Click to play videoBangalore: For once, India’s IT hub looked as if it was keen on living up to its name of being a pensioners’ paradise.
The bustling city came to a grinding halt on Monday thanks to the statewide bandh called by various Kannada groups protesting the Cauvery tribunal verdict.
The streets were empty, shops downed shutters and schools and colleges remained closed.
With taxis, autos and city buses off the roads, most passengers at the airport decided to take power naps to get over their jetlags since flying remained out of question.
At the railway station, passengers were stranded, even as some taxis and autos made hay while the sun shone, charging passengers the earth to go into the city.
"There are no taxis, autos. One taxi asked us to pay Rs 1,500. Water is given by god, it belongs to everyone. Why fight amongst ourselves?" said a stranded passenger Lalitha.
While the bandh was largely peaceful, there were groups of protestors who shouted slogans at the railway station, near the Governor's house and even tried to stop a train going to Mysore.
But they were detained by the police who had turned up in large numbers in the city.
"I would like to congratulate everyone that the bandh was peaceful and there was no violence," sais Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.
In Mandya, which has seen some of the worst riots in previous years, farmers mulled their future course of action.
This time around there was no repeat of the 1991 riots but farmers did protest.
"Not working for a day is better than suffering the whole year,” said a farmer K Sidaramu.
Agreed another farmer B N Raghu, "Whether the bandh is there or not, there is no water so how can we farm."
On the one hand it was the farmers demanding justice in the Cauvery belt and on the other it was pro-Kannada organisations that seemed to be fighting their battle on the streets of the city.
The bandh may have been both peaceful and successful, but the question that’s bothering many is whether the fight for water doing the man on the street any good?
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.