The Bandh/Bundh

I spent the entire day Wednesday in the apartment. That sounds like the prelude to me saying I was sick, right? Nope...I'm perfectly healthy. The reason I stayed inside on Wednesday was because of the Bandh. Or maybe the Bundh. Depends on whose transliteration you use, I guess. I have it written in Hindi on my whiteboard, but I don't think I can put that in the blog. Interesting transliteration fact: The "H" at the end makes the "d" harder. In other words, w/o the H you say band. With the H you say ban-*d* almost a second syllable.

Anyway, bundh literally means "closed"; it was a work stoppage or general strike. Why? Because the central government of India wants to move the town of Belgaum, on the Karnataka/Maharashtra border, from Karnataka state to Maharashtra. Not surprisingly, Karnatakans don't like that idea. (Karnataka is where Bangalore is. Maharashtra is where Mumbai/Bombay is.)

What is all this really about? Not taxes. An important thing to know is that Indian states were set up along lines of cultural differences. Each state has 3 official languages: English, Hindi, and the local language. For example, the local language in Tamil Nadu is Tamil; the local language in Karnataka is Kannada, etc. Originally, Belgaum was part of the "Bombay State". In 1956 things were re-organized and Belgaum was assigned to "Mysore State". Those two states are now
Maharashtra and Karnataka. M. state has been protesting ever since the re-assignment saying that there are more Maharashtrians in Belgaum than K-ians.

A bunch of things happened to lead to a Bandh. A famous movie star (Rajkumar) died last year; he was a big pro-Karnataka supporter. He was very well loved (his death caused riots), and his memory is being invoked in this dispute. In addition the coalition in power in Karnataka is perhaps a bit shaky right now. Some speculate that by showing support for a Bandh they may regain some popularity.

So what happened is that nearly all businesses in the city closed. The hi-tech engineering places closed (but are making it up on Saturday). Call centers transferred calls to other cities. There was little transportation; few shops open, etc. Cable companies turned off all non-Karnataka channels (depriving many of their daily soap opera). There were supposed to be demonstrations, but apparently nothing got out of hand. According to the news, "Government employees' association is supporting the strike and so are auto-drivers' unions, but buses will
ply" I think they actually ply-ed on a holiday schedule.

I think that this is just one example of what a passionate land India is. We think of ourselves as passionate, I think, but can you imagine people in, say, Berlin NH going on strike for a day to protest the the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard going to Maine rather than NH? Maybe the
difference is that we are talking about real issues of culture here and not "just" economic issues (as in NH vs ME).

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So today the Bundh is over and I am at work in my temporary office. Besides writing this, I am doing my normal work, saying hello to a lot of old and new friends and aquaintences, finding my way around, and getting used to the time zone.

I had cornflakes for breakfast in the apartment, but I went to lunch in the cafeteria here. All Indian food, not surprisingly. We got papaya, banana, rice, and some really delicious sauces; a green pea soup, some dal (lentil soup), yoghurt (aka curds), and some fresh hot chapati (flat
breads; think tortilla) and a nice dessert of some sort...a creamy sauce/pudding of some sort. Yes, we ate with our fingers (although we also had spoons for the pudding and soup; I sort of alternated between using the chapati to dob up stuff and using the spoon). There is a special wash room to wash your hands afterwards (since they are greasy and/or saucy).

That's it for now...