Just wanted to give the real deal on some of the difficulties we face in living here. We are experiencing a phenomenon (maybe novel to this country?) called the bhunda. Since our arrival, we've gone through about 6 bhundas. Usually, one group or another gets mad about something, and they want it to change. The answer is to call a bhunda. It could be nationwide or local only. It means basically that they go on strike. But in their strike, they want to affect as many people as possible, so they set up roadblocks and don't let any vehicles pass. They force (using scary tactics) businesses to close. Nothing is purchased. Nothing is sold. Nothing happens. Usually these are just for one day. Okay, that's not really a big deal. The kids are happy because they miss school (remember, no vehicles - school buses included), merchants aren't losing too much money and a farmer's produce isn't going to rot in one day if it isn't sold at market. One day is okay. One day off might even be a little fun.
We have been under a nationwide bhunda for six days straight. No vehicles, no shops, no school, nothing. As you can imagine, this causes A LOT of problems. Fortunately, we knew it was a possibility, so we stocked up on essentials. BUT there are so many people who can't afford to do that! Tensions get higher with each day that passes, and clashes between the bhunda group and others are becoming more frequent (as per the newspaper). In some parts of the country, there are no fresh vegetables whatsoever. When the government tried to truck in vegetables, they were stopped and the produce thrown into the street. It's getting tough for the folks around here.
How has this affected us? Surprisingly, very little. It's so strange to live with all this chaos around you and really feel very little of it. Obviously, we can't go anywhere by car or motorbike. We are staying very close to home and monitoring news reports of stuff happening in our area. We are trying to be encouraging to those that we meet around our neighborhood. They are asking many questions - Does this happen in your country? What do you think of what is happening?
If this doesn't end soon, we are going to be very much affected by it. In order to stay in our country longer, there are very important papers we have to complete. We can't do that with all the offices closed, so we may have to find a way to exit the country. How will we do that, you ask? It will involve many hours of pedaling by bicycle rickshaw to get us to the border. It should be an adventure to say the least! We have four more days of wait and see. After that, we have to make a decision - stay or go.
Addition - During the writing of the above, the electricity went out so I wasn't able to post it immediately. During the electricity out phase of the evening, we received a call from our good friend, Umesh, who informed us that the bhunda was called off! We were so excited! We are feeling good about navigating our way successfully through our first national crisis! Today, we went down to the market and tried to help a few of the vendors by buying some items. We were so excited to see the hustle and bustle of the market area back again! Hopefully, we'll remain bhunda free for a while!
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