In our cab the cabbie and two others are telugiites, they were discussing the situation
“They have burnt one Volvo bus as well”
“I don’t think when NTR died there was this much of chaos in Andhra”
“In Tamil Nadu there was the situation was still worse when MGR died”
“Ya there they worship cine actors. You know what there are three Khushboo temples and two Simran temples in TN. One hardcore Rajni fan was interviewed, he was telling when Rajni comes on to the screen, and he imagines himself in Rajni’s shoes and thinks as if he is doing everything”
“Crazy people…”
“Andhra people are decent. They wont do like this”
I was getting hurt I said chauvinistically “Not because they are decent, Andhra people just don’t care for anyone. Tell me when is there no problem in Andhra? Naxalites keep kidnapping MLAs, try to bomb chief minister. This is what decent people do is it? Show me any such incident in Karnataka. It has always been a peaceful state.”
The media has cashed in on the Raj Kumar fans hysteria. Switch on any channel, you will invariably find mobs being lathi charged or police men being stoned by frenzied fans or buses being burnt. In fact all channels except Kannada channels and news channels have been blocked.
Times of India has gone overboard with the headlines “Bangalore Burns”, concentrates mostly on the buses being burnt etc while sidelining rajkumar’s death. Deccan herald gives a more emotional headline like “Farewell to annavru”.
While there is no disputing the fact that NTR and MGR were great actors Raj kumar scores above them with his simplicity even at the highest level. Those who came in contact with him felt his warmth and humbleness. And the fact Raj Kumar didn’t misuse his star status to enter politics is a reflection of the man’s stature.
No matter what he will linger in our minds forever. And let his soul rest in peace.
I felt the same. Deccan Herald did a far better job than TOI. All that nonsense that people talk about movie icons etc.. let it be. Hopefully, that way fewer people will come over and give the city some respite. The decent will anyways find a good place.
ReplyDeleteI say that even though I am from North, but stayed in Bangalore most of my life. And I hate the trigger happy generalisation that the rest of the country makes about the South. They know nothing... and frankly let them be so. They need to do a lot to make their own homes attractive.