I am as much Bangalorean as anyone else for I am Indian!!!

As I was riding through one of the most common sites in Bangalore- a busy crowded lane where no-one knew or cared for whether the road was a one-way or just another way, I hit upon the most common daily events in a Bangalorean’s life- a traffic jam caused by an auto-rickshaw driver and the agony further compounded by a group of thoughtless bikers!!!

The auto-rickshaw fella came on to the opposite side to drive through a road which was good enough for 2 large sized SUVs to barely scrape through from opposite sides. He blocked the road and as is the norm blamed everyone else. He stood his ground until a 60’s something “Uncle” took the lead and gave him a piece of his mind. Many others followed suit and he drew the brunt of the ire of many a drivers and on-lookers. What amazes me is how we can throw the kitchen sink on someone else without battling an eye lid on all the mess that we contribute to. The fact that auto-rickshaws (tuk-tuks as they are called in some other South Asian economies) have scant respect for the police, the system or the people within it is a no-brainer!!! But why do we compound our own miseries by contributing to it. Cars came in from all corners blocking the road, sometimes I was left wondering if they just came in and parked themselves in between all the mess to add some more entertainment value to the on-lookers sipping coffee in the famous “Veena stores” in Malleswaram in North Bangalore. Kiran Bedi once said on television, “The only way to remove this mess is by empowering the police force. In our society- non-action lends you a promotion. We promote spinelessness and that is the biggest bane.”

There were these bikers who found any gap good enough to plant their wheels in. I joined the bandwagon and gave a mouthful to one of the contributors. I was irritated as to why these ‘educated illiterates’ have no respect for fellow drivers and how they are contributing to surmounting traffic mess. The man looked up to me and said, “ Ey, Bangalore ali Kannada ali mathadi….” For those who don’t understand what it is- it means “Speak in Kannada in Bangalore”……This is a common feature in my city. I was dumb-founded and taken aback for a moment. All this while I thought India is my country and its greatest value is the fact that we have 30 languages, over 6 religions and 4,000 odd dialects. Unity in diversity was really our virtue. But, people like Vattal Nagaraj and Raj Thackeray have sown the seeds of hatred towards people from other regions in India to such a level that today we have more and more people (surprisingly the educated class) who lay emphasis on the language you speak and the place of your birth. Take for instance the recent Maharashtra Lok Sabha polls- MNS won 100,000+ votes in all the Mumbai constituencies. And in some, they won more than the national parties.

People who belong to today’s mobile workforce spend their early years in a city, educated in another and then end up working elsewhere. For us, India is my country and every other place within it are parts of my mother land I have free access to. Yet, growingly we have a society barred by language and that is something we need ride over before it’s too late. The Uttar Pradesh elections were a good start. I was told that Rahul Gandhi selected individuals based on merit and gave little or no significance to caste. But, as a society we have a long way to go. And this my friends is not limited to only the rural or illiterate parts of the society. We all know that, and it is for us to act on it. I am quite disgruntled by this regionalism. I am a part of a group of Bangalorean’s who pay Professional tax, sales tax, service tax, property tax, road and corporation tax for all that I own and earn. I am a part of a group that has contributed to the evolution of the term- to get Bangalored and the flourishing of several related industries and professions like retail, catering, transport services and the like. Bangalore has given me everything from a great job to a house to finding my love interest. Yet, we live in a society which is divided based on the language I talk or in this case the language I cant. It is still a small number but this number seems to be growing. To me, my national language is Hindi and all that matters is to know that language (even though I was brought up in a state which did not necessarily promote Hindi) How can I be told that I can speak in Bangalore only if I talk the local language. Like many of us I am a full-scale Bangalorean- I pay tax, I live by its rules and will stay by my city!!! How can we question as to why large parts of the population in UK are against offshoring to India? In their case their work is being handled by a different country all together. In my own country, people are frustrated because I came from some other city within the same country and earn a living in another!!! That is an abjure and deplorable attitude!!! In my words, we should ban state flags, anthems and all related elements which contributes to the promotion of regionalism and focus on building the “One India” feeling and thought!!! From the head of our country (Kashmir) to the toe (Tamil Nadu), we need every single city, every single town and like the human body cannot function without any one of its parts, so cant Mother India. We were divided into states for ease of administration and management. The division should end there and like how the political pundits have been claiming for sometime now, not end up become a country of parts!!!

One of my colleagues once told me, “What’s wrong- North Indian’s call us Madrasis and brand us in a certain way no matter where we come from, so we have the rights to push them back.” What was most baffling was the elections in the apartment I live. 72 houses, all of them educated, highly qualified and at high levels of the society but what was even more common was the clear North-South divide- Last year we had a group of office bearers from down south and all there was where mistakes being picked up on how the association was run and so on by the other group….This year the vice-versa took place.

I am not trying to be a Saint here. But, all I am saying is why blame the politicians for playing the vote bank card based on caste and region, when we can’t get out of it in a small gathering of homogenous people? Why blame them for focusing on specific regions when you don’t vote or you register but don’t vote? Why let the society be filled by a worrying trend of growing clout of people with regional overtones, not that the people with religious overtones aren’t a plenty….
Look forward to your comments!!!