Here we go again

Today there is a general bandh called by the college students' unions, again in protest for the increased fuel costs. They've been demanding that the government lower the costs, and (go figure, since the price they are charging for fuel is STILL less than what they are paying India to get the fuel) the government isn't lowering the costs. So today everything (all vehicular movement, and all schools, shops, banks, businesses, etc) is shut down. The language teachers haven't shown up yet, and likely most of them won't, though I suspect that the guy I'm supposed to have this afternoon will still come, so I likely will still have one class. But we'll see.

Monday there was another transportation bandh along the main road, again called by the students for the same reason. It was like the one last week where I got stuck in a traffic jam on a back road while walking. That was the 3rd day in a row that I'd walked to class and gotten stuck. I was pretty grumpy by the time I got to class. Thankfully yesterday there was no problem. And today there won't be a problem, because there won't be vehicles, even on the back roads.

I'm not sure where this will end up. Will the students keep protesting indefinitely? Or will the government back down, lower the fuel prices, and go more into debt, so that the fuel crisis becomes even more of a problem? Or will everyone eventually realize that this is inevitable, and just accept it? Imagine if people back home went on strike every time the price of fuel increased! But this is Nepal, and so I'm not sure what will happen. Nobody is. They're all shaking their heads about the strikes, shaking their heads about the increasing fuel costs, shaking their heads about the fuel shortage, and also shaking their heads about the fact that the government can't pay India for fuel. And so, on we go. The kids get a day off school (kind of like a snow day back home), and they'll likely think it's great. At least someone will be happy about it!

Update: Yes, my afternoon teacher showed up, so I did have one class. I took this photo on the way to class. This is the main road that I usually try to avoid, because of the noise and heavy traffic. No vehicles today (except Ambulances, UN vehicles, press vehicles, and other emergency vehicles). And the pedestrians (including me) took advantage of the lack of traffic and walked right down the middle of the road. Very satisfying!