Ok, so it hasn’t taken long for the usual challenges of life in Kathmandu to rear their ugly heads! Yesterday (Sunday) I was greeted at breakfast with the news that “today is strike”. In typical Nepali fashion there was no warning of this coming but it means the entire valley goes into shutdown. Most shops and businesses are closed, and there is no public transport, including taxis. As I had planned a number of meetings that involved me travelling to various places around the city my schedule was immediately thrown into disarray!
But, as they say in Nepal, “ke garne”! (“What to do!”)
I therefore spent most of yesterday making phone calls to rearrange meetings which was somewhat frustrating. However the upside was that I was able to spend the rest of the day leisurely sitting in a garden café drinking tea and reading. I guess when I put it that way its pretty hard to claim I was hard done by!
Today I had the great fortune of meeting our old friend ‘the bagman’. He was standing by his stall, in the same position as he always is, and gave me an enormous smile and greeting as he always does. I was particularly glad to meet him as I am hoping he will be able to sew some lightweight bags to be used for carrying notebooks etc. We will then use these for the various teacher training courses and other programs that we run outside of typical school programs. I figure it also gives him a good piece of business that he would probably not otherwise get. He tells me on average at the moment, when tourism volume is quite high, that he sells around 10 small bags and maybe 20 purses a day. This really is nowhere near enough for his family to get by and it is frustrating to think that he probably takes home less each day when he is trying to do something to earn money than the beggars in other parts of Thamel who make money by irritating people to the point that they pay them to go away. Anyway, that’s my little rant for the day!
So, tomorrow brings some (rescheduled) meetings and probably lots of typically unexpected things as is always the case in this crazy place! The good news is this means there will no doubt be lots more for me to write about in the days to come!
2 comments:
Can you explain what Strikes are and why they happen? How often do they happen, and what do they achieve?? Love reading the news - Simon
Hehe, very fitting I should answer this question today - for today there is another strike!
Strikes in Nepal started as the Maoists way of gaining attention for their plight by inconveniencing everyone. Generally most shops, schools, businesses and government offices must close for fear of attacks. The same goes for all public transport - some taxis can operate in some areas for tourists. Private cars risk being stoned or worse if they venture onto the streets.
Because the Maoists have had such success in their demands being met through this method, now every minority, interest group etc calls a strike when they do not get their own way. The government has absolutely made a rod for its own back here. This means that strikes generally happen every week or so - my current trip is the perfect example, there was a strike last Sunday and now one today, the following Friday. The most frustrating problem is that you usually do not know there will be a strike until the morning it happens which completely stuffs up plans for everyone - especially tourists who may have planned a vehicle to take them somewhere special, depending on where this is they may have to abandon their plans. (Seeing as everyone is doing it, perhaps the tourists should band together and also have a strike of their own!!!)
I am no in anyway denigrating the legitimacy of the plights of people in this country, but an example of the ludicrous extent to which strikes have been taken is shown in a recent example. All schools in Nepal were recently closed for about 2 weeks by teachers striking for various reasons. Hard to take seriously the demands of a group who claim children's education is their priority when they have closed all the schools. Then, in a hilarious twist, another group counter-striked on behalf of the students demanding their right to an education!!!
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