REGIONALISM ...Diwali at yelchenahalli....Oct 11 2005

It was a fateful Diwali day , diwali is the festival of lights, the only diwali when i was out of kerala (away from home) in the last few years

             I went to madiwala to meet Sunil in the morning. It took one hour for me to reach the place and there was no crowd on the road as it was a holiday. Our meetings always followed with a hilarious greeting and a friendly hug. We had long talks ,matters ranged from jobs to the sunday brigade road collection.We had a great lunch that day from a malayalee hotel with payasam and pappadam.  

          Great thing indeed when one sees the traditional food in a place  which is much away from home.

          Surfed the net after a long gap of 11 days. Now a days i check for mails from my uncle and keep updating my resume . There are various  sites like naukri.com, monster.com that guaranty a reply with  details of job chances in select cities which you might have opted for (though the  chances of an interview depends on the candidate ) if we apply with them. 

               But surfing from a net cafe is not comfortable when you have long personal mails to read and reply to.Well its another of a dream that most people like me have to have a net connection of our own. I feel the dream too strong when i search for a net cafe.

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Finally i could spot one after a long search in the after noon,It was a Sify mail center in the TM Layout .The customary processes flow. Then all mails read .(One mail content : They seem to come to kerala the next month). Once the mail and inbox is over then the usual few sites, surfed a few of them . 

          I called up mom to wish

 them a happy diwali , mom was at home.Pyaroo was nt there. He has gone to kollam for the bone submerging ceremony at varkala(varkala is a beach in kerala near trivandrum ) early in the morning, aji and the family have gone for it. As i was nt there they called up pyaroo.(pyaroo is my brother).

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         Had to get back to  my room for the night ,it was in yelchenahalli (its a place in the outskirts of bangalore). I reached my room in the evening and retired to bed as soon as i reached the room. 

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      Tonight at night 9 00, something strange happened . I was returning after having my dinner. The joy of getting to a hotel in this remote place was there on my face still after one hour. Suddenly a group of men ,well built and drunk , there were a five  of them approached me from behind. Two of them came to me and stopped me, by holding me on the shoulders. I was unaware of anything as it was dark. But the night sky was full of lights and noise of crackers that lit the far background as if diwali was limited to that part of the city.

More than a usual day, diwali day talks and walks made me tired.  like me.

  They started hitting me badly, i never knew why the hell on the earth they should hit a guy...........

I was hit all over my body, i was slapped and kicked. My shouts for mercy were not loud enough to clear the Diwali cracker's busrting .

 For a moment i thought that they are going to steal away the valuables i had.I took out my wrist  watch and my purse.I offered them too, but i was getting the blows. 

 But it was something else ...

  They warned not  to speak in Hindi , Only in kannada ... They warned me "only kannada"

and warned me a couple of times..

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i lay there for about an hour in the middle of the road, as chance would have it ,somebody just caught  sight of me and he offered me a helping hand.

  

After the great diwali , i had a rest for 2 days at my room. The room at yelchenahalli will never fade of from my memory.

  Was that the sign of regionalism thats been spreading in our country. I have heard that people in major cities like Mumbai and Bangalore have become more suspicious of domiciles  of other 

states. Well there are serious issues that fire up such disputes in the hearts of people. One of the major problem could be related to the dwindling job opportunities in a state when immigrant population increases in number and grab existing jobs. The result is a resentment in the local population , when they find that opportunities for them become scarce not because there are lesser opportunities but because they feel ...................