Mangalore, a city that draws students from all over India and abroad, does not provide enough space to its young people, say some students.
In a recent meeting called to protest the incident, Vijay Kumar and Gurudath Kamath, the two young men of a group that was attacked in the Morning Mist Home Stay, a house rented out for parties on the outskirts of Mangalore, told college students that they went there because the city had no place where they could celebrate their birthdays. They chose the venue as they could not have celebrated the birthday at home or in a club.
Greeshma Rai, a law student, said: “That's very true...there are places but we are not comfortable. Someone is always eavesdropping, staring at you, looking at you, especially when you are with men.” The few clubs in Mangalore are definitely not the kind of place where you want to celebrate a birthday, she said.
Austin, a law student, said: “A home stay is reasonable...there is no other place. It (Mangalore) doesn't (have any such place)... you can't go to Kadri Park and celebrate.” Pubs are difficult to go to because they are expensive and students cannot pay unlike working people. Thirty years ago, people may have celebrated birthdays at home. But times have changed since then. “Your friends are your family,” he said.
Some parents may not agree though. A parent said: “You can celebrate birthdays in restaurants and in the halls attached to hotels. Where is the question of partying in a homestay?”
Even if home were an option, not all students in the city have a home where they can call over friends. “What about those who live in hostels? Can they live 24 hours there?” said Ms. Baglodi, mother of a teenager.
While she was fine with celebration at home, her neighbours were not when her daughter brought home her friends, four boys and two girls.
“Mangalore definitely does not give them (young people) space,” she said.
Deepak Varghese, a medical student, said the city has many students living in hostels who have no place to call home. “So where must they go? Most end up in restaurants. There definitely should be places where people, especially girls, are not thinking ‘will I be attacked by somebody?,” he said.
That thought seemed already to be on the minds of some students. At a protest meeting held in St. Aloysius College a few days ago, one girl said: “I am terrified of going out for fun.”
One student, who has lived all her life in the U.S. and is now in Mangalore, said her friends go to Manipal or Goa if they want a break, especially as clubs in Mangalore are expensive.
However, some young people said that Mangalore was better than other cities. Anjali, a medical student in Mangalore who grew up in Kuwait, said: “This (Mangalore) is way more freedom than in my home state, Kerala.
There is more than enough freedom (here). May be students coming from cities like Bangalore are finding Mangalore difficult.”
