How my TN plate led to a violent encounter in Bengaluru a few days ago

In all this, however, we all knew that staying silent was the best way to deal with the drunk fanatics.

BHPian that_sedate_guy recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Friends, I'm still shaky as I type this. Not because I'm traumatised or anything but because I feel sick to the stomach like I'm going to throw up any time.

My wife and I went to the book fair hosted at Kalyani Kala Mandira (nice book fair by the way). So, anyway, we went along with one of my friends and her husband in our Scorpio. When we came back to my friend's house to drop her off and unload the books, it was nearly 1 AM. Her house is in Challagatta near Domlur.

We were unloading the books when a car with two men inside came there and signalled for us to get out of the way. When we tried to reverse, they aggressively tried coming closer and closer in a threatening manner. I saw a cigarette in the co-passenger's hand and figured out that it was a bunch of drunk goons. We let them pass and then resumed our job. They turned around and came back and shouted at us again. I could hear them shouting something about Tamil Nadu along with some expletives. We went away from there and parked at a different spot with space for them to pass. That's when all hell broke loose.

They got out and shouted in Kannada but I easily figured out what was going on. They asked where we were from and then shouted, "So you don't know Kannada huh? You think you can come in here without knowing Kannada huh? Look at these (Explicit), they don't know Kannada". The guy who was driving the car slapped my friend's husband and the other guy landed a blow on my face and eye when I was still seated. They were drunk out of their minds and were mouthing so many foul things about my wife and my friend.

We got out and then he pointed at my wife and asked who she was. I replied that she was my wife and immediately he went, "Sorry sister, I thought you were his (explicit)"

At this, my friend got enraged and shouted. BAD MOVE, I know but she couldn't contain herself. The goons got pissed off and caused a huge ruckus all the while shouting that we are Tamil people and we do not belong in Karnataka.

It took two hours of neighbours trying to pacify the drunkards for them to leave us alone. We were tired, scared for our safety and extremely drained emotionally. We had no one there, we were outsiders who had been singled out just for having a TN-registered number plate. I've had people misbehave after seeing my number plate but this was on a different level. We decided to stay the night and leave in the morning because they might still be there somewhere trying to cause trouble.

In the morning, I did my routine walkaround of the car before getting in and noticed that they had not left us alone after all. Two of the four wheelcaps in my Scorpio were broken and the front right tyre was deflated.

I couldn't believe people would stoop so low in their lives that they had to resort to petty acts of anger. Luckily I bought a portable tyre inflator from Agaro just two months ago and that helped tremendously in inflating the tyre in a few minutes.

After a lot of chaos and other people pitching in, they left but not before proclaiming that they had the locals, the cops, everyone on their fingertips and again shouting that we're just "(very abusive expletives) Tamil people"

With a very, very heavy heart, I'm writing this.

I feel DISGUSTED by the internal racism in India. It has been nearly 12 hours since the incident happened and I still feel nauseous.

Of course, there'll be exceptions to all that I mention below but, Karnataka vehicles ply on Tamil roads ALL the time and no one bats an eye. I've lived in Uttarakhand where everyone minds their own business. I've been to Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, and Sikkim and I've driven a lot in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi and no one acts all high and mighty about their state and actively tries to kick out people of other states.

But Bangalore? I don't get why these people behave like this. This is not the first time I've experienced "Number plate based treatment" in Karnataka. It has happened numerous times in Bangalore and quite a few times in Mysore and other places around there. So many of these experiences personally have made me realise that apart from the need for my career, unfortunately, Karnataka will be the last place I would ever want to visit or live in. Ever.

Frankly, I don't even feel like going to Bangalore for work anymore. My wife got so deeply hurt from being called many vulgar names that she said she doesn't even want to ever try a Bangalore-style chicken dish from a cookbook we bought yesterday.

I feel extremely DISGUSTED and extremely upset that my wife and my best friend also had to hear so many ugly and vulgar words spewed at us.

In all this, however, we all knew that staying silent was the best way to deal with the drunk fanatics. My friend lost her cool initially but I instructed her sternly to keep silent as well. It might have prevented the situation from further escalation. Or not, who knows?

Sorry for venting out so vehemently and thanks to whoever reads this. Sorry if my experience shared does not resonate with other's experience in the place but Bangalore/KA is simply not for me or my family. Also, people with similar experiences, feel free to share.

Mods, if there's another appropriate thread where this will make more sense, please move it as see fit. Thank you.

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