It's been a rather interesting first week in Kathmandu with a lot of getting used to.
So where to being? The temperature, the dust, the endless dogs barking at night...the bandh's, power cuts, and running out of water. Think I might have to cover these one by one.
I was meant to start work on Thursday and go into the office, meet my colleagues and start having meetings. Up I got, rather nervous and out to the road to meet my ride. By lo and behold, I was going to experience one of Kathmandu's many joys, a Bandh. A Bandh is a strike which is generally called by a political party or active group (student group for example) in protest against something. It's a form of social disobedience, and Nepal has become famous for it! Apparently there had hardly been any bandh's for months before I arrived, but I seem to have landed right in the middle of a rather sensitive political situation. The current issue is around the new constitution of Nepal, which having missed deadlines, been pushed back and delayed several times has now been given a final deadline of the 27th of May to be published. And when I say it's been delayed, I don't mean by just a short while, the interim constitution has been extended for two years now, since May 2010 because of failed negotiations between all the involved parties!
The major sticking point at the moment, as far as I understand (and I am not a political person) is around how to construct a new federal Nepal which represents the country's diverse ethnic groups. There are certain groups who are calling for Nepal to be divided into states along ethnic lines, and some say even by caste and there are those who are think the states should be based more on economic viability and diversity. While the congress seems to have decided against ethnic divisions, very wisely I'd say, they still haven't come up with how many federal states there will be - somewhere between 7 and 11 is the current figure, and how to name them. Trying to satisfy all the differnt parties involved, and all the fractions within the parties is clearly not easy, and this is why there have been all the strikes.
During the bandhs people are not meant to go out and are forced to keep shops and businesses closed. Taxi's are scared of driving, because if they break the bandh the car will likely be threatened and damaged. If you need to get somewhere, you have to either walk, or leave before the bandh begins at about 6am or after it finishes at about 5. Only emergency vehicle are allowed out, and apparently you can hire a fake ambulance or police car to get you to the airport or out of the city during a bandh.
The bandh must be incredibly damaging to the country's economy. Tourists can't get out to sites, taxi's don't get their rides and shops have to keep their door shut. How the groups who call these bandhs think it will have a positive out come I am yet to understand. So, within my first week in Kathmandu I already experienced two days of bhand, and am getting to grips with the precarious political situation around me.
Power cuts and dry taps will follow...
So where to being? The temperature, the dust, the endless dogs barking at night...the bandh's, power cuts, and running out of water. Think I might have to cover these one by one.
I was meant to start work on Thursday and go into the office, meet my colleagues and start having meetings. Up I got, rather nervous and out to the road to meet my ride. By lo and behold, I was going to experience one of Kathmandu's many joys, a Bandh. A Bandh is a strike which is generally called by a political party or active group (student group for example) in protest against something. It's a form of social disobedience, and Nepal has become famous for it! Apparently there had hardly been any bandh's for months before I arrived, but I seem to have landed right in the middle of a rather sensitive political situation. The current issue is around the new constitution of Nepal, which having missed deadlines, been pushed back and delayed several times has now been given a final deadline of the 27th of May to be published. And when I say it's been delayed, I don't mean by just a short while, the interim constitution has been extended for two years now, since May 2010 because of failed negotiations between all the involved parties!
The major sticking point at the moment, as far as I understand (and I am not a political person) is around how to construct a new federal Nepal which represents the country's diverse ethnic groups. There are certain groups who are calling for Nepal to be divided into states along ethnic lines, and some say even by caste and there are those who are think the states should be based more on economic viability and diversity. While the congress seems to have decided against ethnic divisions, very wisely I'd say, they still haven't come up with how many federal states there will be - somewhere between 7 and 11 is the current figure, and how to name them. Trying to satisfy all the differnt parties involved, and all the fractions within the parties is clearly not easy, and this is why there have been all the strikes.
During the bandhs people are not meant to go out and are forced to keep shops and businesses closed. Taxi's are scared of driving, because if they break the bandh the car will likely be threatened and damaged. If you need to get somewhere, you have to either walk, or leave before the bandh begins at about 6am or after it finishes at about 5. Only emergency vehicle are allowed out, and apparently you can hire a fake ambulance or police car to get you to the airport or out of the city during a bandh.
The bandh must be incredibly damaging to the country's economy. Tourists can't get out to sites, taxi's don't get their rides and shops have to keep their door shut. How the groups who call these bandhs think it will have a positive out come I am yet to understand. So, within my first week in Kathmandu I already experienced two days of bhand, and am getting to grips with the precarious political situation around me.
Power cuts and dry taps will follow...
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