Separatists amongst us!

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I'm a newbie in the city of namma Bengaluru and to whet my appetite about the city I decided that the Bengaluru darshan would give me an overall idea of the city. So there I was, trudging my way to Badami House, one Saturday, at 6.30 am. Groggy eyed, without my usual cuppa chai, I was wondering if this early (too early) sojourn was really a good idea? So there we were 15 of us...let's be specific...three middle aged couples, two newly married couples, a father with his daughter(an assumption we made), a 20 something man, my folks and me as we trooped into our bus, all excited to begin our journey. Then our Bengaluru Darshan guide also joined us. Now this guy actually made my trip worth it...of course the sights and sounds of Bangalore are impressive, (provided you don't pay heed to the traffic jams and bad roads). After his brief introduction, "I'm Sampath, I can speak in English, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telegu." And he repeated the same thing in all the languages. He was a bit of a show off and had a rather condescending way of talking; his face arched a lil higher as if he was not talking to us, but talking down on us!

Anyways as the darshan began...we visited the Iskon temple later to the Rajarajeshwari Temple, then to the Bannerghata National Park, Sampath, revealed his perspective on the whole Telegana separatist issue which startled me to say the least...just as we reached the Vidhana Souda, before moving along to the National Gallery of Modern Art, Sampath extolled the virtues of the Vidhan Sabha building, he went on to say that in fact Bangalore should be the capital of India, not Delhi! That's not all...he went on to give his view about the whole Telengana Debate, "Hyderabad will be their capital city and Telegana will be a separate state and so should Bangalore...in fact we should have Coorg also as a separate state!" Even as I digested this, he opined aloud that "Bangalore is an A1 city and it can survive on its own. Just the same way Coorg can." Of course I couldn't really figure out if he was joking or if he was dead serious, because for those seven eventful hours, I didn't catch this guy smiling even once. And the Bangalore guide's vehement insistence on a separate land, got me thinking, because when the Telangana Debate was at its zenith..and when discussed amongst friends and colleagues brought forth various opinions...one worth mentioning was my colleague and fellow Mallu brethren, who laughed and said "Well in that case, us north Malayalees should also have a separate land...Mal-a-bar Land...where there would be lots of bars!!" Of course his was a comment in jest...but Mr Sampath was a serious chap...and I wondered how many such Sampath's were there amongst us, who felt the need to have their own identity and importance or rather felt the need that their place of origin needed to have its own identity. With the Telangana issue gaining such momentum, I wondered how many more states of India would be further divided and cut. Of course the bigger question begging to be asked is whether the newly created states such as Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttranchal have they benefited from their 'state' status and more importantly have people benefited from their new origin status? If education, employment and better living is guaranteed by the creation of a new state, then so be it. But if this entire furor is only for the benefit of a few politically motivated individuals then why even bother?

Mr Sampath may have his own reasons for the creation of a new state out of Bangalore, in that case Amchi Mumbai has tons to scream and shout that their Mumbai is severed from the greater state of Maharashtra! In the end would the lines on a map, would they actually change the way the people live their lives? With these myriad thoughts, I got off the bus, I had no intention of visiting the Indira Gandhi National Musical Park, 'Newly opened Madam', Sampath shouted, suddenly I didn't want to be stared at by this man who already looked at me with these eyes that screamed 'Your are an outsider'!