After 48 hours of chaos, violence and curfew, Bengaluru bounced back to normal on Wednesday. The police took over 17 hours to clear debris from city roads. It may take many more hours for those families who have lost their bread winners to recovery from their tragedies.
Kalavathi, 20, pregnant with her second child, had no clue that her husband Umesh had been killed even as late as 11 pm Monday night. Her husband's cousin, who arrived at her doorstep to take her and her year and a half old daughter, Mahalakshmi to their ancestral house in Singonahalli village, Kunigal,had been warned by neighbours to break the news to her gently in view of her condition.
Umesh died after he was hit in the back by a bullet from an RAF personnel's gun. It exited form his chest through his heart, killing him on the spot during Monday's Cauvery violence in Hegganahalli.
“Kalavathi is seven months pregnant. When we learnt about her husband’s death on television news channels, we reminded the cousin not to immediately tell her about it,” said Pramila Nagaraj, a neighbour and friend.
“Theirs’ was a love marriage. Kalavathi is a very soft spoken girl and a relative of Umesh. Her family had opposed the wedding and she was estranged from them,” she added.
Umesh, who worked in a petrol bunk in Rajajinagar, had lodgings near it and visited his wife three to four times a week in their house in Maduramma Layout , Hegganahalli. As Kalavathi was pregnant, he visited her more frequently, according to her.
On Monday, Umesh came to the house in the morning ,but went out and returned at around 4pm. He fed his daughter, Mahalakshmi and then went to meet a friend in Hegganahalli Cross, never to return home again.
“Umesh whom we called Rajesh, was a quiet and reserved person. We feel terribly sorry for Kalavathi who is such an innocent girl,” added Pramila.
The neighbours are happy the government has announced ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh for Kalavathi, and that she will receive another Rs 10 lakh from the Chief Minister's fund and from JD(S) MLA, Zameer Ahmed. They are hoping pro-Kannada organisations can contribute towards rehabilitating the family as well.
Bar-bender paid price for being at wrong place at wrong time
Thirty two-year-old Kumar of Kempegowda Nagar, who fell from a three-storeyed building near Byadrahalli College Stop Monday night, and succumbed to his poly-traumatic injuries Tuesday at the Sri Lakshmi Multi Speciality Hospital, paid the price for being at the wrong spot at the wrong time.
“Kumar had sustained two femur fractures, a pelvis fracture, bladder injury, and multiple facial bone fractures along with brain injury. He was in a very critical condition when he was admitted to the ICU, and stopped responding to treatments post noon,” said Dr. Giridhar, Medical Director of the Sri Lakshmi Multi Specialty Hospital in Sunkadakatte.
His friend , Narayana B.N. , who also fell off the same building and was brought to the hospital along with Kumar at about 11.30 pm Monday night by the police , is out of danger, according to the doctor.
Kumar, who was a bar-bender in a gas cylinder agency and Narayana, who worked at a screen printing press, met after work near Byadrahalli, just as the violence began. As they walked towards their houses in Kempegowda Nagar, they saw the police running at them with lathis from both the front and behind. Panicking, they ran into a building nearby and climbed to the third floor, where another 20 to 30 people were already gathered, watching the riots below.
But on seeing the police entered the building, they began to run and in the mayhem , Kumar fell from the third floor and Narayana, from the second. “I fell down and lost consciousness. When I regained consciousness, I couldn’t see anybody as it was dark and nobody noticed me either. I couldn’t move as something was wrong with my hip. I shouted for help and a few youth informed the police who shifted me to the hospital in an ambulance,” Narayana told Deccan Chronicle, adding, “It was at the hospital that I realized that Kumar had died. I knew him for only four months as he lived near my house. He was from Kalkere village in Magadi,” added the 36-year-old.
Traffic police use heavy duty cranes to move the burnt lorries at Timber yard, off Mysore Road in bengaluru on Wednesday (Photo: DC)
Police clear roads of burnt vehicles
It took the police and the BBMP a full 17 hours starting Tuesday 6 am to clear the mangled and burnt remains of buses, trucks and cars set on fire by angry mobs during Monday's Cauvery stir in Timber Yard and other areas around Mysore Road.
While the west division of the city covering Rajarajeshwarinagar, Kamakshipalya, Kengeri, and Byatranyapura (Timber Yard) bore the brunt of Monday's mayhem, as many as 78 vehicles were set on fire and over 44 vandalized across Bengaluru.
Said DCP traffic (West), S Girish, “The policemen were put on the job at around 6 am Tuesday morning and they cleared the remains of burnt bikes , cars and buses till 11 am Wednesday morning. Over 40 vehicles were cleared from the west division alone to allow smooth flow of traffic in areas like Byatranyapura (Timber yard), Kamakshipalya and Kengeri. Since Monday as many as 800 traffic police men have been on duty in the west division."
Private and KPN cranes were used to lift the charred vehicles. With the fire and emergency servicing pitching in to help, the vehicles were sent to the respective jurisdictional police stations (law and order) which will investigate the violence, according to a police officer.
BBMP pourakarmikas meanwhile cleared the roads of the tyres and logs set on fire by the angry mobs. Said a BBMP official, "In a few areas like Timber Yard Layout, Nayandahalli, Hegganahalli, and Girinagar protesters had set fire to tyres and wooden logs in the middle of the roads. Our pourakarmikas have removed the mess."
Fear lingers, majority of students skip classes
While government schools and colleges resumed classes on Wednesday, many private institutions chose to remain shut. However, the turnout at government institutions was abysmally low.
When DC visited a few campuses, either the class strength was too low for teachers to take classes or the teachers were absent. “We have 2,000 students in the PU college, but on Wednesday only 500 turned up. They are sitting in the class only because I am on rounds,” said Ms Shobha, Principal of Government Girls PU College, 13th Cross, Malleswaram.
Meghana, an arts student from the same college, walked around leisurely with her friends on the campus. “Very few have turned up because of the protests and violence. The teacher can't take the class with so few of us,” she said.
The co-ed Government Degree College on 18th Cross, Malleswaram saw teachers taking classes for very few students. “The B.COM batch has 170 students, but only 25 have turned up. Those who are in the curfew zones, struggled to get a transport. Those who managed to get BMTC buses have arrived. I am teaching whoever has come,” said a teacher from the college.
The head of the department at Basaveshwara Degree and PU College said that just about 50 percent of students came for the classes. A BA student said, “Our session got over by afternoon. There were only 30 of the 80 students.”
