Injustice means “adding insult to injury”

Disclaimer: Foul language used in more than one instance. Written while in a completely disturbed state of mind: engulfed in fury and disbelief at the injustice meted out.

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News we hear very often, sending our blood to a boil and our minds to degrees of exasperation. But well, the ways of “justice” (or the lack of it) is something we’ll have to live with, I suppose. In spite of the amount of depth of the evidence we have against a ‘wrong’.

A girl gets raped on her way home from work. It’s the girl’s fault because she was wearing ‘provocative’ clothes.

A man sentenced to life imprisonment for suspected partaking in a terrorist act is let off after 14 years, on being found innocent. He’s lost his family, job, life. It’s his fault because he chose to be in the wrong spot at the wrong moment.

A woman is forced to get an abortion done. It’s her fault, because she carried a girl child.

[And in my own life:] Our cars were damaged, plants killed and us emotionally harassed and tortured. It’s our fault, because we are ‘outsiders’ who chose to live in ‘their land’, their Karnataka.

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Yes, when the Association people went to his place and handed over the bill, he refused to pay up.  Just like he refused to admit the f***er in the video is him.

The Association people tried to talk some sense into him saying we hadn’t even approached the law for this, while we could have, considering the proof and all. That we were being amicable…and expect the same from him. And the as***le unflinchingly says (not verbatim), “I’m not paying. If they go to the law with this, I’ll also file a case against this boy (Suraj), that he tried to kill me and my wife”.

And the Association people (fed up, knowing there was no use talking to this freak) came to this conclusion: they’ll get both our cars painted, at their expense (recovering only about 1/6th of the total amount from the old piece of misery). And again, it will be done only at a local workshop where the Association President has connections, and not at the showroom—in spite of the Punto being a new car and within warranty period.

PLUS.

They’ll get it in writing from us that we will not probe this matter further, or cause any trouble to the bast**d, or his family. And from him, that he will not cause any further trouble to us, or to any of the other residents in the neighbourhood.

AND THERE ENDED THE MATTER.

What gets me boiling with rage is the complacence with which everyone viewed the situation. “What happened, happened. Don’t lose your sleep over it now.” No one seems to think that it should NOT have happened at all.

No one seems to realize the agony he put us in, the mental torture we went through, the sleepless nights we had, the lack of concentration we suffered at work… NONE of those are considered.

• the mental harassment is intangible (so, get over it!);
• the plants will grow back (so, stop whining);
• the anger and rage must be suppressed (it’s your young blood).

AND IN UNSPOKEN WORDS (though in good intent): You’re not a native Kannadiga and you don’t quite belong here; so stop complaining and move away, if you want a peaceful life.

“There is no calamity which a great nation can invite
which equals that which follows a supine submission to wrong and injustice”.
Grover Cleveland (22nd and 24th President of the United States)

What no one seems to address is the fact that a bloody f**king b****rd is being allowed to get away with his bloody b***ardly criminal act! At no punishment, at no loss, at not even the slightest sense of guilt! In spite of him threatening to file cases with false allegation of attempted murder on the husband!! And why!? Just because he has the unfair advantage of being a ‘localite’, while we’re from ‘outside’. “Outside, as in, Jupiter!?” asked a friend.

No one seems to realise or even think that he’s the criminal and NOT the victim! It’s the typical “forget the whole issue unless you want to get into deeper trouble” responses and reaction. Unless the son of a b***h himself pays for the loss he created, he’ll NEVER learn, will he!? But well, no one seems to think he must learn, in the first place.

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice,
you have chosen the side of the oppressor.
If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral,
the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”
Bishop Desmond Tutu (African Spiritual leader and Novelist)

But I’m the only one who seems to be unable to stand this injustice. Everyone else seems to be tired of the drama. “Let it go”, they all said, including the family. In fact, I literally could NOT BELIEVE MY EARS when I heard the ‘verdict’.

So much for trying to solve this “amicably” through the Association. When they got involved, I thought they’d fight for justice and make the old miserable piece of sh*t pay for his act. But, like the husband rightly said, “everyone involved in this (apart from us) is getting fed up and wants only to put it all to an end and get out of it.”

Put it all to an end, leaving the ones who suffered to continue suffering.

“The Police here are very corrupt; and they’ll always choose to support a localite over an outsider; which means in spite of your evidence and everything, they’ll either try to trouble you or keep postponing this affair for years. Is this worth all that mess?”
Does that mean any localite can do any harm to ‘outsiders’ and get away with it too? And to top that all, try and silence the victim with false attempted murder allegations!?

And what the hell does ‘outsider’ mean!? This is all ONE country, right? Or has Karnataka been declared a free country since last evening!? Aren’t we all citizens of the same country? Don’t we have the right to live in any part of India? Or is the “right” only given to the “localites” to vandalize the property of people who’ve come from a part of the country slightly further down south!? What’s all this crap about ‘outsider’? No I don’t live in a utopia, but I also refuse to live a life of the oppressed! I’ve done no wrong and I DO NOT INTEND TO suffer in silence the wrong done to me.

If this is the attitude and acceptance, I wonder why we complain and create a hue and cry about racism and biased behavior meted out to “us Indians” when we go to a foreign country. It’s their land, isn’t it; and the law will support them, shouldn’t it; and they’re localites and we’re ‘outsiders’. Right!?

“Yes, right, Priya. But this isn’t something that happens only in Karnataka. It happens everywhere.”
Oh thanks, what a solace that is!

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice,
but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
Elie Wiesel (Romanian born American Writer, Nobel Prize for Peace in 1986)

Right from the start, everyone wanted us to “forgive and forget”. Everyone’s initial reaction was first wonder and then amused laughter. As long as the falling roof isn’t in your house, it isn’t a problem for you, is it!? When we told them it was mental torture and we couldn’t even concentrate on work at office, they all dismissed it with a shake of their heads and a laugh, saying “Don’t let such silly things bother you”. Silly!?? For whom!? It was only when they realized we were very adamant about making the freak pay, that they agreed to step in and ‘talk’ to him. But I suppose all throughout, this had been their mindset: get it over with.

What right did they, then, have to tell us NOT go to the law? It was their selfish need to keep away any chances of the Police coming into this particular residential area: 5th Cross, S.T. Bed, Koramangala 4th block, Karnataka, INDIA. It was their selfish need to make sure other residents in the locality were not disturbed by this event. It was their selfish need to prevent a member of their Association from getting entangled in the arms of the law. Our loss was purely ours, and no one else’s. And that’s the ultimate truth…the ultimate fact.

They kept saying S.T. Bed Layout is the best layout in Koramangala, Bangalore. Honestly, I beg to differ.

For everyone who were involved (apart from our house owner), it was perhaps just a matter of amusement and wonder initially (they were all astounded at the idea of the web-cam and ‘evidence’) and then a pure pain in the ass—and all they wished was to get out of the mess. And the easiest way was not to punish the rasc*l, not try to make him pay, but to pay up on behalf of the Residents’ Welfare Association!??

I appreciate their willingness to pay: I appreciate it completely. BUT. Is the lost paint on the car the ONLY issue!? What about moral values and principles? I think I’ll pass. I’m not walking around trying to live on charity. If that fu***r can’t pay, then I might as well pay from MY pocket. Why should I let the Association pay!? When did they scratch my car and cause me pain!?

I have a good mind to teach the old swine a lesson. But the father, mother and husband (and the brother too!?) has completely given up.

“Enough, Priya. This is all there is to be done. Let’s not talk about it anymore”, says the angry father.

“He has a lot of those low-class contacts. What if he arranges for someone to hurt us on the road? What if it costs one of our lives?” asks a worried mother.

“There’re just too many curses on him already: ours, our families’, our friends’, your blog friends’; he won’t be let off that easily. He’ll suffer somehow. We have as a forever and recent example, what happened to our previous house owner. Can’t we leave this here?” asks a worried husband.

The brother just shakes his head in contempt, and offers no words.

I understand the concern they all expressed. I completely understand and agree. But I think differently.

I seethe in anger, in pent up fury. I’m unable to sleep. I can feel no sorrow, only rage. And they flow out as tears. While the husband holds me close and comforts me as I shed angry tears, all I can think is “Unbelievable. Unjust. Unacceptable.” And I’m afraid at my own degrees of anger. I have multiple thoughts of revenge flowing through me. But at the end, I wonder if I can be that bad a person.

But I know for sure that he’s NOT getting out of this as easily as he thinks he has. Not especially after he’s threatened to file a false case against the husband.

In a mad man’s world

Scratches and dents, pain and loss;
Anger, shock and revenge after a pause.
Irritation, frustration and pent up rage;
Hatred, disbelief, plans of a war to wage.
Some of life’s surprises leave us appalled
When we live in a mad man’s world!

P.S.: Loooong post ahead.

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July 3, 2010: The Grande Punto came home.

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July 10, 2010: Punto gets its first deep scratch across the bonnet and on the side, near the left rear view mirror.

*we send swears at the ever-irritating passers-by who can’t bear to see a spotless car in town*

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October 1, 2010: Punto gets a new scratch on the front left door.

*devil be on you, you horrid passer-by*

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October 2, 2010: Punto gets a new scratch on the bonnet again.

*why us, why why why?*

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October 3, 2010: Two of our plants are broken off and thrown into our compound.

*now, one needs no rocket science to figure out this is no passer-by; it’s someone with a malicious intent*

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October 4, 2010: We install a web-cam to video record our cars and who/what’s damaging it. We see the following footage the next day morning…and we are shocked!

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This was at approximately 5.18 a.m.

This was at approximately 5.18 a.m. That’s him bending the antenna of dad’s car, the Alto. And he scratches on the bonnet…but since there’s nothing sharp with him, there’s minimal damage. So he goes back to his house and returns 10 minutes later.

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And then, again, at 5.26 a.m, he returns with his car key, scratches our car, and returns to his car.

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Since the web-cam was installed on the second floor, the face is not clear, though we can clearly make out who it is. But, as ‘evidence’, this will not pass. So, we decide to wait it out another day and install it again that night.We buy one more cam and install them both at two different spots.

We see this the next morning…again, done at approximately 5.20 a.m. He comes out of his house, throws waste into our compound and goes back. On the way back, he changes his decision and comes back to dad’s Alto and bends the antenna again and makes it an ‘Z’. You can see him only through the car window here since our kitchen window blocked view.

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One more plant attacked.

We call in our house owner and detail the incident, showing  him the footage. We have a couple of hours’ discussions, along with a friend of his who stays close by. They take a look at our cars — the Punto and the Alto — all the while, talking loudly on the road. The house owner tells us to approach the Residents’ Association before going to the law. The Association President is out of town for 3 days…so we wait again. But the web-cam runs everyday. And gives us more and more evidence everyday.

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We see this the next day, done again at approx. 5.30 a.m. Here again, he is on his way after damagin another plant, and scratches the back door of the Punto.

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And the next day…at approx. 4.50 a.m., on his way back after parking his car at a safe spot, putting his hand in through our gate and breaking off two of my Christmas trees!

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And the next…at approx. 5.45 a.m. Here he scratches the back door of the Alto and moves to the boot. We found two deep scratches on the boot in the morning.

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It’s October 13, 2010 that day. That’s all we are willing to wait. There are now 7 scratches on the Punto; the Alto has suffered multiple scratches all around, plus one bent antenna now resembling an ‘Z’. I’ve lost 7 of my plants.

We have to nail the a*s*o*e asap, before he annihilates all our plants…and the cars! We know who it is…and we decided to make sure the entire locality know who it is. It’s our neighbour, Mr Govindaraju, who lives at #196, 5th cross, S.T. Bed, Koramangala 4th Block. Bloody &^#@%*)(^%#@%&*)(&&$$#@%^&( !!!

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Flash back to Feb, March, April, May, June…

We rented this house out in February 2010. We had a Pulsar and a Matiz, then. The neighbour [who lives on the other side of the road, and has ample parking space for the bike inside his compound, and for the car on his side of the road] always insisted on parking his car and bike on our side of the road, or even on the footpath adjoining our compound wall. We never complained (though we should have).

Ours is a corner house, so we get two sides of the house to park our vehicles against. We decided to let him park there, while we parked on the other side. In April 2010, dad and mom shifted to Bangalore. Which added an Alto to the family. Only one car can be parked on the other side of the house…and that’s where the Matiz rested. So, the Alto took the other side, always cringing for space after the neighbour’s Maruti 800. We never complained (though we should have).

We could see how possessive he was of his vehicles. Even if dad parks his Alto a bit further towards where he parks, the minute dad drives off to some place, he’ll rush out and re-claim his spot!And when the Alto and Maruti were parked bumper to bumper, with barely enough space for one person to fit in between, he’d park his bike in that weeny bit of a space, mostly kissing the Alto’s bumper. We never complained (though we should have).

When the Punto came home, we decided to talk to him and claim the space…but we didn’t; till July 9th, about a week after the Punto came.

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Flash back to July 9, 2010.

The husband had gone ot office in the new car that day, the next day being a second Saturday, a holiday. When he reaches home, we see our neighbour’s car parked in front of our house, and his bika also parked behind it, lengthwise, leaving no space for our Punto or for Dad’s Alto. Owing to lack of space, Dad had parked his Alto where we used to park the Punto. When the husband came back, he saw the bike parked lengthwise behind the Maruti, leaving no space anywhere for his car.

He parked it in front of our gate, walked over to the neighbour’s house and requested him to “please remove your car from there, I need to park mine.” The man came out and took away the bike. To put an end to this drama, the husband again told him “we have two cars now, and we need to park them here…so please park your car on your side of the house”. The man said he’ll do it later, to which the husband insisted he do it “now”. So he said he misplaced the keys and couldn’t do it then. The husband then got a bit irritated and said “No Sir, you’ll have to do it right away. I need to park my car.” And that’s when the man began yelling at the husband, saying “I’ll do what I want…let me see what you’ll do. Who are you to come here and talk to me like this…” and tried to slam the door on his face. The husband put a foot between the door and said “Now. I want your car removed from that spot now, because I have to park my car.” The man screamed the daylights out of the husband and refused to do it. The husband came back seething.

I reached home late that day, and when the husband narrated this to me, I scolded him, saying you needn’t have made this an issue…I’d have approached them differently and all that. I guess he was really hurt that I didn’t support him. [Today, I regret having scolded him!] We decided not to spend a single moment talking to such low people and forgot the issue there. My dad took the Alto back to kiss the Maruti, and the Punto was parked on the other side, beneath the tree.

The next day, we saw a deep scratch on te bonnet of our Punto. We thought it was a passer-by and cursed him/her.

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Fast-forward to September 29, 2010.

On my way to office, another neighbour of mine called me in and told me that the spot we parked the Punto at wasn’t very safe. Apparently, the tenants who lived here earlier had bought a new car, and used to park it there. One day, a dry branch broke off the tree and crashed on to the windshield. She suggested we park both our cars on the other side itself. And then I told her that this man parks his car there, and he’ll fight for the spot. To which she rightly said ‘that isn’t his private property, so h can’t say anything”.

And then onwards, we began parking our car there. The Maruti automatically moved to his side of the road…and we were happy for the absence of any more quarrels. Until the scratches began appearing.

So, that was it. All for the loss of a parking spot, he began damaging our cars!!! he wakes up at 5 everyday, plucks flowers from all over the place, and then washes the front of her house…the footpath and in front of the gate. And recently, he’s added two more items to his daily routine: damaging our plants on the way back from flower plucking…and then parking his car near the Park (his idea of a safe spot, away from the busy road) and on his way back, damaging our cars before he begins the sweeping and mopping.

We accompanied the President, Vice-President and Secretary of the Residents’ Association and went to his place to interrogate. Only his wife was there then. She said since the husband shouted at him three months back, they bot had no affection for us. That a youngster being rude to a senior citizen is wrong, not acceptable, etc. That’s when we showed her the clippings…asking her if these were acceptable. She was shocked: she couldn’t believe her “senior citizen’ husband was capable of such cheap, underhand tactics. She apologised profusely and looked shattered!

Then he came in. He saw us sitting in his house, with the hot shots of the residents’ Association committee. And he gave us all a weird smile. The President asked him what was the issue between him and us. And his reply shocked us all: “What problem Sir? I have no problem. He is like my son…i like him a lot. I’m like his father. What problem sir!?” Am sure we all felt pity and scorn for him. I am unsure what the wife went through at that poor show show of fake emotions and affection! That’s when they told him about the ‘evidence’ and showed him the first clipping. He was looking at himself walking across the road and damaging the Alto’s antenna. I wonder what he went through at that moment. Well, we were all waiting with bated breath…when he said “no Sir, this is not me. Why would I do it? Why? I’m not that kind of a person at all”.

And for the next 3 hours, he kept repeating that “this horrid boy, like a Hitler, stood at my door and yelled at me”… He kept on saying that for at least 25 times (I’m NOT exaggerating here). He refused all logic and sense, and blatantly refused to accept blame. In spite of showing him these videos, he confidently said it’s not him. We were all surprised. We put in our demand then: he had to compensate for the damage he caused. He agreed…and how!? By taking out two Rs 500 notes and offering it to the husband, and when refused, to everyone else assembled there. We rephrased our demand then: get our cars repainted. If he thought he could cover it up with Rs 1000, he could think again. We said we’ll take both cars to the service station and get an estimate of the repairs to be done…and give the bill to him.

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He’ll pay for his sins!

We took the Punto to the service station and took an estimate: two doors, the bonnet and the area between the doors and bonnet. Repainting costs Rs 17,000 + taxes. About Rs 20,000.
We took the Alto to a local workshop and took an estimate: all around the car + one antenna.
Repainting + repair costs Rs 12,350. [If it were at a service station, easily ass about 3-5k]

The friendly neighbour’s total expense: MINIMUM Rs 30,000.

If he wanted it cheaper, he should’ve bought himself a blackboard and some chalk to practice drawing lessons! A*s*o*e!

Today is when he’ll get the bills from he Association President (we’ll hand it over to him to do the honours). Even if this freak gets a heart attack on seeing the ‘fruits’ of what he sowed, I wouldn’t care. I’ll make sure he pays up every single penny!

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The mental torture he put us through for about 10 days can’t be explained! We lost sleep, concentration at work, peace, appetite… Every time I see my plants, I can feel the hatred rising…and all I wanna do is make his life miserable forever. I keep thinking I should just forget and forgive, but I guess for once, I WONT do that. I DESPISE people who hurt others without any provocation.

If it had been done in a moment of anger, we would’ve understood: that’s human nature. But for a tiff that happened 3 months back, if he decided to plan and execute a cheap revenge 3 months later, he better pay for it. Others can ‘plan’ too.

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I’ve always hated Bangalore; and this event just adds one more to the list of “Why”s. But if the freak thinks we’re going to run away from here, he can think again. I’m going to invest in a CCTV, no matter how much it’ll cost me. We’ll live here and monitor him constantly. I’ll make sure he doesn’t trouble us (or anyone else, for that matter) ever again. If this is a psychological problem of his, like a neighbour mentioned, he should either be locked up…or beaten up till his senses come back! I have no sympathy for such miserable people!

Feels good to have vented this out; but it hasn’t taken away all my anger. I’m saving some for him!

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P.S.: I had been completely caught up in this…and was sooooo not able to blog. The only solace and comfort were reading all your blogs and forgetting this mad man for a few minutes every time one of you posted something. Thanks a ton for that, folks!

(On a lighter note.) In the midst of all this torture is when Vimmuuu calls a dozen times a day to ask his silly questions 😀 So, I HAD to put up that post on his questions (yes, Vimmuuu, I found time for that. I had to! :D)