She takes birth in the Brahmagiri ranges of Kodagu district. And this river, River Cauvery, is one of the seven holy rivers of India. It is also the lifeline of South Karnataka.
It’s also one reason for riots in a city that is about a hundred kilometres away from it. Right through mid 70s, 80s, 90s and even this decade, disputes over water from Cauvery have led to killings.
Beats logic. Totally. You could be assuming that this is talk about peace, harmony and understanding. No. It’s not one bit about these.
I mean, if a legal judgement by the highest court in the country goes against one, thus impacting his life and livelihood, then by all means, he has the right to fight against it. With whatever is at his disposal. Brawn or brain.
Therefore, to my mind, the farmers who are going to be affected by this judgement, if they deem fit, should take a bus to Bangalore, or drive down (for some of them are pretty affluent) and then stage a protest. If they want, for good measure, they can burn the very bus they took from their hometown. Or spare that one, and burn some other bus instead. Fair enough. Violent. Protest. For a cause they think is very important. That later, they would get arrested, and the law takes it own course, or whatever, is another issue. It would be completely understandable that they do this.
But, what beats the reasoning mind is the 17 year olds or 40-something paunchy loser-unable-to-become-big-gangster from the heart of Bangalore City suddenly assuming the role of keepers of those poor farmers' irrigational interests. And that too for a few days till the cops remind them that they aren't. And also that they are nothing but sheer nuisance.
How, in the name of God, or Goddess, do they think they are going to be affected by this judgement? Will their daily quota of water be affected? Or will their beer start tasting different just because of this judgement? Or will they die of thirst? Hmmmm?
And how do these blokes benefit from damaging public property, and disturbing order through their acts of vandalism? How do they stand to benefit by resorting to the kind of abuses their seniors did a few years ago when the city was burned and was held to ransom in the name of Cauvery? Beats you? Same here.
Ironically, these people are from where came one India's first knighted citizen- Sir M. Vishweshwariah. It is this visionary who is credited with building the dam across river Cauvery at Kannambadi near Mysore- KRS (Krishnarajasagar).
KRS changed lives thanks to the irrigation it enabled way, way back in 1924. What followed later is history. Known. Unknown. Publicised. Not publicised. Confusing, at best. Disgusting at worst. Whatever.
Coming back to the present, I seriously hope these chaps stop this fight over water. Let them fight for air. Yeah. Air. Let them fight for cleaner air. Cleaner water, yeah. Cleaner roads. Perhaps they would find many takers. Let's hope some sense prevails this time around.
Before I sign-off, here's a message for all those chauvinists. Remember that blistering 41 ball 70 in Chennai by Robin Uthappa? My dear-fighting-for-water-on-the-streets-of-Bangalore-chauvinist, we are all proud of that lad from Kodagu/Coorg. But today, on the 5th of February 2007, I hope you don’t turn something that is a matter of pride and is also from Coorg into an embarrassment. And God forbid a bloody one at that.
8 comments:
Well, everyone loves a good problem. Make hay when the river dries
well intresting reading .... but then like the cavery issue ... u have somewhere lost focus on what u set out to say ,,,
is the issue actually the amount of water to be shared
Or is it the next election agenda by to the paunchy boys to the farmer vote bank......
The tams and the kannidiga's will keep going at each other ... whatever the issue.....
Tamil is spoken freely except in the so called Kannadiga layouts.... and the kannidiga boys have a problem with that to....
Let things be ,,,, and decide to take next action after we sort the Kashmir issue..... by then the so called paunchy guys from here and stevie wonders from the dravidian land will be burnt on the same banks and hopefully thanx to the global warming we will have more water to spare....
I think we are a victim of being " Over tolerant" to all people across India. We meet a North Indian, we say Kaise Ho, though we are not well eqipped to handle Hindi. Eppudi irukke for a Tamilian. I still don't understand that when we are heading towards a common " Wassup, whats the crack" society, why do we need to address them in theier language. by doing so, we are not giving them a chance to teach them ours. Try a trip to Chennai or a trip to Kerala and manage without the local lingo. U will not be spared though U are one day or for that matter one hour old on that town.
We are unable to look at the bigger picture in the whole Cauvery issue. Its a result of power politics. You Pee AAA... huh !!! We're being ruled by a foreigner. Shame on us !!!
We need to be united and look at what needs to be done in order to solve the problem, rather than burning our own buses and rioting and stuff. All in the name of water !!! This is a good chance for some people to gain some political mileage. We need to wake up and look at the cause rather than divert from that and make things worse.
Well, Balasubramanya, what you just said, goes on to say how cities that are not parochial go on to grow. Bangalore is by far the best example.
The issue in this post is about wrongly represented, unwanted vandalism. History has shown that the Cauvery River issue has been hijacked by politicians and scoundrels. Well, if farmers are seen as farmers, this issue will be solved. But if they are seen as vote-banks, the issue, will not be solved for very obvious reasons.
About the language bit in Bangalore, there really has never been an issue amongst normal people about languages. For that matter, Bangalore is one multi-linguistic society. We have never been parochial. And never will be.
I think to a true Bangalorean, pride in oneself does not mean hating or insulting a neighbour. And there is no reason why this spirit will not stay on for a long time to come.
Cauvery is the pride of Karnataka and the state has had a raw deal for over a century over these troubled waters. If one were to go by what the papers point out, TN has had an historical advantage over Karnataka which puts the state at a disadvantage.
So it's nothing that I and you or a farmer in Mandya can do. It's the state politicians in power who can do something with their legal and irrigation experts.
It's an emotional issue beacuse Cauvery is considered the pride of Karnataka. And less water from Cauvery is supposed to also affect Bangalore for that matter. So it's not a single handed fight of the farmer but a fight for the pride of the state.
And where are the riots everyone is talking about. Being a touchy and emotional issue, the whole of Bangalore remained and remains peacful till this hour. I know we all had to shut shop early as a precaution. But then show me one city that works mechanically like a clock 365 days a week?
All we saw were some peaceful demonstrations in some parts. Bangalore, according to me has shown great deal of maturity in handling the issue this time. We had 13 deaths for the interim order in 1992 and for the final verdict, it's all peaceful. Yet the fight is on to get what we deserve.
Give it another 10 years, when global warming hits hard and then who gets 217 and who gets the 419 wouldn't matter. We'd most probably be building plants to convert sea water to fresh water.
Is that it? so what's next? how long is it going to go on? All said and done, do anyone before raising issues actually are aware of what exactly is the ruling by the tribunal?
i heard a few vehicles were burnt. ironically in a dispute over water.
Post a Comment