Bengaluru: Standing in the newsroom, watching mobs go berserk, one feels agitated over the hysteria. But at ground zero, the mayhem and mindlessness is nerve-wracking.
The road to my home in Poornapragnya Layout from Koramangala is a good hour-and-a-half drive on a normal day. But I was pleasantly surprised as I zipped through the Bannerghatta Road, Jayanagar and Banshankari in 10 minutes flat.
Trouble began from the Deve Gowda petrol bunk.
Fringe groups of charged-up youth in the age group of 17 to 30 had taken over the roads at every 50 metre intervals from Padbhanabha Nagar all the way up to PP Layout. All the shops were shut and it resembled a war zone.
The only one who was doing brisk business was a wine store salesman, who was selling tetrapacks of liquor, or probably was handing it out free at the behest of some local leaders. The first two stops with a dozen mobsters were easy to pass through.
On the Uttarahalli Main Road, the rage got bigger. Just a few metres from Brigade apartments, there was a big gathering of around 500 people. This was the same spot where I was stopped last Friday on Karnakata Bandh day. I had passed on some contacts of media fraternity that day to the protesters as they were upset that no TV channels were covering them!
But on Monday, even before I could react, a dozen men threw themselves on my car screaming at the top their voice, using abusive language against Amma and the people of Tamil Nadu. They were mindless, drunk and totally out of their senses!
In a flash, the guy who had taken the number last Friday came charging – “You gave that number and nobody came! They asked us to send videos of the protest on WhatsApp, but they never played them! Media guys play games with our emotions!’’ I recognised him in a flash – a red-yellow muffler, a long tilak on his forehead and the desperate look on his face, hunger for publicity written all over it.
After the shouting, he was quick enough to clear the mob on my car. “Kuduknanna makkalu. Hogro sidege. Evaru pressavaru. Nangothu (bloody drunkards. Get out of the way. He is from the press and I know him),’’ he screamed.
But to my ill-fate, the damage had already been done. As I was asking this “leader” to get into my car so that I could connect him to those at a news channel, I saw that the windshield of my car had cracked all over because of thumping and falling on it by the drunks.
I lost my cool and yelled at the activist who replied that he was helpless and that I was plain lucky as many vehicles were pulled out of apartments and set ablaze! While I was still recovering from the shock, he pursued his publicity interest, took numbers and escorted me through the next mob which was waiting at the next junction.
Is this my city? Are these my people? Who are these fringe groups anyway? What is driving them? Alcohol? Well the coming days will throw up answers. But for now, Bengaluru is burning and our beloved city is unsafe. There are mindless, drunk mobs on the prowl. Watch out.
Oh! And there was not a single policeman from Deve Gowda Petrol Bunk till Uttarahalli. The DGP and City Police Commissioner’s offices were reeling out numbers of platoons and companies out on Bengaluru streets. Someone said there were para-forces too. But none of that high-security was visible when it mattered the most!
