Sunday, September 18, 2011

Na Tomatina for Bengaluru




Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda has ordered cancellation of ‘La Tomatina’ fest scheduled to be organized at Bangalore Palace Grounds on September 18 and also at Mysore. There is a huge cry on this in social media with people debating for and against the fest.

I am sad that this fest stays cancelled. 

Its not because I cant throw tomatoes; throwing tomatoes is still not banned in India! There would always be a chunk of senseless people forming a group against anything that's happening, regardless of its impact - that's politics. But then, the educated youth? At least they should have the sense of understanding the effects and implications before crying out loud. 

Yes, I agree that we are talking about wastage of Tomatoes (for the sake of a debate, lets forget the fact that the event was using tomatoes which were not edible).Alright, so all you humanitarians gather and cry peace. Help the poor, feed them and stop wastage. Noble indeed! The event stay cancelled. Now what? How many do I see feeding the poor? How many of you noble souls fed 1 poor today? I would really love to know.

The event stay cancelled. All the farmers who were expecting huge profits by selling off tons of market rejected tomatoes would not get the money promised. The tomatoes would still go waste, not in palace grounds though. Victory for the poor! In a country where food grain is stored by the government only to be disposed off as waste, at least tomatoes had to be saved. For those noble souls who doesn't read the news completely (as rightly suggested by my friend, Mr.Blunt) and react by reading only headlines - food wasted in FCI godowns in the last few years could have fed 2500 lakh + families for 10 years or more.Now do your best, google it and please read it completely this time.

I appeal to the representatives of Kolar district tomato growers, the few environmentalists and the NGOs who called on the Chief Minister in Bangalore on Friday to request cancellation of the La Tomatina festival to please distribute 60,000 kg tomatoes (the expected wastage as suggested by Jayanagar BJP ML B N Vijayakumar) among the poor and prove the passion and dedication they have towards their fellow beings. You owe at least that much to the farmers and the poor!

My sincere sympathy to the organizing committee of the fest and to all like minded souls in and around Bengaluru.

33 comments:

Nidz said...

they can make Blore more NOT HAPPENING!!!

Anil Sawan said...

rightly said nizzi :(

BGT said...

With inflation, rise in food prices and the political situation in India, this fest will take some time to finally arrive... :) Very well written post :)

Anil Sawan said...

Binu, cudn agree more! Even if we had a stable economy, m not sure how much of a stabel gov we wud have! Thnx for the visit :)

Anonymous said...

A very well written post, but I think the points that are highlighted in the article, is not how people have been seeing this. For instance, I was (and still am) against the festival. It does sound like we are totally sucking up to west. Not that I have any issues, but simply doing what a film showed or try to be cool is how I saw this whole episode.

Last year Oktober Fest was organized by kingfisher, no one was against it, no one perhaps would be if it happens this year too. That brings a lot of money/tax to the government and not many will raise their hands against shite loads of beer either. But isn't that nonsense too? German beer is so much better and kingfisher is making money by fooling folks who would like to be called cool :)

I am all for better stuff like concerts or a live coke studio style music fest :D

Anil Sawan said...

Chintan, I am happy that you wrote this!

Frankly, why do we even think that doing something which the west has done is bad? why dont we think twice before branding it as "following western culture"? we have thousands of festivals here! festivals which ends up in making people's life a night mare (traffic blocks happening especially on Ganesh Chathurthi). causing environmental hazards (ganesh visarjan, crackers used), causing danger to life (at least one life is lost in stampede during almost all festivals). we dont critize them because we believe thats is part of us. this tomatina fest is not ours. so? it doesnt create any of the above problems! so the only issue is that we are doing something which is not part of our culture? and for that we should be branded? what's wrong? any festival is done with an ultimte aim of being happy. bringing smile. and thts wut this do too. only because some white skinned person started this why should we have a problem? why dont we just accept east and west? why even use those terms? yes, we did tht because a movie showed us tht its fun! so what? what is this whole fuss about? some people saw business in it, others saw innovation. they just gave people an option to hav fun a differen way. no one forced any right? its participation by choice! if you dont want it, do not participate; but why demotivate a group who came up with the idea? why call them names for reason they are not blamable (check la tomatina fb page). it makes no sense to me.

coming to october fest. as far as i understand, october fest has more to it than just putting a beer stall. its the stage were kf launch new products. its their way, they make it large. people who think its right, attend it! m sure if mallya din have the base he has in bangalore, even tht wud have been banned. sad things happen wen ur power is at stake. i have seen enuf politics in my life to understand the interests behind this movement. but thts ok.

coke studio like of concerts are gud for sure and i enjoi it. but then tell me Chintan, we work like robots, we live such a mechanical life, instead of sitting like a robot and enjoying music which is bliss; if we thought of screaming and just letting it go, whats wrong in it?

Anonymous said...

wait till holi :D

i have no qualms really...i would simply not buy the tickets and attend the fest that's it. i wouldn't stone someone for attending it either. personal choice.

why i call it west influence?
blame it on stupidly crafted slut walks in delhi :|

Saru Singhal said...

Even, I don't favor such festival as I think we have Holi. And, I feel we are getting influenced by western culture and ZNMD. But, politicians are no one to take a decision as they hardly care about our country. Also, we are a free country, if you don't like it, don't do it. Don't force things upon people. Nicely written, hope you agree on my take!

Anil Sawan said...

Chintan, I guess even holi is dangerous these days with the amount of processed chemical being mixed with the colors in market!

frankly, i dont know wut slut walks in delhi means :(

I know you are sensible enuf :) but then, the fb page of la tomatina was looking ugly with stupid comments which prompted me to write this!

Anil Sawan said...

Saru, western influence and znmd -> pls pls pls do read my reply to chintan, the long reply.

politicians, i wud really completely agree to you. of course you need a system to control such a mass. but then, the decisions, should be reasonable. if the gov take a stand, they shud realize tht they are answerable to people. thts not happening now. its more like a dictatorship. and sadly, we tend to forget a lot.

Blunt Edges said...

Read the post. And the comments too.
You practically said everything I had to say buddy.
I guess it's high time we stopped classifying things as "western"! If we indeed wanna do it, we should start with calling our jobs that first. Most of us have westerners as our major clients and many others work in companies that have bases there! It's almost like we need everything from them (including staying there and raking in the moolah), but still wanna criticize them! Not fair.

Cяystal said...

I think its part of some people's system, they HAVE to like HAVE To condemn and criticize and as you said "form a committee" against any AND EVERY goddamned thing that happens!
What degeneration of our culture are our politicians sporting who wear Roberto Cavalli outfits to parties and sport Chanel bags? :/
AND Nidhi is right. They can't B'lore more non-happening

Anil Sawan said...

Bluntu, Jobs!!!! yes, how did i miss that? thnx for telling tht bro!

Anil Sawan said...

Aayu, exactly! thnx for sharing the views :)

Rajlakshmi said...

sigh I was looking forward to the event. well written

Dr. Rekha Jithin said...

La tomatina shouldnt have got cancelled..

Anil Sawan said...

Lakshmi, seriously! :(
thank you :)

Anil Sawan said...

Rekha, it shouldnt have! but we could only react :(

Aparna Gautam said...

We would never be able to have such a festival. If we have to have an additional festival it should be of sharing food with the needy so that even they can participate. Thanks for writing this post Sawan.
The Pink Orchid

Rià said...

It will take a while for India to be prepared for such festivals!!

Anil Sawan said...

Kajal, I am not sure if your comment was in favor or against my post :)

Anil Sawan said...

Ria, yes! i only wish that "a while" is as short as possible!

Aparna Gautam said...

In favor, Always!!!!

Anil Sawan said...

:) thnx dear!
i saw a blog today, followed it. did not comment for reasons I know. i have 7 posts waiting to be read. shall read everything in one go and then start commenting :P

Aparna Gautam said...

Yeaaaah yippie :)

Anil Sawan said...

and i am very skeptical about the author, she might have mood swings and decide to delete couple of her posts or go away from that blog. so i saved all the posts in my reader so tht even if the content is deleted from her main page, i wud still be able to read it! the way i read some of the very special poems written by her quite some time back :P

Aparna Gautam said...

no i will stay or even if i go atleast this is sure that i will come back but one thing is confirmed that you respect my work more than i do. :)

Anil Sawan said...

i would rather say that i cherish the moments spent and the feeling shared on those notes :)

Madhulika said...

Was really happy to see how you put these great though in words :)
Great post :)

vinny said...

okkk...so this is the story behind that ban...thanks for updating me Anil!
actually, me's been out of news for quite some time...i thought NGO's banned it as tomatoes should be used as food... and not to be thrown at:)
good to know they were unuasable tomatoes anyway...on an unrelated news, i don't like them so much :)

Anonymous said...

where's u?

Cяystal said...

UPDATEE!

Ram said...

Either regarding Tomatino OR Slut-Walk, people crying are those who have spent from their pocket just to go waste, its very hard to even gain out from cheap-politics.