good day for a bundh

I didn't mean to sleep until 4:30 in the afternoon. But seeing a late movie last night combined with my regular vampire work hours prevented me from awakening when my alarm clock went off at 11am.

I wanted to be awake today because there was a bundh scheduled, a strike. Apparently, for the last hundred years, there has been fighting between the states of Karnataka (which includes Bangalore) and Tamil Nadu over how much water each would receive from the Cauvery River. Last Monday, the government decided that Tamil Nadu should get much more of the water. Predictably, Karnataka was not pleased. They scheduled a bundh for today from 6am to 6pm, a shutdown of pretty much all services, shops and such. From what I read in the paper, they do this fairly often. Last time was in October.

When a similar decision regarding the river was made fifteen years ago, there were riots and fires and stone throwing and deaths. This year, rowdies were locked up beforehand and policeman filled the streets. Businesses and taxis hung Karnataka flags to let people know they supported the cause, and therefore should not be hassled. The upscale Forum mall was covered with a huge safety net to prevent flying rocks from smashing its windows. TV stations from Tamil Nadu were blocked and their films were no longer shown. I'm not sure how not showing Tamil Nadu films in Bangalore would help bring more water, but then, nobody asked me.

Everyone said to stay indoors, that it could get dangelous outside. But it ended up being a whole lot of nothing. After arising from my into-the-afternoon slumber, I turned on the TV to find out what was going on. Turned out, not very much. The bundh wasn't even the main story on the news channels. After all, there were important happenings in the world of cricket. This was in stark contrast to last Monday, when the water decision first came down. On that day, when I was also told to not go to work, the news stations ran non-stop Cauvery coverage with sensationalistic headlines superimposed over video of fast flowing water: "River of Heartache," "Wet Outrage," "Trouble Waters." The lack of substantial news coverage today was surprising.

I left my apartment at six, not because I was waiting for the bundh to end, but because I was just lazy in getting ready. There wasn't much to see outside. A bunch of closed shops, guards chatting with each other, Karnataka flags. As I walked to Brigade Road (the local shopping area) there was an eerie calm vibe, but only a bit.

I know riots are terrible and dangerous, that people get hurt or even killed. And I know that an out-of-towner like myself probably shouldn't be close enough to witness such a thing, that I'd likely even be a target. But at the same time, it would be kind of cool to see a riot. Simply because I've never seen one before. I have to admit I was a little disappointed.