Needed: Civility

(Note: I am going to use some strong language against my own countrymen. If you are an obsessive Indian patriot, stop right here.)

I am not amused. In fact, I am angry. I am very angry. It makes my blood boil. I am talking about the violence surrounding the death of Kannada super star - Vishnuvardhan. To recap - Mr. Vishnuvardhan (or rather Dr. Vishnuvardhan as is the case with every actor, good or bad, in south India) died due a cardiac arrest earlier today (Please note that it was a natural death) at the age of 56 (Please note that he wasn't young or in his prime either).

What followed was mayhem involving protests, madness and violent mobs, bringing the city of Bangalore to a complete halt. As per reports from the city, many essential services were disrupted in the city and may take up to 2 days to recover. Oh and by the way, at least two people are reported dead as a follow up to this death (one fan committed suicide and the other died trying the save the first fellow). The law enforcement officials, who tried their best to retain peace (and I believe they did. They have no reason not to) were attacked, so much so that the vehicle of the top police official in the city was assaulted on. Some public property (a bunch of buses) were also annihilated (somebody surely believes in reincarnations - burn the buses, new ones will come along).

This is not even a solitary example of people (and possibly politicians) taking their mourning a little too far. It happened when Mr. Rajkumar (effing apologies, Dr. Rajkumar), NTR (effing apologies, Dr. NTR), MGR (effing apologies, Dr. MGR) and more recently Dr. YS Reddy (he is actually a doctor by education) passed away. I am also sure that this shall be repeated when other actors pass away (God forbid anything happen to them, I am just saying when they pass away) - Rajnikant (he is still not a "Dr", odd, very odd), Ms. Jayalalitha (effing apologies, Dr. Jayalalitha) etc.

Everybody has a right to grieve, but nobody has the right to make even one violent move in the name of grieving. If anybody is going to say it was politically motivated, then shame on the politicians (for doing it) and for everybody else (to repeatedly fall into the trap laid out by them scum-bags). If anybody wants to shut shop due to their own voluntary respect for a dead person, there are free to do so, but to shut down a city by using force is unacceptable. Nobody, I repeat, nobody, has got the right to bring down the city in the name of grieving.

So, why can't we grieve without bringing down a city and killing a bunch of other people? Civility, or rather the lack of it, often underlines our Indian society. We believe that we are the most civilized people on earth, while we are not even close to being civilized to any extent. We routinely jump queues, disobey traffic rules and grieve with a stick (0r a stone) in our hand. Civilized people actually know how to grieve, we don't. Civilized people follow the rule of the land and enable the law-enforcers to do their job, not stand in their way, bringing up unreasonable clauses. Civilized people use non violent methods to prove their point (hello, this is land of the Mahatma), not pelt stones for every tom, dick or harry cause. We are not civilized people, ladies and gentlemen, we are barbarians in the cloak of a civilized populace.

The dignitaries of our country do not miss a single opportunity to raise to a dais and declare that we are the next global superpower with statistics that make the eyes pop; alas never do they stand up and talk about our behavior, our decorum or our civility. Its a pity.

ps: Dr. Vishnuvardhan - Rest in peace and I am sorry I could not pelt stones or attack a police officer or shut down a few shops in the name of your death. I hope you will still rest in peace and not come to haunt me.