298 days of bandhas

A common sight in Nepal are trucks with politically motivated parties of various sizes roaming through the streets with leaflets and megaphones, declaring upcoming strikes. Sometimes proclaiming maoist national strikes which usually includes a total transport strike as well as an attempt o close down public facilities such as schools, shops et cetera.

Last year there were 298 days of strikes. In Nepali simply called Bahndas(close downs)and when I have asked what happends if they are not obeyed that answer on the street was that they might tear down your shop and beat you, or you might be abducted and kidnapped or worse.

Talking about kidnappings, leafing through the The Himalayan Times yesterday the front page news ran with 11 maoists arrested for kidnapping businessman. According to the story, Businessman Pasang Sherpa claimed that he was kidnapped on monday evening by 22 maoists that wanted to interrogate him regarding a truck carrying illegal goods that was impounded by the Revenue Investigation Unit Office and he also said that they stole Rs 3,5 Lakh which has to be considered a substantial amount of money. While he escaped and filed charges leading to the arrests, this is a pretty common piece of news. More so during the insurgency between the maoists and the state of Nepal that lasted between 1996-2006 but still present.

It might be of interest to know that the maoist combattants(to use a neutral words, guerilla or members of the PLA or Peoples Army is common among the maoists themselves or their supporters)won the election that placed them in power in the Maoist-led government that fell in may 2009. Nepal today has a 22-party(and 54 ministers the rumour says, I have to fact check this but it is possible)ruling coalition led by the so-called centrist Communist Party of Nepal(Unified-Marxist-Leninist), UML.

Someone put it well when asked about the situation in Nepal:

- Nepal is a mess!

There are the standing thorny issue of two armies of which one is the roughly 4000 maoist combattants, many of them still in the cantonement guraded and minded by the United Nations Mission to Nepal, UNMIN. Add the peace process in general, the lack of a constitution, the many minorities(both ethically, caste wise and politically) that are voicing claims to be seen, hear and understood in the context of applied self-determination.

And here I am, studying the elusive language of Nepal and learning how to haltingly speak in past tense, how to address and use the three layers of 'respectful' ways of communication- to children, to the closed ones and family and to elders and people in office, power and to whom Nepalis are taught since childhood to show linguistic respect for. Not quite in the position to answer fluently why I am here and what I think of the political situation here so for now I trot around in the irregularities of Nepali verbs and cross my fingers that I will understand more as time goes by.