Monthly Archives: April 2011

Kathmandu Valley Banda After a Long Time (Tweets, for the record)

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Kathmandu experienced a general strike (popularly known as “banda”- closure) today after a long time. I tweeted my thoughts about the strike. I present those tweets (in reverse chronological order) here for my record. I spent a couple of early hours of the day talking to two Maoist lawmakers- one of them was too shy to speak words, he communicated mostly by moving his head- and a Maoist journalist at the residence of one of the CA members and the journalist. The banda was withdrawn sometime around 3 pm which meant that I could go home in a public vehicle like I always do.

And this tweeply:

The person tweet-mentioned me, after reading my tweets, that I would get habitual with the bandas soon. I said: It’s not that I haven’t been habituated [with the banda culture]. There could be no Nepali who is not habituated with the banda.

Related: Nepal Banda and Power Cut

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Registered for Voter ID Card

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election commission registration 1

for voter identity card

Got myself registered with the Election Commission of Nepal this afternoon. They needed my (Nepali) Citizenship Certificate and some additional information that are not printed in nagarikta. I was required to be present at the EC registration office in my village so that the Logitech 1.3 MP web camera attached to a Dell laptop could take my photo. This photo will be printed on the voter ID card that they will give me in near future. A digital fingerprint scanner took my right hand thumb- and index fingerprint.

I am not sure when will I get a chance to vote because the country is not sure about the date of the next election. It should have already happened by now. But the Constituent Assembly- elected to draft and promulgate the constitution that everyone is talking about- is still struggling to reach a consensus that will allow it to bring out the statue and take the peace process to the logical conclusion. I was very enthusiastic when I voted in the CA election back in 2008. The frustrating delay and deadlock hasn’t dampened my spirits.  I will repeat here what I told a representative of National Endowment for Democracy last week: Despite all the disappointment in the public Nepali political class has achieved a lot over the past couple of years. True that people want more to be done but that will take time.

Public expectations are high with every sector but what we should understand is that the society as a whole is also evolving slowly. When the society itself is going through a transformation it can’t expect only a part of to change/act faster. I am looking forward to vote- like I did in 2008.

election commission registration 2

for voter identity card

Aayal Nigam… no oil

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image

This shaded trail leads to the central offices of one of the most controversial and inept government entities (corporations) of Nepal. Seen today. No, they were not staging sit-in protest to demand efficient fuel supply in the country. Attached to this is a key government office where hundreds of people flock every day (during office hours).

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