Mourning
Screen Legend Dr. Rajkumar passed away yesterday. Since his passing, something seems to have caved in in Bangalore. You could feel the unrest on the streets late yesterday afternoon. Offices emptied and cars packed the roads, buses stopped plying and shops pulled their shutters down. You could feel something about to happen. Local news channels ran just one story- Rajkumar passes away, the Legend is no more, Our hero has died and so on. After about 7pm last night, most parts of the city were deserted.
This morning, mayhem was loosened. The body, kept in Kanteerava stadium after much dilly-dallying, seemed to have become the centre of the madness. Crowds poured in, police were outnumbered, tear gas and lathi charges were resorted to. I wonder, like so many others, would Dr.Rajkumar have wanted this? How is his family coping?
The city is divided. There are those of us who wonder what is going on and there are those who take part in what is going on. It sounds like blatant exaggeration but currently, everything in Bangalore seems to revolve around only this. Perhaps the fact that only news channels are running on the cable network- and all carrying images only of Bangalore streets going wild- are creating this myopia. Yellow and Red state flags have popped up on houses, flying at half mast. Clusters of people are walking to Kanteerava carrying posters of their deceased hero- its a pilgrimage. By the stadium itself, crowds have gone beserk as I'm sure you've seen on your TV screen. I've seen nothing like it and it is in equal measures- scary and sad.
Many people who live here I'm sure will agree, Bangalore often ceases to make sense and this is one of those times. Its ironic how the two images contrast- the IT city of India and a city gone wild over the death of an actor. The images on news channels are horrific. Policemen beating people. People beating policemen. Thousands gathered to pay homage to their hero being manhandled and mauled. Buses set ablaze. Crowds dancing with joy as they pelt stones and bricks- revelling in the numbers of a crazed crowd. The glass cask carrying the body belittled at the centre of the mayhem.
It's a sad day for Bangalore. For the fans of Dr. Rajkumar, for the administration and for those of us who wonder what is going on. Death isn't supposed to be like this. Mourning isn't supposed to be like this. Perhaps its the constant bombardment of images on the TV, I don't quite know, but I feel that it stopped being about mourning the loss of a hero a while ago.
This entry was posted
on 13.4.06 at 12:32 PM.
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