Cerita dari Atap Dunia (Part 3)

• bandh, bandh, bandh... pindahan ke rumah Kak Vemi
• oooo, kaya gini rasanya tinggal di kawasan expat
• makan siang di lazy ringo
• jalan-jalan di jawalakhel
• ternyata jawalakhel handicraft center=tibetan refugee camp
• gue beli baju tibet doooong.... kata bang google, ternyata namanya chhuba
• nyobain naik tuk tuk-nya nepal: kenapa semua orang angkat tangan yah?
• ke pertemuan orang Indonesia dengan duta besar; banyak juga orang Indonesia di Nepal...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandh

Bandh, originally a Hindi word meaning 'closed', is a form of protest used by political activists in some countries in South Asia like India and Nepal. During a Bandh, a large chunk of a community declares a general strike, usually lasting one day.

Often Bandh means that the community or political party declaring a Bandh expect general public to stay in their homes and strike work. Also all the shopkeepers are expected to keep their shops closed and the transport operators like buses and cabs are supposed to stay off the road and not carry any passengers. All this is expected to be voluntary, but in many instances people are terrorized into participating in a Bandh. There have been instances of large metro cities coming to a standstill.

Bandhs are powerful means for civil disobedience. Because of the huge impact that a Bandh has on the local community, it is much feared as a tool of protest.

Bandhs have been criticized because of the disruption of everyday life caused by them. The Supreme Court of India has banned bandhs in 1998, but political parties still organize them. In 2004, the Supreme Court of India fined two political parties, BJP and Shiv Sena for organizing a bandh in Mumbai as a protest against bomb blasts in the city. The state with the maximum Bandhs in India is West Bengal where the average number of bandhs per year is 40-50 (ranging from a couple of hours to a maximum of 2 days per bandh).

A bandh is not the same as a Hartal, which simply means a strike: during a bandh, any business activity (and sometimes even traffic) in the area affected will be forcibly prevented by the strikers.

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Menurut gue, apapun alasannya, bandh adalah bukti keegoisan sekelompok orang. Dan gue merasa sangat beruntung bahwa negeri gue ngga kenal yang namanya bandh. Okelah, kalau negara dalam keadaan darurat, berlakukan jam malam. Atau, kalau kekerasan mulai tak terkendalikan, perintahkan seluruh warga berdiam di dalam rumah masing-masing. Tapi kalau karena seseorang terbunuh lalu seisi kota "ditutup", toko-toko tutup, restoran juga tak buka.... Menurut gue, dari lubuk hati yang paling dalam, itu benar-benar sinting. Belum lagi ditambah transportasi umum dilarang beroperasi di dalam kota. Gimana orang miskin ngga tambah miskin...

Berkali-kali gue bilang sama orang Nepal: you have a great country here, if only without the bandhs... Dan gue sering dibikin bingung sama jawaban orang Nepal tulen yang menyiratkan seakan-akan kalau bandh dilakukan karena seorang penting terbunuh, maka hal itu saaaangat wajar. Berdasarkan akal sehat gue, kalau pembunuhan seseorang bisa jadi alasan dilakukannya bandh, mustinya setiap hari ada bandh. Orang penting atau tidak, nyawa setiap manusia kan sama berharganya!

Teman-teman gue bilang, bandh yang gue alami ini adalah bandh pertama dalam dua tahun terakhir. Duh, mesti yah, ada  bandh tepat di hari yang sama gue lagi ada di Kathmandu. Yah, siapa yang bisa melawan hidup?