in my post that “If Annavaru were to come down and see what his beloved fans were doing in the name of mourning his death, then would he be pleased? What those people are doing is not destroying their image alone, but is also destroying his image.” This is the exact line that I had writted for my post. And also, I am completely in agreement that these miscreants are having their bit of destructive fun in the name of mourning for Dr. Rajkumar. I doubt how many of those violence perpetrators are genuinely mourning for Dr. Rajkumar. If you face any one of them directly and you happen to be a non-Kannadiga, then God alone save you from their wrath that is more a frustration than deserved. I was speaking with some American managers late yesterday and they got to hear news that “Someone died and shops have been closed”. What kind of impression does this create when we are projecting Bangalore to be the center of choice for foreign direct investment etc.
Its a sad thing (both Dr. Rajkumars death and the ensuing destruction) but not unique to Bangalore. Such destruction happens (or sometimes made to) whenever a popular or powerful leader / celebrity dies. The truth is we are like this only (immature, disgusting, violent hero worshippers)
SLN
A cynical Indian
I came to this news when I called up my frnd in here (I stay in Chennai). He was stuck in his office and was waiting for any cab or vehicle willing to take him to his home. Finally, he made it around 11 pm.
There is nothing new in this kind of behavior as its common inmany places, be it any city of India. All the large cities are famous for this kind of outburst. As SLN said, “The truth is we are like this only (immature, disgusting, violent hero worshippers)”.
I agree completely that this had nothing related to the death of Rajkumar, people were desparately waiting for some opportunity and when they got it, they jumped, ran, burnt, thrashed and all the shit things you can expect from wild animals.
Why this kind of behavior? Even after so many repetitions, we are still on water about the cause, forget the remedy. It may show that as a whole (on the average) we are not as critical, honest, responsible or realist (practical) people. We let our emotions lead us to astray and try to live up in a dreamworld by building up fantasies to cheer us up.
Banglore was famous even before IT came up. IT industry just helped it to project on global field. Banglore was and even now is one of the best cities to live in India. It was not due to any industry or many gardens. They were just added features. Banglore was famous for its people, residents who were lively and confident to stay practical, away from normal indian delusions. None other city can compete with that reasoning and rationality for what bangalorians are known for. Then what happened now?
Extremes of ideology, fam and money have there on pitfalls. Human see the world in relative terms. Those who are left behind in rush, naturally try to pull others back. Nobody is less capable and can’t digest the fact that he/she has been left behind for any reason. Front runners always enjoy the glory and think that those who are left behind are not capable of running that fast. In all the fast developing societies, the gap between different people has become so wide that this fissure can take the whole society in dumps. Any place in India or more precise Bangalore is not different from it. Also, flow of people from outside to Bangalore has given easy opportunity to blame.
Though, I know, situation of Bangalore is not that grim as media is trying to project but YES THERE IS A PROBLEM. This has made me doubtful about shifting to Bangalore a bit.
Right now saw live telecast on NDTV about mob violence breaking out in many parts of the city! People are beating up police and law and order has broken down completely in many parts. What are they protesting? The decree of God???
Perhaps somebody from Dr. Rajkumar’s family ought to make a public appeal to stop all this insane behaviour of the ‘mourners’!
Let us all raise our voices against these acts of hooliganism. A civilized society can not and should not allow such actions. If any of u guys are staying near areas where such activities r becoming more prominent then please post here and so that others can be informed and avoid going through those areas.
Raising voice is essential. Being informed and care for safety is good. But why can’t we do something right now to stop this “hooliganism”.
Why can’t human groups be formed in the affect localities and help police in keeping law and order. Offcourse there is risk but ain’t this risk worth taking?
NDTV is broadcasting really graphical images of blood clad police officers being “carried away” by disgruntled crowds. Police authorities are being literally hunted down. What the hell is happening? Bangalore infrastructure has completely broken down. Its absolutely barbaric whats happening right now in the Garden City.
Varun what do u have in mind? People is there nothing we can do to stop the Garden City from burning?
if you guys this is outrage, you should have seen the violence and destruction of property when Rajkumar was kidnapped by Veerappan…
In India idol worship is lot more than one can think about.. sometimes these guys are paid to create violence
@randamramble
thats Rajkumar’s real and full name. there is no point criticising it… i dont see any reason why his full name should not be printed in media.
btw, me also a south indian but i use my surname for all purposes…
Hello , Seems an interesting discussion .my points :
NDTV is showing something that has happened around 90 mins back . I agree that whatever has happened is gross(their cameraman’s hand was bitten) ,but by showing the same pictures again and again,they are arousing fear .Please for latest news,see Udaya TV or ETV. But as many of you have already stated, the situation is inexplicable and there is no reason why any such thing should be happening.
People are venting out their frustrations ,but come on ! why ? Dr Rajkumar’s family members have requested people to maintain their calm. I think it is just a chance for the miscreants to go around destroying property. Dr Rajkumar always used to say “Abhimanigalu Devaru” – meaning that his fans are like his gods and this kind of behaviour is ridiculous and its more like insulting whatever he has said . I seriously hope that the situation calms down soon else there might actually be a curfew and a few more holidays.
What would Dr. Rajkumar say to his fans now? They just seem to be a bunch of hooligans and goondas, going about ransacking and burning everything in sight. Would he be proud of such fans? Do they deserve to be called fans of such a great personality. Such rowdies should be dealt with most sternly, without any hesitation.
It is common to note that among all the people who are fans of some or the other in this world, Dr. Rajkumar’s fans are the most uncivilized!
People die – that is the only certain truth of life. I had a near escape from a vandal running behind me with a burning tyre!! This incident happened when i was returning from college on Uttrahalli road. Behind him were around 50 – 60 hooligans with bats, wickets and other primitive weaponry running toward us. Why did i get chased – I know not. But i surely know one thing, the guy who chased me surely did not respect the ideals of Rajkumar! Has he watched more Rajkumar’s movies than me – I dont think so. Does being a fan of Rajkumar mean that you follow his sons movies and try to implement the ‘stunts’ his sons perform in movies like ‘Jogi’ on innocent civilians.
Being a total Bangalorean for 21 years, i stand today hating bangaloreans as a whole! They are just a bunch of drunken ambition-less souls running on the roads to make other peoples lives as good as theirs is – DOGS!
It is a sad incident and i shall always remember it as a big black mark in the great thespian’s life. If this is what those so called ‘fans’ of Rajkumar want – you have very much succeeded in charring the image of Rajkumar in other’s views.
Personally i have watched over 140 movies starring Rajkumar, stored over 22 titles at home. Am I not a fan of Rajkumar? Don’t i have any respect for Rajkumar? I have a lot of respect to this great artist, and that is why i am not running on streets chasing people away with burning tyres. Lets see any of those drunken land lubbers beat my record of Rajkumar’s movies.
Bhaskar, I am just trying to suggest, is there anything more we can do to help the situation improve.
And, now please all stop calling these hooligans assholes fans of Rajkumar.
I just saw on TV – a gang of people just stoned a policeman to shreds. And his counterpart was running away saving his life – with a full blown rifle in his hands!
Why dont the police take that gun, aim it at the guy who is chasing him and shoot him down. He has already commited a crime to beat a policeman in uniform. The police must take some responsiblity in their hands. They must not fear at least in bringing down this hooliganism – at what ever cost it takes.
SAD!!
Ya Varun. I understand. Was thinking aloud whether there really is something in our civilized capacity to do to restrain the situation.
Hi frends the one thing we can do to overcome this situation is to come out courageously, help people to get transportation, try to remove fear from masses,help your friends struck in some places.
I also want to share some things ie. the whole thing is a political clout. 90% shops ,resturants where forced to close yesterday. A few ransaking mob were allowed to ransack a whole city. The police where mute specators for these things. A lot of public property is burnt or distructed. A lot of people are left without food.
If this is the style of mourning then it is a wrong precedence. It must be apposed verbally and in practical terms. The ransaking mob were supplied with lot of liquor which must be stopped. It must not be a act to be followed after the death of any great personality.
Lastly i want to show my condolences to a legendary Rajkumar ,who stood as a kannada idol.
I advice his followers to offer prayers in all religious temples, offer food and clothing to the poor and handicaped people. The condolence act must be peaceful so that Rajkumar’s soul rest in peace.
Can Bangalore can come out of this smoke of “hooliganism” tomorrow as if nothing happened?
OK. I will try to list out some options on what we can do. Others can add more and better have some action.
Just now:
1. Inform everyone about what’s happening, where is it happening. Take photos, share them, atleast don’t let these assholes hide their faces. I read about some racial riots in Australia, people took photos of rioters which helped police to build the cases against them. Though, it was at very small level but every inch counts.
2. Check the neighbourhood for these hooligans. Though, most of these rioters might be from uneducated, jobless people, living in slums but I guess there are enough social workers, NGO people among this blog readership that have better access to them. If there are not then we are surely missing the link. Atleast, try to talk with the people whom you know or have ever interacted (any roaside vendor, people at local teashop, etc.). Silence and lack of proper communication fuels the anger. If there is something which we feel right, then we need to tell everyone about it.
Long term:
There is certainly huge frustration building up in people. Off-course we can’t expect any good from our asshole (most of, there are very few exceptions though) politicians. Why can’t we share our success with people who are less fortunate? We are not colonialist or have some racial difference, but still we discriminate on class, wealth. Why can’t we build a society where everyone feel ‘wanted’.
Though, I may sound stupid but its better to say something then be silent dumb.
what was the district administration doing ?
they should have expected this. They knew what happened when Dr Rajkumar was kidnapped.
Here are the things that the govt/authorities did wrong.
1) without making necessory arrangements, they leaked the news out.
2) they roamed around the city with his body leaving the mob in confusion
3) they didnt do anything to control the crowd when violence erupted for the first time.
4) No one, not the authorities of Dr.Raj’s family members or anyone from the filmdom rose up to the role of consoling and controlling the crowd.
I agree that the authorities tend to look at such situations with a certain softcorner, but this was ridiculous !
They werent sad fans of Dr. Raj, they were a group of happy hooligans who suddenly got a licence to do whatever they wanted to do. They were happily cheering and waving their hands at the TV cameras.
That is the same mob who killed 2 (or more) people.
What the authorities should have done:
1) decide on what to do next make arrangements for that before letting the news spread.
2) its obvious that such a huge number of fans cannot be let to see the body.So, to pacify them, make for alternate arrangements like prayer meetings or candle light walks lead by some celebrities at different parts of the city.
3) curb the violence in the onset. there are no two ways about it.
I completely agree with what is being said here. I agree it is a matter of pirde for us to have had a Padmashree award winner Dr.Rajkumar among us here at bangalore. I repect him for what he is and definitely acnowledge the credit he is getting for his contribution to the Kannada film industry. However, I feel we should start thinking beyond this. I always felt that there was too much hype about anything related to Dr.Rajkumar. Burning busses and torturing innocent people when somebody dies is way beyond limits and is in so sense anything called mourning. Decalaring a holiday for his death seems more due to the fear of riots than out of due solidiarity for his soul. I dont feel there is any need to declare holidays for death of actors/actresses. It would have been more meaningful to declare a holiday to mourn for the death of people like Mother Teresa who have made memorable contributions to society. Can we stop this…lest the trend continues
I read stories like this with a sense of total disbelief – and have come away with the impression that it doesn’t take very much for Indians to riot, and the police always turn or run away from confrontation (unless they themselves are doing the confronting with their lathis). I will be visiting Bangalore in June for a friend’s wedding and had been looking forward to it until now.
This gora firang might just stay in the hotel compound and not see the city…
1 man died and we showed our reverence by killing 6 more innocent people. Garden City burns!
Something the fuck is wrong with this city and its people. Way back in 2000, the same thing happened, and now again. Crazy. What a complete waste of a day. Offices closed, shops closed. Government has gone on a 2 day holiday. Wah wah! What fun for the bastards who run this city. 4 days holiday. And all the pathetic assholes who call themselves Rajkumar fans. Imagine the amount of public loss and damage, as well as loss of the Bangalore brand worldwide.
One way to deal with this mass of uneducated hooligans is to catch hold of a few of them and punish them severely in front of the public as the Chinese do. Since most of these goons are uneducated, hungry and jobless, they lack either the spine or the physical strength to bear such punishment – it will deter the other goons from indulging in acts of violence ever again. The bigger accomplishment would be to start at a younger age where these hooligans would have inhabited once in their early years – the Corporation and Govt. schools. Education and conflict management are the two tools that could lessen future damage to the city’s infrastructure. The hype about Rajkumar was always overdone and hysterical anyway. What’s the big deal about a movie actor? After all, he didn’t bring food or money to these hungry hordes… so why should they go berserk or mourn for him. I bet 90% of these rioters can neither write or speak proper Kannada! So much for these muck-raking Kannada Vaadis.
Here’s a bit of news which not many know…
Dr.Raj was declared dead by the hospital authorities early in the morning itself.The news was not leaked out till about 2-2:30 PM to the general public, so that the govt could make security arrangements…& it is clear to everyone that the police force failed miserably..
So much for the delay in announcement!
Now, all when all the things are calming down, again should we forget the lessons learnt from this. Offcourse, last two days will be major blot in Bangalore’s image. Yesterday, this was the headlines in major newspaper outside “Mobs rampage in Indian tech city after actor dies”. I don’t need to paste the complete story.
These mobs were not anyones fans as people have rightly described them “opportunistic hooligans”. Added to this, current trend of kannad politicians taking their foot in mouth, grabing for chair like dogs and desparately and pathetically playing appease politics on the name of ‘Kannadigan”, show that Bangalore is going in which way.
Mob riots are not so rare in India, so, I don’t see that people were very surprised but they are surprised as they were not expecting it in Bangalore. What happened in Guwahati after cricket match abondment was the symbol of indian public mentality and also our pathetic state of police and other law managing authorities. In Bangalore, it once again showed how pathetic our authorities have become, can’t they think? It seems they are more like brainless assholes, warming their chairs, filling their pockets and extanding their bellies.
All said and done, what next? We can’t just let this kind of thing happen again. It’s good to see so many people speaking out against it but we all also share the frustration of not able to do anything to stop it. As some people have already pointed out what can be done, we need ass little bit more thoughts and make sure that we cure this problem, taking out the real cause.
Wish us all good luck.
Lack of proper education I feel really contributes to mob mentality. I can’t imagine an educated person picking up a stone to hurl at another human being.
So the fact is that while a minority population in India is pushing the nation into the next technological era, much of our population remains uneducated, barbaric and uncivilized. Is there anything we can possibly do? I sincerely would like to hear people’s view if there is any way to give some form of mass education to the people at least in humane behaviour and manners. How long will the image of India be clouted with acts of hooliganism and corruption?
No person in his/her right senses will defend whatever happened and It is indeed a disgrace that 8 people died in the fiasco.
I also fully agree that the way Mother Teresa’s funeral was handled was exemplary and infact remember discussing the exact point.
But,I would like to make a point here and forgive me If I sound fanatic.The author seems to suffer from selective amnesia and has probably chosen to forget the unruly scenes in his own city when a certain left handed batsman was dropped from the Indian team.And less said the better about the rate of protests in Kol and the inconvenience it causes to scores of citizens.
There is a growing discomfort among natives about the snooty condescending attitude of the “local foreigners”.
So please refrain from making it a regional issue.
Very true Sampreeth. It is true that some local foreigners have been taken by surprise by seeing this in a city like Bangalore. And for them, who do not actually know anything about RajKumar, they will have negative views about Rajkumar now. But just to clear up some air, all those who resorted to arson were Rajkumar’s fans in the least.
Mobs and riots are not new to India. And the only possible cure for this disease is to eradicate illitracy. But as long as corrupt politicians exist, they will always want the majority of the citizens to be illetrate, so that they can lure them into political battles and also since they are easily lured when some politician speaks of the good of the farmer/poor. What they do not realise is that they are in no way benefitting from them by their false promises.
As was expected, the karnataka politicians have now started battling it out against the present governement for mis-handling the situation. SO we can very well guess that this was no unplanned incident, instead was a cunning plan of the opposition parties to encourage mobs and arson on the streets so that they can later blame the government and bring it down.
It is a sad world of politics and i do not see the situation improving unless some of the educated individauls like those who have posted comments on this thread and more outside do not stand up to save their country from a certain death!
The REVOLUTION is Coming. Can you see it.
If you think that educated individuals must enter politics and steer this country away from doom, please visit http://www.lokparitran.org/ and support our cause.
Any such hooliganism at the occasion of the death of a filmstar or at the removal of a cricketer from a team, whether in Bangalore or in Bengal is something that is wrong and should neither be forgotten nor forgiven. Please refrain from regional emotions and instead of seeing who has the right to criticize whom lets all criticize wherever we see something wrong and then let us also stand true to our words and accept the responsibility of correcting which is wrong. When our nation or our society needs the guidance from the literate to steer ourselves away from such barbaric incidents please let us not waste an iota of time over regional diplomacy. We are all Indians here, no “local foreigners”. Lets improve India, not Bangalore or Bengal.
Please note that I also hail from Kolkata and in no way do i appreciate any hooliganism that happened over Sourav’s exclusion from the team. Any such act brought shame to my name as a Bengali too.
Hi,
I guess the whole review comments are from outsiders(local foreigners). Lets try to understand first that Rajkumar was very much beloved to Kannadigas. The things which have happenned are very minimum. I myself being a Engineering graduate working in an MNC felt bad, when I was going in the car back. I saw few tyres which are burn’t. In the signals near Majestic huge Rajkumar cut outs were on display. I felt better after seeing it as I am a big fan of Rajkumar. I was really in sad state, as I always consider Rajkumar as representing the local Kannadigas. and now he is no more. May be I am also afraid of Bangalore city taken over by these local foreigners and our great Rajkumar was on our side. On the way back to my home towards VijayaNagar, in signal near sujatha talkis, I saw a Tata safari Tamil registration with a loud tamil music on. I looked at the driver he was starring at all of us as If he is ready to fight. My immediet thought was I will ask him to stop the music, I didn’t do it.. This is what instigates the local people, when the outsiders dont recoginse the emotions of local people. The outsiders dont have any right to play with the emotions of kannadigas. This is just an example and i am sure it happens many places in many ways. All these will lead to outrage.. Dr.Rajkumar death is just reason..
So, start giving respect for the local language, local culture. Dont say to people that, I dont need to know kannada as everybody knows here tamil/english. As it irritates the locals.
And I saw few people writting the educated people should join politics. Believe me this will not solve the problem as now most of the young MLA’s are highly educated and corrupt.
Only way ahead is “awareness”. Increase the awareness in the people. We can do it by reducing the prices of communication(TV, phone, internet,news paper etc) which is already happening and then by focussing on primary education. The govt should stop opening higher education colleges, instead open more schools and let everybody get primary education leave the higher education for private. As you can open 100 good schools instead of opening an egineering college. I did my BE completely free in govt engineering college but Govt could have educated 100 people upto 8th standard in the same cost.
This would have defenetly increased the awareness..
i knw its irrelevant here for here we are discussing the violence tht followed the death of rajkumar which CANNOT BE JUSTIFIED however you did get angry when you were called local foreigner be honest and say have you tried to learn anything about bangalore/kannada let me give an eg you shop and demand something you will probably blast him in hindi today in blore shopkeeper or anyone working in supermarket chain needs to know hindi gujarati bangla tamil telugu etc for his survival all those emotions starts getting pent up and of course aided by anti social elements pent up fury is released .. next time maybe when you put fuel or buy your grocery look at the “local foreigner” issue
Did i get angry for being called a “local foreigner”? No. Did I feel discriminated? Yes.
Do I expect a grocery shopkeeper to know “gujarati bangla tamil telugu”? No. Do I expect him to know Hindi? YES. Because he is an Indian and Hindi is our national language. I am a bengali but I have learnt hindi for the same reason. I also frankly do prefer people knowing english but thats just for the sake of ease of communication and nothing else. Most of my non-bengali friends back in Kolkata used to converse with me in hindi or english only. I dont mind learning kannada either but just that I am not too good with learning new languages. English, Bengali and Hindi are three languages I have spoken from a very young age (as far back as I can even remember). If I get time I might be picking up at least little bit of kannada sometime soon also but thats because of some other inspiring factors :-). 80% of my closest friends are kannadigas and I love hanging out with them though they always keep teasing me in Kannada as I keep blinking quite often…hahahahha
A humble enquiry on why we are discussing linguistic difference and regionalism here? Why can’t we all as a bunch of Indians correct our country. Be it Bengal or Bangalore it is first a part of India and then anything else. I am a resident of Bangalore for only the last 4 years. But I call it my home as much as I call Kolkata. Correct me if I am wrong in doing that.
To Bhaskar Mitra the local foreigner
I think you rightly called a local foreigner by someone in this blog.
Why should we speak Hindi? It is one of the national language not The National Language. Hell with it!.
Original Bangalore population consists of Kannadigas, Telugus, and some Marathis.
First try to respect local customs, local language. Why are you portraying as if Bengalis and your KOLKATTA are peaceloving people? Why do you forget the violence that keeps erupting often by your CPM goondas on various occassions?
Some one who is a outsider like you has written that South Indians do not have surnames. He should brush up his knowldege on South India. This attitude of you people from North of Vindhyas irritates us. If you have come to our city to eke a living, see to it that you do not give wrong information to the people on the web!
We are Kannadigas not Kannadis or Kannadigans as some have written here. Atleast know how to spell the word Kannada. If your city can be called Kolkotta why can not we call our city Bengalooru?
You outsiders attitude to Kannada language and Kannadigas has contributed a lot to violence that followed Dr. Rajkumar’s death.
I never seen a Bengali speaking in Hindi in Kolkotta. You guys keep blabbering in Bengali all the time.
What do you know of Dr. Rajkumar?
I have no wish to go into any controversial arguments but I will like to point out a few things.
Hindi is THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE. Please refresh your general knowledge (and English is THE OFFICAL LANGUAGE of the country).
I have no interest in portraying any bengali as peace loving nor any body else as the contrary. To quote one of my previous comments in the same thread, “Please note that I also hail from Kolkata and in no way do i appreciate any hooliganism that happened over Sourav’s exclusion from the team. Any such act brought shame to my name as a Bengali too”.
I honestly think the person who criticized me and said that Dr. Rajkumar never had a surname was himself a south Indian. kris who DEFENDED my original post is a south Indian as he himself mentioned.
Why is it that I feel so much hostility when u say “If you have come to our city to eke a living”? I have come to this city because it is the tech capital of India and I will love to join those great people who are already bringing great name to our proud nation. Bangalore belongs to India and I hope to enrich my nation and this city through my hard work and diligence. If I am here ite because of my talents and not any one’s generosity.
Who called you Kannadis or Kannadigans? I mentioned my friends here rightly as Kannadigas.
Are you serious when u say the outsiders are responsible on what happened that day in Bangalore? Give me a break bro. Please get serious.
We do blabber in bengali to one another but not to anyone who does not understand bengali. dont expect our auto drivers and vegetable hawkers to speak english. they r too illiterate for that but they will speak at least in hindi.
What do I know of Rajkumar? Well I did not know much before. But after his sad demise lot of my friends told me about his dedication to arts and music and acting and how he was a pure man who stayed away from the dirty world of politics and only believed in true social work. By the way he actually reminds me of another enigmatic persona from Bengal, Uttam Kumar. He too was a one man movie industry in his time but then Dr. Rajkumar from what I have heard is surely a bigger persona if u keep the movie careers aside. I am sorry for my earlier ignorance but not too many people outside South India has ever had any chance of knowing him just as you probably have never heard of Uttam Kumar.
Feel free to correct me anytime.
Signing off. A PROUD INDIAN.
Well! It seems my comments about local foreigners have sparked off a rather controversial debate and deviated from the main point and my apologies for that.
First of all I would like to make it clear that it was out of impulse and definitely not a personal remark.
As you can see all the comments which followed represented in a sense the feelings of the natives albeit at different degrees which u cannot deny.
In my view all this talk about bengalis has come after seeing the protests which followed ganguly’s dropping/the booing of Ind team in the Eden and the trash talk directed towards Dravid
U must admit NATIONALISM was nowhere to be seen
Anyway that is besides the point.
It was an extraordinary situation that day.
Natives who have not had a bite of this IT boom would quite naturally feel left out in their own place and found a reason to vent out their emotions with the incentive of not being caught and ending up behind bars.
Now why these pent up feeling?
The attitude of the migrants over a fairly long period of time.
This was the point I was trying to make when i said “Local Foreigners”.
Is it so difficult to mingle around,understand the language if not speak it, to reciprocate the soft tolerant opennature of the natives.?
Didnt some very Wise old man once tell “Be a Roman in Rome”!!!!?
Hope I have cleared up the air a bit.
P.S – ALL OF US HERE ARE VERY PROUD INDIANS
Just to quote one of my previous comments..
“80% of my closest friends are kannadigas and I love hanging out with them though they always keep teasing me in Kannada as I keep blinking quite often…hahahahha”
And guess what! I found the love of my life after I moved in to Bangalore and she is a South Indian. :-)
Bhaskar:
Just a note:
Hindi wasnt/isnt the national language. Neither is English. There are 18 official languages and they’re both part of it. (The constitution tells you as much)
The only reason anyone south of the Vindhyas knows Hindi is because of movies, not because it is an official language.
“The only reason anyone south of the Vindhyas knows Hindi is because of movies, not because it is an official language.”
I disagree. Hindi is *compulsory* learning in Karnataka state board schools at the primary level atleast (or it was when I was in school a decade ago)
Ambar,
It isnt/wasnt exactly compulsory, but circumstances/schools construe to make it so.
My point is, how much of your Hindi do you owe to your schooling and how much to movies/serials? I know that I owe all of it to movies/serials.
I am seriously shocked!!!! How can there be an argument over the fact that Hindi is our “THE National language”?????
Article 343 of the Constitution of India states: “Clause (1)–The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script”.
If you dont believe me then check it out at http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/fullact1.asp?tfnm=00%20440
For those who believe that Kannada should be the only speaking language here in Karnatake and that learning hindi should no way be compulsory, please do read the following part of the Indian Constitution as well.
http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/fullact1.asp?tfnm=00%20453
Ok Ok. For the really interested people here is a whole list of Indian languages and how they are classified.
Official languages
Two languages are the languages used by the central administration:
1. Hindi is the language used by the Central Government when communicating with the states of Hindi Belt
2. English is the Associate official language and the language to be used while communicating with the states.
Classical languages
Classical languages of India are:
1. Sanskrit — Indo-European classical language of India
2. Tamil — Dravidian classical language of India
Recognized national languages of India
A further 22 languages are scheduled for official use:
1. Assamese — official language of Assam
2. Bengali — official language of Tripura and West Bengal
3. Bodo — official language of Assam
4. Dogri — official language of Jammu and Kahmir
5. Gujarati — official language of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Gujarat
6. Hindi — official language of Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal
7. Kannada — official language of Karnataka
8. Kashmiri — official language of Jammu and Kashmir
9. Konkani — official language of Goa
10. Maithili — official language of Bihar
11. Malayalam — official language of Kerala and Lakshadweep
12. Manipuri or Meithei — official language of Manipur
13. Marathi — official language of Maharashtra
14. Nepali — official language of Sikkim
15. Oriya — official language of Orissa
16. Punjabi — official language of Punjab and Chandigarh, second official language of Delhi and Haryana
17. Sanskrit — language of Hinduism, required teaching in many schools
18. Santali – language of the Santhal tribals of the Chota Nagpur Plateau (comprising the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Chattisgarh)
19. Sindhi – language of the Sindhi community
20. Tamil — official language of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry
21. Telugu — official language of Andhra Pradesh
22. Urdu — official language of Jammu and Kashmir, some districts in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh
Other popular languages of India
These languages have over 5 million speakers but no official status. Many are often considered sub-varieties of Hindi.
Closely-related to Hindi
1. Awadhi
2. Bundeli
3. Chhattisgarhi — language of Chhattisgarh
4. Hariyanavi (Haryanvi) — language of Haryana
5. Hindustani — a mixture of Hindi and Urdu, spoken largely in the Northern part of India.
6. Kanauji — language of Uttar Pradesh
7. Marwari — language of the Marwar Region in Rajasthan
Bihari languages
These three Bihari languages also have over 5 million speakers but no official status. They were once mistakenly thought to be dialects of Hindi, but have been more recently shown to be part of the Eastern Group of Indic languages, along with Bengali, Assamese, and Oriya.
1. Angika — language of Bihar, Spoken largely in the Northern and Southern part of Bihar, Major part of Jharkhand and Maldah district of West Bengal
2. Bhojpuri — language of Bihar
3. Magadhi — language of southern Bihar
Other languages
1. Bhili (Bhil tribals)
2. Gondi (Gond tribals)
3. Kodava, spoken in the Kodagu district of Karnataka
4. Kutchi — language of Kutch, a region in Gujarat
5. Tulu — spoken by Tulu people of Karnataka and Kerala
6. Sankethi — spoken by Sankethi people in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala
The Constitution of India lists 18 regional languages.
Minority languages of India
These languages have fewer than one million speakers:
1. Mahl — language of Minicoy, spoken in the island of Minicoy,
Any more doubts brothers?
Bhaskar
Am well aware of the site and its contents, thank you.
FYI, here’s what a national language is:
Language of the courts, AND the executive.
In India they both differ, English for the courts, and Hindi for the legislature, which is why there’s no single NATIONAL language. (Article 343 also specifies the same, btw).
Oh Hindi was voted in by one vote.
(the 4 new official lingos were added very recently, btw)
Hindi for the executive*