A Country Stops
Your Narrator's First Hartal (Strike)

Bangladesh is a strange place. When one of the country's two political parties holds a majority in parliament, the other party fights like hell to oust them, even at the expense of the already shattered Bangladeshi economy. Today I get to experience my first nation-wide transport strike, called a Hartal, aimed at the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

As if it weren't already difficult enough to get around Bangladesh. Now the workers in the country's only two forms of public transport-- bus operators, and rickshaw drivers--are calling it a day before they even get started. Luckily I don't have anywhere to go and I have the second season of the Simpsons on DVD.

But then again...there are busses travelling down the road. Maybe the "opposition" realizes that Hartals harm everyone.