Return of the Kanwariya
Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 2:49 pm
It's that time of the year again.....the "Shiv Bhakt Kanwariyas" are back on Delhi roads.
I was stuck in a traffic jam last evening for about 45 minutes....at you won't believe it, the DND flyway byepass road to Ashram Chowk. There were cars and bikes lined up for nearly 2 odd km, moving at a snail's pace becuase there were three different groups of 4-5 kanwariyas moving slam bang in the middle of the road with their huge "kanwars" carrying holy water. Finally when I did get around to getting out of the jam, one of them who was carrying a....surprise surprise...Baseball Bat brushed against my car. Obviously being in a car and being a supposed atheist (as I was disturbing a supposedly devout man in his quest for spiritual glory) I was at fault. That guy smashed my turn indicator with his Bat as retaliation. I was with my dad and got off to give him some lessons in decency but I was surrounded by nearly 15 of these guys...screaming, abusing and generally ready to beat me to a pulp (I'm not tall or well built...so probably that gave them encouragement). Anyways, to cut a long story short, some sensible people around us intervened and ended the fight....and I got saved of getting the beating of my life.
How can we as a civilized society let anybody tear apart our culture and infrastructure in the name of religion...be it Hindu or Muslim or Sikh????
The damn highway from Delhi to Haridwar is closed to traffic for almost 20 days, half the main roads in Delhi are jammed with "Kanwar" traffic, most of the major intersections are blocked by rest spots for these people....and honest, hard working citizens are bearing the brunt of this hi-jacking of our city!
I consider myself to be an Indian and an honest one at that....highly tolerant of all religions and beliefs. But I simply do not and will not accept this kind of Gunda-gardi in the name of religion!
Akshat
I was stuck in a traffic jam last evening for about 45 minutes....at you won't believe it, the DND flyway byepass road to Ashram Chowk. There were cars and bikes lined up for nearly 2 odd km, moving at a snail's pace becuase there were three different groups of 4-5 kanwariyas moving slam bang in the middle of the road with their huge "kanwars" carrying holy water. Finally when I did get around to getting out of the jam, one of them who was carrying a....surprise surprise...Baseball Bat brushed against my car. Obviously being in a car and being a supposed atheist (as I was disturbing a supposedly devout man in his quest for spiritual glory) I was at fault. That guy smashed my turn indicator with his Bat as retaliation. I was with my dad and got off to give him some lessons in decency but I was surrounded by nearly 15 of these guys...screaming, abusing and generally ready to beat me to a pulp (I'm not tall or well built...so probably that gave them encouragement). Anyways, to cut a long story short, some sensible people around us intervened and ended the fight....and I got saved of getting the beating of my life.
How can we as a civilized society let anybody tear apart our culture and infrastructure in the name of religion...be it Hindu or Muslim or Sikh????
The damn highway from Delhi to Haridwar is closed to traffic for almost 20 days, half the main roads in Delhi are jammed with "Kanwar" traffic, most of the major intersections are blocked by rest spots for these people....and honest, hard working citizens are bearing the brunt of this hi-jacking of our city!
I consider myself to be an Indian and an honest one at that....highly tolerant of all religions and beliefs. But I simply do not and will not accept this kind of Gunda-gardi in the name of religion!
Akshat
The UP govt. tried to give them an alternate route bypassing one of the main highways, but they never used it as it completely bypassed all towns all the way up to Khatauli.
). Brushed a car and down they went, instead of backing off they started a fight and even broke off a rear view mirror.