[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Mystic

I local colleague told me that it is not a movie but real. The guys running had huge loads on them with ladies designer hand bags being sold at peanuts on the streets ( may be stolen from tourists)..

OT: These chaps may be from the African continent and/ or the Levant and sometimes Eastern Europe and/ or East Asian, depending on where in the world one encounters them. Heck, these chaps are found even in India (Mumbai and all.)
These bags and shoes are not stolen. They are merely fake products. All over the world ‘after normal shopping hours’ I have seen people like these, usually flogging their fake products directly on the pavements outside of the branded store itself.

[arjunsatheesh]

Sir, please contact St Broseph. He is a social worker in Bangalore and will help you with taking this forward legally. DM me if you want his details. Do not let this go.
As a person with a KL-registered car in Bangalore, I have faced a lot of issues but something of this magnitude has not happened to me yet(touch wood). It's high time people like this need to be made accountable for their actions. Like @manasr28 mentioned above, they did this when women were inside the vehicle, Bangalore police will not take it lightly.

[neerajku]

Really sorry to hear this and hope never gets repeated with anyone.
Unpopular opinion, this issue about not knowing Kannada and then taking a real or imagined offence about disrespecting local language and culture; have not seen anywhere. From auto drivers to roadside vendors to educated neighbours. And then those who can, misbehave.
All others states people dont bother whether you know the language or not, have different number plate, look different and so on. May be Delhi with its occasional mistreatment of citizens of North east or long back in Mumbai with its riots and harassment of north Indians. Few people here equate respect for culture and way of life with knowledge of language alone. Not seen elsewhere.
Thankfully still a minuscule minority and I am sure with time will change.

[vredesbyrd]

OT:
This problem seems very common in Bangalore and it feels like it is growing even stronger.
As a NIB (North Indian Bengali), I have spent a bit of time in the South. Here's my experience:

1) Chennai: All good if you are respectful and behave nicely. Made tons of local friends. The only evil people I met were SRM professors. Even local thugs were rather neutral.
2) Udupi/Mangalore: Probably one of the best places to be in the region. Friendly people.
3) Salem: It's basically Kanpur but people speak Tamil instead of Hindi. I like both places.
4) Ballari: Nice town. Again, quite friendly.
5) Hyderabad: Reasonable people, no issues what so ever.
6) Bangalore: Hearing the name alone makes my face sour. This is the city which treated me the worst. This is the city that made me hate people. This is the city I decided never to set foot in again.

No offence to people from Bangalore, it is what it is. My friends from northern KA hate Bangalore as well (they are Kannadigas and Konkani).
I keep getting offers with fat salaries from there but I keep rejecting them as I never want to return.

An old man punctured the tires and broke the wiper arm on my Superb because I politely requested him to park his Alto with a little more consideration.
That and a note with a phone number, requesting a physical altercation and a death threat. I wish I had the number now, would have been fun to hurl some kind words his way.

Then there was this guy who called me all sorts of things and was to call police because I had my car washed on a public road about 20 meters from his 5 floor mansion - that *Australian expletive* thinks he owns the bloody road.

Why does every company has to open office only in one city? Can't they just go to Gurgaon, Chennai or Mumbai? I feel the "Silicon Valley of India" is quite past it's prime and companies should focus setting up elsewhere.
Maybe a big 4 office in Ranikhet or a big consulting firm in Chail does sound inviting.

Bottom line is, be kind and respectful to every one, even when they are being complete (redacted) about everything. Only take a stance when you know that you back it up. No point in fighting a war you can't win.

P.S.: These are merely my experience and opinions. I do not mean any offence but those who want to get offended will find a way anyway

[xotiq]

Originally Posted by vredesbyrd

OT:
This problem seems very common in Bangalore and it feels like it is growing even stronger.
As a NIB (North Indian Bengali), I have spent a bit of time in the South. Here's my experience:
…
P.S.: These are merely my experience and opinions. I do not mean any offence but those who want to get offended will find a way anyway

Well, just like you, me, him and her, why does the whole world land up in BLR with all these issues . Saw that you described yourself as (North Indian Bengali)- There are 15 Lakh plus Bengalis in BLR.

Being respectful, polite and knowing basics of the local language of the place goes a long way!

Mod Note : Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

Thanks!

[vredesbyrd]

Originally Posted by xotiq

Why does the whole world land up in BLR with all these issues .

I assure you that I wouldn't if I had a choice back in 2019. Would have happily picked the Noida or Chennai office.

Being respectful, polite and knowing basics of the local language of the place goes a long way!

Absolutely agree with the first two points but disagree with the third.
Not everybody can pick up a langauge at will. Hell, I can't even read or write Bengali.
Beyond my usual 3, all I know are basics of Tamil and Japanese. It is not easy, especially for a linguistic doofus like me.

[mh09ad5578]

I had seen the same attitude in the last Bangalore floods, what I fail to understand is the idea of a "local" and "outsider ". I see "locals " get angry when an"outsider" i.e. someone even living there for more than five years complains about basic rights/civilian amenities just because they were born in another state. These so-called "locals" were lucky enough to win the geographic birth lottery. I would value an "Outsiders" view stronger for he chose to live in a place out of his own free will as against a "localite" whose presence there is incidental. Tough locals are just bullies, in every place or state- take them to some other place, and let's see how brave they truly are.

[Piston_head]

Sorry to hear what happened to you, but I am always hearing these things from my childhood days, that TN vehicles are vandalized in Bangalore, Mysore areas. The primary reason for this interstate issue is water sharing, The people of Bangalore and Mysore areas are mainly getting affected by this water issues I believe (They don't have sufficient water for themselves is their statement), that's why they show their frustration against TN people by vandalizing vehicles.

One of my relatives (TN resident) who used to live in Bengaluru had to travel on an emergency to tamilnadu in this TN registered vehicle during the interstate issue in 2016(When KPN travels were burned). His neighbor lent him his old KA number plates of his car, so that he can cross the border without any issues. There might be instances where KA vehicles are facing such issues in TN, but it is definitely not at this scale.

Only way to avoid getting into such situations is by re-registering their vehicles, if they live there permanently and learn the local language too. We can also have some stickering in Kannada words on our vehicles to trick those pissed off goons and local auto Walas looking to start a fight.

[Gaur]

Originally Posted by xotiq

Being respectful, polite and knowing basics of the local language of the place goes a long way!

Are you sure this would have worked in the situation mentioned in the OP ?
I had a colleague driving a KL vehicle assaulted for no fault of his by a cab guy, my colleague having spent almost a decade in the city was reasonably fluent in kannada, he tried to argue in the local language but eventually the "outsider" angle was bought in, eventually my friend was left with a bruised ego and a broken ORVM.

[driven646]

This is sickening to read, my deepest sympathies with you and your family.

I hope these loser goons get what they deserve.

I really dont understand this regional chauvinism as a Himachali. I visit Bangalore atleast thrice a year, albeit for 1-2 day trips & stay in Hotels mostly close to the Airport & have never faced any kind of trouble - only once when I was at some Mall, did I see a lout bullying a girl from the North East working at KFC about not knowing Kannada - I wanted to punch him in the face, but controlled myself as I was myself not a local.

Had I seen such behaviour in HP, I would've definitely intervened. I also travel to Chennai & Hyderabad twice a year & have never seen or experienced any kind of language or regional discrimination.

Being in the hotel business, I've found ppl from the South to be mostly polite, gentle & reasonable ppl.

I travel across most of India except the North East on business - about 30 trips annually & it's mostly from Karnataka that I hear stories about loutish behaviour with non locals & that's the only lived experience I've seen myself.

Hope better sense prevails.

[BNG-motorhead]

Got a call today to ‘buy’ property in the city, had read this post. I simply said, saar, im a non-kannadiga, I cant speak kannadiga, how can I buy a house here saar. This whole state belongs to you and your friends and I am no one to buy anything here.

[SidTheChamp]

Originally Posted by vredesbyrd

OT:
This problem seems very common in Bangalore and it feels like it is growing even stronger.
As a NIB (North Indian Bengali), I have spent a bit of time in the South. Here's my experience:
...
6) Bangalore: Hearing the name alone makes my face sour. This is the city which treated me the worst. This is the city that made me hate people. This is the city I decided never to set foot in again.

An old man punctured the tires and broke the wiper arm on my Superb because I politely requested him to park his Alto with a little more consideration.

Then there was this guy who called me all sorts of things and was to call police because I had my car washed on a public road.

My observation is different. I didn't have any such bad experiences during my 6 year stay at Bangalore 2005-2010. And neither all the Bengali relatives, friends, acquaintances who were also staying there.

Regarding parking incidents, I was also told to move my parked vehicle from the roadside(KA guy), argument on who has the allotted spot(AP guy), was charged extra for parking (TN Uncle). But those are small things and I just brushed it off. And one of the landlord hassled a lot to return rent deposit. This happens.

Originally Posted by xotiq

Well, just like you, me, him and her, why does the whole world land up in BLR with all these issues . Saw that you described yourself as (North Indian Bengali)- There are 15 Lakh plus Bengalis in BLR.

Being respectful, polite and knowing basics of the local language of the place goes a long way!

I agree with you. There is no general malice towards Bengalis in Bangalore.

[that_sedate_guy]

Loads upon loads of thoughts and personal experiences are getting shared and it is extremely uplifting as well as thought-provoking to go through all your responses. In fact, I spent the last one hour reading through them all after my last read reply.

It is indeed a reasonable way to take this to the authorities and I kind of wanted to but wifey is hell bent on leaving it all alone and just keep our mental solitude intact. Makes sense too in a way, so yeah instead of a post-incident file, we've collectively decided to let this go and be prepared with dashcams, learnings and above all, presence of mind should something like this repeat.

Speaking of self defense, I myself am a Black Belt in Karate but I know my limits. Martial arts are only for self defense against an "equally armed and non-lethal" opponent. I know for a fact that I can drop a person to the ground if I'm shoved to the limit, maybe even two men at most. But what if they have weapons and decide that they need to finish it once and for all? Drunkards usually have access to glass bottles which can be fatal. Also, after recovery and rehab from a very severe accident, I knew for a fact that I couldn't use my right hand even for something as simple as blocking the guy's attack. Had I done it anyway, it would have undone a major vascular surgery and 6 months of recovery. We all wish and love to be able to dodge bullets like Keanu in The Matrix but none of us can. It's not a weakness, it's simply knowing our limits.

Generally speaking, what folks have mentioned here about the friendliness of most people is indeed true. Most people do mind their own business. It's the rotten few which spoil the image for everyone.

Many of you have shared your own experiences of the linguistic chauvinism. The ironical and comical thing that comes to mind is that, Hosur being a border region between TN, KA & AP has more people who know Kannada and Hindi than people who know Tamil! And not a single local person gives a damn about it. Everyone co-exists, everyone minds their businesses, most are cordial. Same in Uttarakhand. The Rudrapur city area in UK has tons of Tamils, Bengalis, Punjabis, Himachalis and even Nepalis. I've never seen another environment with more oneness and gentleness than with the Uttarakhand people. I actually miss the time I spent there!

The most fun part was when I was in the Netherlands for a month in the past year. Everyone speaks Dutch to you in a nice and genuine way because they immediately accept you as a local. And the moment they find out you're not versed in Dutch, they immediately switch to any level of English they can manage. Such is the tolerance level there and then we have our country. Long way to go, long way.

[HIGHWAY_PATROL]

As an 'outsider' living in Bengaluru for the past three years, I have been lucky to not have encountered major physical threats from the 'locals'.

I think Bengalureans suffer due to water shortages and in some years when cauvery water sharing becomes a burning issue, then there is high decibel politics and despite the supreme court's order about water-sharing, some sections of the society rake up a stance that a grave injustice has been done to the Kannadigas. I wonder if any team-bhp members who are Kannadigas nurture that thought. They may also have their reasons to justify it. Perhaps I would also feel the same if I were born here.

And for some locals, the final frustration due to water shortage invariably grows into hatred towards vulnerable common people in the other side, every once in a while. I think human behaviour is like that. It is unfortunate but true.

Understanding why such things happen will help one to accept the reality and try to deal with it.

It is best that as a commoner one takes as many precautions as possible. Some useful tips have already been posted. In particular, trying to learn the local language is a great step, I truly believe. I switch on FM and enjoy the RJ's conversation and Kannada songs during my drive to office. It has helped me to improve my understanding of the language and also of the society to an extent.

If in case the miscreants know only Kannada and Hindi and you don't know both these languages, how will you put across your rebuttal/requests to them? So, please pick up a few good and kind words.

Also, it's best to smile and cool down the atmosphere, when you know clearly you are in a weaker position. It was really good that the OP was trying to defuse the situation but unfortunately his friend escalated it. I hope they all get back to their old self quickly and wish they never get to experience such uncomfortable events again in future.

[Fuldagap]

Originally Posted by that_sedate_guy

Speaking of self defense, I myself am a Black Belt in Karate but I know my limits. Martial arts are only for self defense against an "equally armed and non-lethal" opponent. I know for a fact that I can drop a person to the ground if I'm shoved to the limit, maybe even two men at most. But what if they have weapons and decide that they need to finish it once and for all? Drunkards usually have access to glass bottles which can be fatal. Also, after recovery and rehab from a very severe accident, I knew for a fact that I couldn't use my right hand even for something as simple as blocking the guy's attack. Had I done it anyway, it would have undone a major vascular surgery and 6 months of recovery. We all wish and love to be able to dodge bullets like Keanu in The Matrix but none of us can. It's not a weakness, it's simply knowing our limits.

Goons and drunkards are never trained in any arts. They only one art that is how to behave like drunkards and rowdy uncivilized citizens. There are plethora of them everywhere not just one single city. Better to retain your sanity and prevent or get out of such situations as soon as possible. Whatever you did was great. Have been hooked to this thread ever since your post. I know several languages and have lived in ample places India and abroad but I only speak in the local language when I wish to. It has nothing to do whatsoever with pleasing a local.

I hope you are coping well and already taking the incident as a light memory now.