Ridiculous Idealism

Welcome to the world of the immature

Things yesterday taught me:

People are definitely as stupid as I always thought they were.

Kumaraswamy is as ineffective as I first believed he was.

The policemen in this city have no idea how to go about their work.

And Bangalore is no stranger to chaos but yesterday took the cake.

So. Rajkumar is dead. The man who has constantly been in the news, the staunch Kannadiga, the man who millions idolized. Is. Dead.

It seems sort of strange. I've gotten used to seeing Rajkumar in the papers, on the news, on billboards and hoardings. The first time I ever heard about Rajkumar was only in my ninth though, when he was kidnapped by Veerappan. Then the only thing which interested me was the two weeks holidays we got. Then slowly I learnt more about him and though I wasn't particularly impressed by him (understatement of the century perhaps?) he was an integral part of the city.

Which is why yesterday's situation disgusted and horrified me. If those people out there were really Rajkumar's fans, they would definitely not have behaved the way they did. They would definitely not have had done the things they did. Stoning. Setting things on fire. Vandalizing. Looting. Lynching police officers. This is my city!

So here's my take on why they did it. It looked like those people out there were only looking for an excuse to lose control. None of them looked as though they were old enough to be fans of Rajkumar. And it's not as though Rajkumar was murdered or assasinated. He died of natural causes and that's what makes it even more strange.

However, India is a country with more than 60% of the population below the poverty line. And in a city such as Bangalore, the divide is rather marked. With the IT Industry, the economy is no doubt booming but the wealth is all concentrated in the hands of the limited few. But with Bangalore's reputation, more and more people are coming into the city in search of jobs only to be disappointed. Not only that, they see jobs going to people from othe cities, they watch as they grow rich at the expense of those who lost out and they retreat, disillusioned and angry.

And so, the frustration of being unemployed, yet seeing huge malls go up, yet seeing well dressed people driving by in luxury cars, seeing cafes and restaurants that they can ill afford, seeing all this coming up in front of their eyes, which they have no chance in hell of using, well, they definitely will have negatively influenced them. And with Rajkumar's death, they found the perfect opportunity to vent, to let loose their rage.

I'm not commending what they did. Infact, I'm sick and disgusted with what they did. But perhaps the blame can be more evenly distributed? The government, which has never held good to its promises. The disparity between the rich and the poor which is so wide. Yesterday, the ugly side of Bangalore showed its face. Now that we've seen it, what can we do to prevent such things from happening again?

We can't depend only on the police. Though definitely, they did do as much as they could but the fact remains that they are ineffective with no idea how to handle situations like yesterday. Which is why hundred of policemen were injured yesterday and some even died. It was the saddest thing I had ever seen.

What we can do is try to reduce that disparity which I talked about. Guarantee permenant employment to those who deserve it. Spread awareness about jobs available and qualifications required for it so that people can work towards that. Perhaps set up a dole system like that present in other countries. When people are satisfied with their lives, they wont go around trying to disrupt others.

Dr Rajkumar may have been a hero as great as MGR and NTR. I don't know. But the real hero for me yesterday was Javed, the eighteen year old high school boy who saved eight children from a fire in the Meerut Brand India fair. He finally succumbed to his burns yesterday but not before embedding himself into my heart and others as well as a true hero. It's people like him who still let me believe that the world is, indeed, a good place...

posted by Books inc @ 9:38 PM