Report from Nepal
it's a little 11am nepal time the next day. here's a quick update (stuff i saw as well as heard):
i.) just got back from the american embassy to get my us visa. the embassy had not only nepali visa applicants, but also americans and other foreign nationals trying to contact home since both nt and utl are down.
ii.) the drive to lazimpath from jawalakhel at 7:30am, and the drive back at 10am was
normal. army and police are on the streets, but nothing out of the ordinary.
iii.) phones are still dead. both land lines as well as cell phones.
iv.) no news of a curfew whatsoever.
v.) no news of major tordford and/or disturbance either.
vi.) the airport supposedly reopened last night. two flights from india flew in.
vii.) the night was calm as well. my brother got back from a wedding party at 2am. security personnel were on the streets then (they are usually on only till midnight).
viii.) a pro-king rally was reported yesterday evening. ix.) girija reportedly fled
to the indian embassy before the ghoshana yesterday morning and has been
hiding there.
x.) most of the people i have met and talked to so far are glad in a way that this happened, since the situation was getting worse anyways.
and here is some opinion/reflection:
i am surprised there have not been any major protests/tord-fords yet. maybe
it's because the people behind organizing all these protests/tord-fords are
under house arrest and cannot communicate since the phones are down. once
again, this is not a fact, but just putting two and two together. in one
way, shutting communications down has had an alarming effect especially to
those people outside of nepal (thanks to the alarming reporting methods of
news agencies like the bbc and cnn), since they have not been able to call
home. but think about this... had the phones not been shut down, half of
kathmandu would probably be burning now. we have seen it time and time
again... from hritik roshan to the iraq beheadings.
more as time and conditions permit.
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