"My White Knight(s)"

My white knight, not a Lancelot, nor an angel with wings ..
Just someone to find me, who is not afraid of what mobbed violence brings.
My white knight who called when he heard of burning cars and knew through the crowd I must plow …
Please, dear Briton, find me now.

On Wednesday, Bangalore experienced a violent outbreak in reaction to the natural death of a famous local actor, Rajkumar, age 76. He had starred in 220 Kannada films. Not only that … at age 70 he was also held hostage by bandits for over 2 months in the Southern Indian jungles! When he was kidnapped in 2000, Bangalore shut down for a week. You can imagine the reaction of the general populace when they heard of his death. He was so loved. I was on the outskirts of downtown when I was warned to go home because shops would be closing down out of respect to Rajkumar.

Because I’m more ethnocentric than I care to admit, I didn’t think all the shops would close down over some actor’s death. I also didn’t catch the intimation that another reason to head home was because it could become dangerous to be outside.

I decided to walk the mile or so to the area I knew had those more “touristy” silk shops. After 15 or so minutes of seeing shops close as I passed by, I turned onto a main thoroughfare and heard, then saw, a band of men marching against traffic. It could have been a holiday parade (complete with banner sporting Rajkumar’s profile), except the tenor of their chant exuded pretty negative vibes. I watched the men attack a local city bus driving in their direction. They slammed the sides, pushed their way on, and forced the driver to remove a sign from the front window.

It was time to get home. Every auto rickshaw that passed would shake their head “no” when I said I needed to go to Koramangala. While walking, I continued to hail down autos, and continued to be denied passenger-age. I tried every trick in the book. Assertiveness, Casualness, Pregnant-bellyness. Finally, after the millionth auto driver said no, I demanded, “Why not?” His response: “No time”. That’s it. Just, “No time”.

I had a long, “perilous” walk ahead of me. After some time, the cell rang. It was Briton. My White Knight. You know how when you are stressed you can get this tunnel vision that keeps you focused? It must be a defense mechanism. You know if you don’t stay focused then you will lose it. And you know how when you think you are all alone in the world, and then, you hear a familiar voice? The floodgates open. I started to cry as soon as he said “How are you doing?” … The compassion and concern undid me. I guess I was more scared and tired than I realized (secondary to the tunnel vision). He said he would come with Deepak and Dinesh (my other two White Knights) to pick me up. What relief!

And I had no idea they would pick me up on motorcycles!!! If anyone ever asks me for an example of pure chilvary, I will cite Briton, Deepak and Dinesh; who left work to come fetch me from the maddening crowds and delivered me safely to our castle, the Halcyon. Halcyon, indeed. The afternoon had turned into anything but.

Later, I learned from the newspaper and television, that the most serious and extensive damage occurred in the more central downtown area. What I saw was mild. In the downtown area, rocks were thrown at shops that didn’t close down fast enough. People took to the streets: chanting, burning buses, cars, and tires; smashing car windows. People stormed the private home of Rajkumar. When the people got out of hand at the stadium where they eventually took his body, police used clubs and tear-gas to try and control the pressing, thronging, crowd. Today, the next day, the unruliness continues. With all due respect to their grief and frustration … it’s sheer craziness.

All Bangalore is shut down today. Intel advised its employees to work from home and covered their building with a green, protective netting to shield it from possible projectiles. Briton has been working from the hotel today and I am also following advice not to go out. But that’s ok. I’m perfectly happy, spending the day in the Halcyon with my White Knight (aww….).