It is almost time for us to leave Kathmandu. The work that COCAP wants us to do is not in Kathmandu but rather in the focal point offices. The focal point offices are spread across Nepal and designed to help COCAP better help and communicate with their various member organizations. They also exist to ensure that COCAP is not too Kathmandu-centric.

Preparations for departure have been severely confused by one of Nepal’s national phenomena, the banda. Banda means strike, and Nepal is constantly besieged by strikes that shut down cities, regions and indeed the whole country. In the past 4 years there have been more than 100 days of general strike in Nepal. Whoever calls the strike mobilizes its supporters to stop traffic, threaten or vandalize stores that remain open and generally try to disrupt life and the city.

On the first day I arrived in Nepal there was a banda. Most shops were closed and only vehicles carrying tourists were on the road. The group NEFIN, that called that strike again called for a general strike in Kathmandu for Sunday and Monday of this week. Knowing there would be a strike we decided to delay our departure date from Sunday to Tuesday as no buses leave on strike days. Waking up on Sunday morning we found that in fact there were cars and motorbikes moving around. Arriving at the office we were told that last minute meetings between NEFIN and the Prime Minister had led to the banda being cancelled.

Cancelling one banda allowed us to reach the office, where we promptly learned of another banda that might ruin our travel plans. In this case it was the YCL (Young Communist League) who were blocking the major East-West highway in some remote district to protest Royal Nepali Army troop movements. Headlining a newspaper article about the banda was the line “Five Vehicles Torched, 10 Vandalized.” Upon closer inspection we read that of the 15 vehicles attacked three has been passenger buses. When we asked how long this strike would last and how long we would be kept from out offices in the south west of Nepal. Our query was answered with an ominous “indefinitely.”

Resigned to our fate we stopped thinking about the banda and returned to a long conversation with Vijay about the state of Nepali politics. A couple hours into our information session with Vijay, Ramesh, a COCAP volunteer and journalist, burst into the room to announce good news. Prachanda (the leader of the Maoists) and Prime Minister Koirala had reached an agreement and the banda was ended freeing us to travel. So despite all the drama we could say our goodbyes at the office and head home to pack.

Later that evening while packing for our 5 am departure time we received a phone call. It was Madhab from the office calling to say…surprise surprise, there was going to be another banda. This time people knew a banda had been called, but no one knew who had called it. This ambiguity meant that Anil from COCAP will have to go to the bus station at 4 am to try and buy tickets and we will wait to hear from him at the hotel. So at the moment Tuesday the 12th remains our very tentative departure date. Arrival date? Well…that depends on how many bandas we meet on the way.