How crazy thing can get...

So the monsoon has moved in and it has been raining for the past 48 hours... Was able to watch the most amazing lightning storms in the next valley... Also, I haven't been able to get to internet since Wednesday... There has been a bandha (general strike) on my stretch of road since Thursday. On Thursday night a bus driver killed two boys on a motorcycle. It's created a lot of chaos here... the town (mob mentality) decided to torch the bus and chase the driver in to the jungle. He later surrendered to the police but the Maoist or the Communists (local thugs who like to u burn things) have demanded that the police hand him over so that they can kill him. The families of the victims have declared a bandah which is a strike that affects our entire area... it's been going on now for 4 days, so there are no taxis or buses to anywhere. Apparently the thugs decided to burn a police car and an ambulence that tried to drive through the barricade. Also there is a rumor that a taxi driver
had both his legs broken when he tried to circumvent the bandha... this place is stupid. We in the monsatery are in our own little bubble and are safe, so no need to worry. Anyhow, the lack of power (3 days now) has been attributed to the bandha or possibly the fact that the bus was burnt under the powerlines... who knows in this place... it's all so weird. The joke at the monastery is that when this bandha will end, someone will probably declare a week long country wide bandha to protest the fact that this bandha is over.... sigh