A Note from One of the Curators Who Was On Ground When the Books Were Taken Away
It is important we document every reader's and curator's experience from that day: to build public discourse around misuse of power against a bunch of harmless readers on 21st December
The more I think about it, the angrier and sadder I feel. While I understand the authorities’ concerns about crowd size, this isn’t just about a “didn’t get permission” issue, as most people seem to think. What happened goes far deeper, and I feel it’s important to highlight that as well.
The accusations we faced were baseless and deeply unfair. We were accused of hiding drugs under wraps—an absurd claim. Something as simple as a Secret Santa was painted as a “religious” event, and our language skills were questioned, as if not speaking Kannada disqualifies us from being part of the city’s public spaces. These weren’t just logistical concerns; they were moral policing at its worst.
What makes this even more infuriating is how the official statement blames the number of attendees (that too, falsely) while conveniently ignoring the harassment the curators faced inside their office.
This is why I feel it’s so important to speak up. The narrative being presented reduces this incident to a matter of permissions, but the truth is, we were targeted with baseless insinuations and moral judgments that overshadow everything we tried to achieve.
It’s exhausting to deal with this, but I think we owe it to everyone who supports and believes in what we do to tell the whole story. It’s also about the values we stand for and the unjust treatment we were subjected to.
I also understand that saying all of this in our official statement might take this issue into an unending debate and might invite more trouble for our weekly reading. But I just wanted to say how I feel about this whole thing. I can’t stop thinking about this and I feel even less safer to be in this city now.
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If you were present on 21st December and wish to share your version, you can write to us at cubbonreads@gmail.com
How ironical that exactly when I was going gaga over the democratic nature of Bangalore’s public parks (open to all and open from all sides); how parks should actually be, an activity being held in one such, Cubbon Park, was besieged by the authorities, the so called power, trying to maul a very decent and pleasurable exercise, reading.
We should join forces to stand against anybody who questions the freedom to read, more so publicly, even if it be silent or loud; nothing and absolutely nothing should rob us of this freedom. They are always afraid of people increasing themselves in knowledge. More power to you #CubbonReads
I will revisit again for sure!
We should turn this episode to come together and fight to reclaim all public spaces. BBMP has changed the park timings for all parks that it runs, and yet most city parks don't follow the official timings. Cubbon Park (not run by BBMP) shuts at an appalling 6 PM.
Any chance we can list out all the things that need to change, come together and protest until we get what should be ours?