Bangalore Bytes

The Exodus Theories
There are various theories doing the rounds about why there was an exodus of Northeasterners from Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, and other cities to their hometowns in the week India was celebrating(?) its independence. Bangalore's fear-driven flight triggered the exodus from other cities. The most popular theory is that it was engineered to divert attention from scams and inflation. The theory favoured by Bangaloreans is that the BJP/ Congress orchestrated it to polarize the electorate before next year's assembly polls 

But, a seasoned journalist discards all this saying that it was a rumour that triggered a flurry of calls from anxious parents that led to the exodus. He also says "people from Assam said they want to go back and join the fight after the Assam conflagration." He adds, "We followed the trail of rumours calling everyone down the line to ask whether they had a firsthand experience of attacks but came up with nothing."  DGP Larokhuma Pachau told me, "There is only one real case of physical attack linked to the threatening calls. One person (Lia Lia Poo) was beaten up in Wilson Garden." Five youth including a Christian, Hindu and Muslims have been arrested and investigation is on to find the motive, he said.

The journalist added that the government, police and other authorities acted quickly to nip the rumours carried via SMS and the MMS (which was gory and really panicked people) in the bud: "The exodus, which happened anyway is something I cannot understand," he says.

But the incident has given the opportunity for several ministers from the North east states to rush here so they can look good for their electorate. Karnataka's deputy CM (who also happens to be the Home Minister) R. Ashoka has been the crisis manager, touring troubled areas during the night, conducting peace meetings. Now he is all set to go to Manipur and Guwahati. He says, "I am 100 percent sure that those who fled will return. In fact more will come here. I will meet the CMs and home ministers and visit the homes of some people who fled Bangalore and I'll explain the measures taken by the government to provide safety." 

Magnet for Migrants
"I like Bangalore. The people are very nice and humble. The weather is good even during summer. I like it so much that I want to settle here after my career." If this Garden City was looking for a stamp of approval after nearly 30,000 fled (of the 3.5 lakhs in the state) last week, then it came from newly-minted Olympic bronze medallist and boxer Mary Kom, who was here on Wednesday. The fact that she is from Manipur added gravitas to the endorsement even as the city is slowly recovering from the tsunami of terror that led to the exodus by Northeast migrants who have come here to work — as security guards, at restaurants, beauty parlours, even in the IT industry — or to study.

One of the trendy restaurants in an upscale area of the city had several young people including students letting their hair down on a karaoke night. One of the waiters was a young man from Mizoram , threading his way around tables to serve patrons, most of whom seemed like regular customers. I asked him why he did not flee. Was he not afraid? He said he stayed on the premises, and rarely ventured out even during normal times. "Besides I was not afraid. I have come here to earn money and that's what I am focussed on." Did he get anxious calls from home, asking him to return. "No, they know it's safe here."

No Bonding
Like him, there are many who did not get caught up in panic. "This is our Bangalore too," they say. But there are those like Golan Naulat who teachers at St Joseph's College, and accepts that "there was no bonding between the local community and us." "There is minimum interaction except when you are a student and that's when you meet more people from Bangalore and outside," he says. With locals living in traditional areas like Jayanagar and Malleshwaram having unwritten rules like, "We want only vegetarians as tenants," very often people who come from outside gravitate towards their own kind and hire rooms or flats and stay together in areas like Neelasandra. While Lawrence Liang, who teaches law, has been here 30 years and even speaks Kannada like the locals, most who come here don't make the effort to learn the local language or learn the local culture. Integration would have helped abate the fear to flee.

Silver Lining
Some positives did come out of the whole sordid affair that has made many Bangaloreans uncomfortable. Lily, who runs a salon at Cunningham Road, says: "I stopped my girls from leaving telling them: 'You are my responsibility and I will look after you.'" Many of them realized that "it is beyond salary and work" and their employees have to be protected.. Lily said, "These people are gentle and have to be protected." But there are people like Golan, who says "plain economics" made employers hold their staff back with enticements like putting them up in their own homes, offering more money and even their cars to pick them up and drop them. In fact a girl from Assam who works in a parlour admitted: "I'm staying at my madame's house because she insisted. But my husband continued to stay at the place we rent." Many employers admitted that their business had taken a hit with half their employees going away. "Please don't leave. What will happen to our business?" many of them wailed to their staff.  Golan says that the incident made many realize that people from the Northeast are the cogs that make the wheels of many businesses turn. Just how much they are contributing was brought home to them.

Sauce for the Goose…
Some students I spoke to were cynical. One of them pointed out: " Recently we honoured Dr B R Ambedkar as the Greatest Indian. We honour great men after they are dead not when they live. And that is why incidents like this happen." They are also angry. One said: "Shops in our part of the world are owned by South Indians. And we treat them so nicely." In other words, they deserve the same treatment here but last week revealed that there are undercurrents below the surface that can be stoked by gory MMSs, intimidatory SMSs, or, as many locals believe, politicians drumming the whole thing up to divert attention.

No Need, Sherlock
Sometime ago, K.G. Nagalaxi Bai, filed a PIL saying Sadanand Gowda, former CM, had violated building bylaws by constructing a five-storey building in LSR Layout by amalgamating two sites. Sadanand Gowda has described Bai as a "'meddlesome interloper' set up by political parties to scuttle his opportunity to become CM (he became anyway but lost the chair thanks to his former mentor B. S. Yeddyurappa). When the case came up in the Karnataka high court last week, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Pallike (BBMP) had not furnished the building bylaw violations in the city. Justice D V Sylendra Kumar was not amused when BBMP officials sought more time to file an additional affidavit on building bylaw violations. "Are your engineers working or sleeping? There are violations all over the city. But, they're seeing nothing. Are they ignorant of the law or dumb? These violations are visible to the naked eye. Do they need binoculars? No need to even call a Sherlock Holmes to find these violations. All they have to do is see properly and act without discrimination. I don't know what's happening between officials and building owners," observed Justice DV Shylendra Kumar. Well said!