I woke up on a breezy
Monday morning(12th September 2016) to resume work in Bangalore after my
Ganapati holidays in Mumbai. Rejuvenated and refreshed, I reached office a bit
earlier than usual. That too, on a Monday morning! The day began by checking my
pile of emails, replying to most important ones and then working on my project;
along with making time for customary chai breaks and catchups, of-course! I had
just come back after a wholesome lunch with my colleagues when I received this
message- “Protests and riots all over in Bangalore” . With all kinds of
messages making rounds on WhatsApp these days, it was important to double check
the veracity of this statement. Google search and online media revealed it was
true. It was the “2 states” Karnataka and Tamil Nadu fighting over water.! The
protests were against the Supreme court order directing Karnataka to release
12000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu till 20 September 2016. This decision by
the Supreme Court caused unrest among the people of Karnataka as the number of
days to release water was extended from 16th September ( as per earlier Supreme
Court order) to 20th September.
Thinking about my little one at home and fearing that the situation can
deteriorate even further , I packed my bags to leave for home. But the
situation was not permitting me to do this. Protestors had come within our
office complex and it was unsafe even to move out of our bay. So I continued to
work- half focused though; constantly checking the situation and figuring out
the earliest possible time to leave office. In a couple of hours, the situation
seemed better. People started vacating office. Very few radio taxis were plying
on the road. At 5:15 pm, I was lucky enough to get an Uber. On my way home, I
saw not a single shop was open. Roads were deserted. The protestors had managed
to instill a sense of fear. Thankfully I did not witness any of the protest
while going and reached home safely at 6 pm.
Hushh!! I said and hugged my little one. Thanked god for blessing me
with wonderful parents who take care of her while I work in peace.Hey- now I
switched on the news channels to see the latest updates. By evening, section
144 was enforced in Bangalore. I cursed myself for coming back from Mumbai on
Sunday only to face this uncertainty. Let’s see tomorrow, I said and slept.
“ Today is a holiday “ I read on a Tuesday morning.
Curfew was imposed in few parts of Bangalore.
Ok 1.5 days of non-productivity for water dispute. Is it really worth
it, I thought? Certainly not! But can’t do much about it anyways. The sharing
of Cauvery water has long been a contentious issue between the 2 states.
Meanwhile I got to my basic home tasks cooking, larger laundry during
holidays and getting the house in order! Bangalore may be bandh but in the
house as the showman Raj Kapoor has said “The show must go on”
