A legend passes away, with him a way of life

I am in mourning. Though, much fun was had when i immensely irritated my punjabi roommate by insisting on watching Annavaru on a buffalo, singing those immortal lines " Yamme ninage saati illa". But the death of a legend and the violence that unnecessarily erupted in Bangalore is no laughing matter.

I have never been a Rajkumar fan (except some of his movies, which i liked), but the man was a legend, for the sheer amount of love and respect he generated among millions. He belonged to an era of true blood kannadiga, which is a fast vanishing species.

Kannadigas are by nature docile and laid back. Kannadiga of yore worked in a 9-6 job, was honest, hardworking, decent and never over the top. Nightlife meant lisneting to Bhimsen joshi or Subbalakshmi on radio or watching girish karnad plays and reading kuvempu/shivaramkarnath poems/novels.

But at the turn of the decade IT came and changed a way of life. Lot of young people from neighbouring states started entering looking for oppurtunities and the Bangalore city became cosmopoliton (which is good).Too much money was seen too fast.

So my generation of Kannadigas became pub hopping,beer guzzling, english/hindi speaking (which is good again), over the top and showy bunch of individuals. Slowly the kannada identity was lost and the only link to the old and the new was Dr Raj. He was link for the new generation of youth to a bygone innocent world of humility and decency. Kannadigas could forget anything but not Dr Raj and what he represented.

Alas the link is now broken. So what kannadigas are feeling now is just not a loss of a loved actor but a loss of an identity. Rest in peace Annavare.