An Unusual 2 Days – The Sane Loon

A quick reminder, I live in the IT capital of India, the city of Bengaluru. For now. Those of you updated with national news may be familiar with a recurring topic of social discord in the area, ie, the Cauvery river’s water distribution between the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

On 12th September, in the middle of the day, violence broke out in certain parts of the city. While it started with the usual stone pelters, it soon grew exponentially violent with arson being the disruption of choice. The attacks were targeted at properties owned by Tamilians, and any vehicles with a Tamil Nadu license plate. By the end of the day, the ‘protesters’ had set hundreds of vehicles ablaze, mostly buses and trucks, in the conflict hot spots of the city.

To share a more personal experience of this event, I was out for lunch with my colleagues when the first of the incidents happened. We were enjoying our amazing burgers when they stopped playing the music. It wasn’t till we asked them why, that they told us they were closing the restaurant because of the stone pelting that had happened just a few streets down, and that they were simply waiting for us to finish our meal. Still, no need to rush and choke on your fries, right? The waiters kept darting to the front door with anxious faces, making us more nervous and we didn’t even know exactly what was going on. I almost expected a bunch of rioters draped in their ‘patriotic’ colors to storm the restaurant at any moment. One of THE most nervous lunches I’ve ever had.

But as we walked back to the office, we could see all the shops along the entire street bringing down the shutters, which to me is an unusual thing to see and made me MORE nervous. Apparently, some stores put up the Karnataka flags to show which side of the debate they stand on which should spare them from the looters and stone-pelters. From the few American movies I’ve seen, it felt quite Nazi-ish.

The walk home was an anxious one, all sense hyper aware, ready to react at a moment’s notice if any dangerous situation were to be detected. The air was tense, with many other outsiders feeling the same anxiety, them and small-shop owners along the streets, none with any clue of what might happen next. Quite a valid fear considering how entire bus depots were being set alight in other parts of town.

Updates from friends in different parts of town telling me what messed up stuff was happening in their areas just kept me on edge. Once home, it was a while before the fear and anxiety faded, but then I started watching the news.

By the following morning, the cops and the military police had got the situation under control, with hundreds of extra officers deployed on the streets. Since Section 144 of the IPC had been put into effect, most offices and nearly all shops were closed. ATMs too. The day also coincided with Onam and Eid, making it a bank holiday anyway. I had gone down at 7:30 PM, and the streets were eerily empty for a Tuesday evening. It made me realize just how little I knew of all the things that can happen even in thriving metropolitans, and how deep the effects of a violent disruption are.

Truly, unusual days.