Shame Shame Bangalore

An accomplished and celebrated actor, Rajkumar, recently passed away of cardiac arrest. A beloved of the Kannada masses, thousands showed up to see a glimpse of his dead body for the last time. And then something shameful happened.

The fans of Rajkumar couldn't take the grief anymore and decided to take it out on state and private property, basically, in every property that wasn't their own. They torched buses, cars and bikes, they smashed windows of shops and offices, and the entire city had to shut down shop, less out of respect and more out of fear of the rampaging apes.

The Karnataka state government has always been known to a particularly pusillanimous government, in other words, government without the tiniest of balls and slightest of guts. There is already a state mourning period, and office goers and school children will get an extra holiday. I am sure Dr. Rajkumar would have wanted the people of Bangalore to totally mess up their daily lives to remember him.....not. While buildings were burnt and vehicles torched, the police, rather than going on the offensive mode, played on a back foot. Tear gases apart, they were actually dragged out and beaten by a crowd just looking for punching bags to vent their grief. Such people need to be hunted down, and maybe given a few 'cardiac arrests' of their own.

What kind of a reactionary society do we live in, where nobody seems to have any control over their emotions, where nobody seems to care jack about the lives of others. Why are we still like that? Rule of law has been eradicated completely by the ruling class to further their own importance, and the rest of us have to live in a world of crime and insecurity with nobody but ourselves for support. Big words, but the point I am trying to make is simple. And I say this because the Govt. of Karnataka is sympathetic to such rioters, just like they are to every mob (read votes) that hurts the city and hurts the country.

Bangalore isn't going to win admirers by hurting its business interests. You let your lawless mobs run riot on hapless business parks and you will ensure their speedy departure from your God-forsaken city. So once again Bangalore, shame on you. Your chosen leaders already can't do jack shit about your infra, and they definitely can't do nothing about your law and order. And f*** you, you jahils.

Mob fury in B'lore, 1 killed in firing

One person was killed in police firing as frenzied fans of Kannada thespian Rajkumar went berserk and unleashed violence ahead of the actor's funeral today, as thousands paid homage to the matinee idol.

The emotionally-charged fans of the actor went on a rampage resorting to stone pelting and targeting vehicles in and around Kanteerava Stadium where the mortal remains of Rajkumar were kept in a coffin for public view, police said.

Sorrow gave way to fury among groups of Rajkumar's fans who also torched at least two state-owned buses, damaged scores of vehicles and attacked the police with stones in and around the stadium.

Near the Kanteerava studios also, where the funeral would take place, police repeatedly burst several rounds of teargas shells and resorted to lathicharge as the situation seemed out of control with hundreds of fans seeking to gain entry and pelting stones at police.

Earlier, the nearly 10-km long funeral procession taken out from the Kanteerava stadium was marred by violence. There were several incidents of stone-throwing, damaging scores of vehicles, including some of police, along the way.

At least two private vehicles and a shamiana were set on fire outside the Kanteerava Studio premises. At least four policemen had been injured in mob violence earlier today.
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B'lore at standstill, IT-BPO firms move to backups

Close to 95% of the 3 lakh plus IT-BPO workforce in the city were forced to log into a long weekend from Thursday morning as rampaging mobs took to the streets after the death of Dr Rajkumar on Wednesday afternoon. Only skeleton staff were pressed into services at a handful of BPO firms to keep the systems and processes running for their customers across the globe. A majority of the BPO work was diverted to other cities in India.

Almost the entire IT staff of software vendors stayed back home as many of them have the liberty to co-ordinate work from home unlike the staff of BPOs who often cannot work out of home because of data security reasons or unavailability of bandwidth.There were some reports of a few organisations like Microsoft and IBM on the Embassy Golf Links adjacent to the Airport Road, which were forced to closed down on Wednesday at around 5 pm.

Officials at these companies said they were in close touch with the police who made adequate arrangement for staff, especially women, to reach home safely on Wednesday night.

A spokesperson for Infosys said that they have a business continuity plan, which was activated and no major effect was felt on their operations owing to the backup created by the contingency plan.Wipro declared a holiday on Friday.

Their BPO operations don't have a presence in the city.MphasiS also has declared a holiday, and employees have opted to work on Saturday to make up for Thursday. They, too, closed down early on Wednesday. Pureplay BPO firms like 24/7Customer too had to down shutters on Thursday, making do with a few staff, and had to divert work to other centres in India.