Thursday, 21st September 2006

Once more we had an early start - this time we left home at 4.45am. We travelled to a bus station and waited for about 30 minutes for bus (it was late). We drove to the next bus stop and the driver realised he had got some wrong passengers with him and was missing others! We had to wait and had a further 30minutes delay. When finally left Kathmandu we started to make good time.
We travelled through spectacular scenery. Magnificent mountains overlooked fast flowing rivers. The flow of the water was complemented by waterfall upon waterfall. There were many curves in the narrow road. It was a blessing for me that I was able to sit in the front. It was also a blessing that the traffic was quite light.
After travelling for about 4 hours, we arrived at a junction and they said the road runs in an East - West direction. Half an hour later we stop for lunch and the driver gives us some good news - we should be at our destination by 4pm, if nothing happens.
The journey begins again and I am happy and relieved that the journey will soon end.
Then something happened!
Suddenly the traffic stopped. After waiting for about 15 minutes we got back into the van. Traffic moved and our driver began to overtake slower vehicles. Everything came to a halt 5km later.
At 6.30 that morning a truck hit a schoolboy on his bike. The lad was dead. His corpse still lay on the ground under a plastic sheet. A pool of blood was visible. Pupils from his school refused to let his body be moved until a solution, as far as compensation was concerned, were found. They had blocked the road and traffic couldn’t pass. We had walked 3km to the scene of the accident and much more traffic was behind us.
The police, of whom there was not a few (20+ officers) did nothing.
After waiting for a few hours excitement went through our camp! The Mau’s has arrived and the problem would be solved within minutes. Could we hope?
Within about 20 minutes we were in the van and rolling again.
After years of terrorising the population, the Maoists are now showing themselves to be benevolent helpers. Their benevolence is bringing results whereas official authorities are struck with inertia.
After a 4-5 hour hold-up, the journey continued.
We eventually reached our destination at about 9pm. We were warmly greeted by our hosts and given a good meal. Power went off at 9.30pm and remained for the rest of the night.
I collapsed in my bed after being up for about 17-18 hours. I closed my eyes hoping for a good night’s sleep.