Karnataka and Tamil Nadu may be sparring over the sharing of Cauvery waters with sporadic incidents of violence targeted at either communities, but there are also heartwarming stories coming out from the neighbouring states, one of courage and brotherhood and the other of love.
A Kannadiga lorry owner came to the rescue of drivers of KPN Travels who found themselves stranded after 45 buses belonging to Tamil Nadu based private operator were burnt down by a mob of around 200 people at D'Souza Nagar off Mysuru Road on Monday.
The lorry owner took the drivers safely in a sealed container lorry in the wee hours of Wednesday, according to The New Indian Express.
A Kannadiga, B Shivana who runs his transportation business in the city helped 31 drivers to cross the border and enter Hosur in his lorry. D Damodharan, president of Bengaluru Tamil Sangam told The New Indian Express that after the horrific incident, the lorry drivers had rushed to the Rajarajeshwari Nagar police station. They were worried and wanted to return to Tamil Nadu.
The drivers preferred to stay at the station till midnight. They hail from Salem, Dharmapuri and Tirunelveli districts in Tamil Nadu. However, the sub-inspector said that he cannot help them as he was unable to contact the senior officials.
When Shivanna, the owner of Shiva Travels came to know about the state of these drivers, he contacted Ramachandran, founder and president of the five-year-old Kannada Tamil Harmony and Social Welfare Trust.
Narrating the incident, Ansar, Manager of KPN Travels said that they just wanted someone to transport them across the border. After that, they would be able to take the drivers from there. He added that Shivanna did not charge them anything for dropping them.
Shivanna first picked up four drivers from D’souza Nagar around 9:30 pm and the rest of the drivers from the police station at 1:30am. Shivanna then drove the container lorry and dropped all 31 drivers at the KPN office in Hosur around 3:30am on Wednesday.
This story was first reported by S Lalitha in The New Indian Express.
In another instance, R Prema, (25) walked several kilometres to reach Hosur near the Bengaluru border. Her wedding was planned to take place on Wednesday with a man living in Tamil Nadu.
She told The Times of India that she was coming from Bengaluru and walked several kilometres to reach Hosur. She said she travelled by bus and also took an auto on the way to get to her wedding. She added that about 600 people were invited for her wedding but only 20 will be able to attend the function after stray incidents of violence broke out in both states over the Cauvery dispute.