Veni, vidi, Bangalore!

Knock knock?
- Who's there?

Ben.
- Ben, who?

Bengalore which is shut down for the day ... there's a Bandh, a state-wide strike!

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Which means, there're no cabs at the airport. Oh, woe unto me! No friggin' cabs, and I'm stuck at the airport in this new, strange place. Oh wait, there's this strange feeling of deja vu all over again ... Not too long ago I was in a similar (if reversed) predicament...

• <=18AUG06: Increasing shortage of petrol in Kathmandu, and correspondingly increasing lines at the petrol pumps...
• 18AUG06: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC, govt. regulated) decides on an instant increase in petrol prices by 25% ... Rs. 67 --> Rs. 83
• 19AUG06: Revolts in Kathmandu -- another Bandh -- tyres burning everywhere, bricks & rocks strewn about on city streets, no street traffic is safe!
• 20AUG06: City-wide revolts continue. But hey, I'm going to fly to Delhi today. Yayy, me!

Obviously, I'm not going to drive / be driven to the airport. The public isn't going to look lightly at people driving around when they're all so upset w/ the petrol prices. Ok, I'm gonna ride to the airport then ... yup, ride a bicycle.



Someone's gotta bring the bike back, so he's gonna sit in the back ... yayy, double-loading, like in the good ol' daze. Oh right, and I'm balancing my small suitcase on the handle-bars ... neat, eh? Should be a circus acrobat or something!!

So, I set off ... oh, I so shoulda taken pix! After 10-15mins, I see a cab, did some negotiating -- he wanted Rs 1,000, but settled for Rs 800 for a one-way ride to the airport. Phew, boy, am I glad I don't have to bike all the way to the aiport!


We hit the streets ... erm ... it's starting to get a bit scary now ... there are very, very few vehicles on the road. People are walking all over the streets ... a lot of them are staring at the cab, and me. Crap!! I just lay low, and not look out the window. The driver's got the blinkers on .. and he's going as fast as he can. Still I can hear a few guys yelling out in our direction: तँलाई आज taxi चड््नु परेको ? And I agree with them, did I really need to be in a cab that day ?? Anyway, we made it to the airport that day w/o incident, the driver going as fast as he could navigating around groups of people on the street, avoiding all the major roads, going through all possible alleyways, stopping and asking every so often if there were groups of protesters ahead... Wow, glad to have made it to the airport alive ... and, really dumb of me to venture out on a day like that!!