the bandh

friday teh whole state of West Bengal went on strike....the whole state. its called a "bandh." its kind of mind blowing...think of it, all of michigan just closing down for a day. not for a holiday, but in protest.

the details are a bit sketchy for me...but here's what i've pieced together. TATA (a car company) wanted to put in a manufacturing plant south of Kolkata. some government official said okay, and signed the papers. the problem is that farmers own the land...and they weren't so keen on the idea, even though they'd be paid for the land and family members were garanteed training and jobs. so, the farmers (women in front) made a human fence when they came to work...and the police used tear gas, and rubber bullets. the people scattered, then re-grouped. this time the police used real bullets, and many were injured and killed. the rumor is that the police threw bodies in the river, and so the exact number of people killed is unknown.

there are lots of perspectives on whether the TATA factory is good or bad - but there is a general out-cry against the police action, and killing innocent people. so, the whole state went on strike. all stores and transportation was closed down (except the metro, and government busses). although, its a bit risky to be out, cuase there are also protests going on - that aren't always peaceful.

we live quite far from the metro, so we couldn't have traveled anyway, but we cancelled our plans for the day. we hung out inside, relaxed, read ect. in the evening we went for a walk (the bandh was 12 hours, from 6 AM to 6PM).

the day was really quite. it was nice. it was easier to sleep in without the constant honking...and the day was nice and peacful with the honking!

yesterday we spent the day at Gita's (she works for Sari Bari)...which i'll tell you all about in another post. I will say the day was peacful...and good. Gita lives in a village, so it was quite and there were lots of plants! i've got to get going to language class