When a Friday turned into a nightmare for Coimbatoreans

It was a Friday (September 23) people in Coimbatore wouldn’t forget for a long time. A right-wing outfit functionary’s ( C Sasikumar of Hindu Munnani was hacked to death by a gang on Thursday night) murder and the riot that followed, threw normal life out of gear in the textile city so much so that Coimbatore went for a complete shutdown. Unruly mobs went on a rampage vandalizing public property, thus, creating panic among public.As public transport too stopped plying, citizens were left with no option, but to walk to their respective destinations. Many spent a sleepless night despite policemen swarming the city to control the situation.
Dentist Herbert Prince tells CT that the entire episode reminded him of the edgy situation back in 1998 when a series of bomb blasts ripped through the city. “Our business was just booming and we had to face an angry mob that wrecked everything on their way. On Friday morning, I received a call from one of my patients asking me to avoid going to my clinic in Town Hall. The slain functionary’s post-mortem was happening at the Government Hospital near Town Hall and all roads leading to the hospital were blocked. Signboards near my clinic and vehicles parked outside them were smashed by the mobs. I had to cancel all my appointments and reschedule them. Though the situation was comparatively better on Saturday, my assistants at the clinic refused to turn up as their parents were scared to send them to work. My wife had to assist me at the clinic.”
Businessman Vijay Krishnan had to spend the night at Madurai, courtesy the unrest in Coimbatore. “I had gone to Madurai for a business meeting and was planning to return to Coimbatore on Friday night. My wife called me on Friday morning and briefed me about the alarming situation in the city. Since we reside near Thudiyalur (where the functionary was cremated), the situation was quite tense throughout the day. She couldn’t even source milk for the children and groceries for the family as all the shops in the locality downed their shutters. As the condition worsened at night, I had to stay back in Madurai and get back home on Saturday morning after the situation was brought under control.”
Jayaraman K, on the other hand, had to arrive late at work as he couldn’t find any buses to his workplace in the city. “I travel from Karamadai at 5 am every morning as I have to be at work by 7 am in Peelamedu. But on Friday, despite waiting for two hours, I couldn’t get a bus. As I waited, I saw members of a political outfit arriving at the Karamadai market on a tipper lorry and asking everyone to down the shutters. The vendors didn’t want to as they had already suffered huge losses due to the bandh over the Cauvery issue last week. But they had to eventually give in. I then headed to the railway station and took a train from Mettupalayam.”
Though schools and colleges had declared holiday on Friday, students had their share of woes, too. Sharan R, who was all excited as his quarterly examinations were coming to a close, had to head back home, after the final exam got postponed. “I left home early and reached school well ahead of time. I wanted to wrap up the exam at the earliest as I had plans for the evening. But when I reached my school, I saw students and parents waiting outside the campus. The school authorities didn’t want to function considering the safety of the students. At 8.30 am, we were informed that the school had declared holiday. The exam was postponed and now, I have to go through the grind once more.” For homemaker Lakshmi N, the agony of waiting for her children to come back home safe was never-ending. “I was panicky throughout the day as both my children had gone to work and I was getting these terrifying updates about the situation. I couldn’t even eat properly. It reminded me of 1998 when there was communal tension in the air. I hope the public doesn’t have to face such situations in future and peace prevails in the city.”