Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Bangalore Mis-adventures

How many people have had negative impressions about a city in only a day? Count me in.

I made a trip to Bangalore last week. I wanted to have a nice time celebrating Christmas in the pub capital of India. Uh uh. What transpired has left a very bad taste in the mouth.

I boarded a bus from Madras(Che-nai, meaning dirty dog in Tamil :) ) at 10.45 p.m. This bus I was to board was advertised as a luxury bus, air suspension this shit, that shit. You feel so pissed of when travel operaters take you for a ride. What they advertise is never true. By the time i got to Bangalore the next morning, my back and my butt were sore and numb. I got down at this place called Madiwala. The recent rains had battered most of the roads. They looked very inviting for motocross racing. The less said about the traffic and driving, the better. Bangaloreans seem to have a motto when it comes to driving, Drive to Die. Maniacs. Madras is a little better when it comes to that.

I made some comparisons between auto drivers of Bangalore and Chennai:

1. Auto drivers in Bangalore don't pester you when at bus stops or railway stations unlike the thugs in Madras.
2. The rates in Bangalore are exorbitant like in Chennai but you don't have to haggle too much. If you refuse they leave you alone.
3. The auto wallahs in bangalore have started to ape their compatriots in Madras when it comes to ignorance of other Indian languages.

My main grouse

I wanted to stay with a frined of mine but he had other engagements. That filled my cup of woes. I was in a city which was treating Indian tourists like outsiders. Some nutcase pro kannada dickwads have made it mandatory for other local folks to talk only in kannada. i don't ahve anything against the language but i hate the stupid fucking politicians and the people who think of their agendas such as splitting the country and the people using language as a weapon. A nutcase called Ramdass has started it in Tamil Nadu. Thank god the people don't take him seriously. All he does is just yap yap yap.

That is the only grouse i had when i was in bangalore. I left the city and reached Madras on Sunday becuase i felt like a stranger in another country. Who would want to stay in a place which is not friendly to other Indians? Aren't we part of the same country? Why the fuck is it like this? Every state you visit in the South is like that. Why???

Friday, December 16, 2005

I pity Indian Sports

There has been a lot of hullaballo about Ganguly being kicked out of the team. I can see this event being given unwanted publicity on virtually every news channel and newspaper. Journos trying to get sound bytes, heckling the coach, Bongs burning effigies of the coach and selectors and what not. One thing irks me tho, have we even given a though to sportsmen of other disciplines? NO.. any one remember that Manipuri girl who won gold medals in a world event this year? Pity me, i don't know her name.

She is struggling to make ends meet, she has no sponsors and worst of all there's this general apathy towards folks coming over from the north east. We call them deragatory names and don't even think they are Indian. Hello, the north east is a part of the Indian republic.

Anyone remeber Venkatesh Devarajan? A promising boxer, he was badly treated and left India to pursure pro boxing in England. This was back in '95. A few years ago, The Week Magazine treated readers to articles about sportsmen defecting while on tour or leaving the country just because they were treated like dirt. Will the presidents of different association please stand up and make yourseleves accountable?

And will the people of this great "democracy" please start treating other sportsmen like real people?