To Bandh or not to Bandh

Doesn't it feel good when you hear about a bandh in the evening of a day somewhere in between a week? And what's good about it is that it's usually declared well before two days of it's scheduled execution. People make plans, such big plans which they found were very difficult to do in two consecutive holidays. People fill the fuel tanks of their vehicles to the maximum, and funny enough, plan to go out on the day of the bandh. People also, and most importantly, thank the guy who was mainly responsible for the bandh call, and god forbid, if he has enough support, he is deified for a day.

Remember, all that happens when the bandh is certain.

What about rumors?? Un-planned bandh's. Bandh's that were apparently declared at 5 pm. Bandh's that "may happen" as a result of some indefinitely fasting politician exchanging words with another indefinitely fasting politician. Or sometimes, bandh's that are supposed to happen just for the sake of it. Over time, "bandh" has become synonymous with "public holiday". But it does not sound so cheerful when the root word is substituted with its newly discovered synonym. Education curriculum goes haywire, there's confusion everywhere, roads get jammed and an unlucky ambulance cries out helplessly in between the jam. There is a line printed in every newspaper - "life thrown out of gear". No, it does not happen on a public holiday.

Bandhs these days are not planned anymore. Maybe they are planned, but secretly in the HQ of the party that's planning it. Yes, political parties plan a bandh these days. Come to think of it, the whole objective of the bandh is  to come out unexpectedly, and quite literally "throw normal life out of gear". More like the proverbial landmines or ninjas. Your choice. Fact remains that when it comes, you ain't seen it coming.

I personally take the particular bandh in two ways : a life saver when I'm in a desperate need of a holiday, or an unnecessary waste of a day when, for the first time in my life, I plan to work/go to college. I had my share of holidays while staying alone in the house, and now when I finally wanted to attend the college tomorrow I start hearing about a potential bandh. When I ask everyone I could, all I get is a response based on percentage : 60-40% college tomorrow, 50-50% college tomorrow. Even if majority of the college students stayed nearby the college, say, within a radius of 7 to 8 Kms, there wouldn't be a profound effect of the bandh on the college working day! As is with every famous college without hostels, it's quite the opposite. What a shame.

I, for one, feel quite lucky to be living within that prescribed radius. It takes around 30 minutes to college from my place, and the whole stretch is hardly known to the outside world. Also, with prior knowledge about the supporters of that bandh (that they're far too lazy to cover areas beyond the heart of the city), I may as well expect a working day for me, which is fine.

To Bandh or not to bandh....... it hardly matters.