Kannadigas: Good or bad?

You could be a Kannadiga yourself but the odds are somewhat low. Surely you know some Kannadigas? Perhaps your boss is a Kannadiga. Maybe you have friends or neighbors from the state.

In any case, the question that must be burning in your mind is, are Kannadigas good or bad? For instance, Gujaratis are bad. Plenty bad. After the last assembly elections the Gujaratis proved how insensitive they are, all they care about is "Dharma and Dhandho", as Shankarshan Thakur of Tehelka informed us. Many editorials expressed dismay about the moral decay of Gujaratis. Likewise, we came to know from an ecstatic Sagarika Ghose, Goans are very good. But, how about Kannadigas?

Unfortunately you have to wait a few days yet to know the answer. Going by some of the scenarios being charted out by pollsters, the time may never come and we may end up with a hung assembly. In the somewhat likely scenario of a Cong-JD(S) alliance, plenty of editorials will inform you how good Kannadigas are. CNN-IBN will carry specials on Kannada cuisine, the serene beauty of Bangalore etc.

In the somewhat unlikely scenario of BJP coming to power (the once bitten twice shy party has vowed not to form an alliance this time), prepare for an avalanche of editorials informing you that Kannadigas can no longer be trusted. Sagarika Ghose will write blogs. A.G. Noorani will do a psychoanalysis in the historical context and prove that the concrete jungle is creating havoc in the minds of an otherwise peaceful people. Arundhati Roy will hatch conspiracy theories and offer how the mindless urbanization is displacing people and creating trouble, because after all, everything is a problem of "displacement", including throwing Taslima Nasreen out of the country.

In any case, the first phase is over. CNN-IBN has not published an exit poll survey yet, while almost all major newspapers have predicted a lead by BJP. We are also breathlessly waiting for CNN-IBN to do a report on the criminal past of candidates for the second phase of the poll. We do not have too much hope though, because as you know, it could be a generic problem. They just ran a generic story (since the richest candidate turned out to be secular) about too much money flowing in the elections and managed to bring up Bangaru Laxman in that context!