Terai

I couldn't actually see his face, just his eyes which suddenly lit up and his eyebrows which arched. The rear view mirror reflected more of his face when he shifted in his seat, perhaps to press the clutch, and shift gears. He was dark skinned, but a dark red-black: someone who could easily become fair if he stayed indoors long enough. He was delighted- I could see it in his eyes, and then his lips and then his teeth, and when the mirror showed his eyes again, for that moment, I had a picture of his whole joyous face.

The news is on the radio right now. Raaaadiiooooo Saaaggaaarrmaathaaa... they are saying the evening news. I don't remember which radio station was playing when I was in the taxi- I think it was Image FM. Although, the news was the same.

"The government has reached an eight point agreement with the protesting Terai parties thereby ending their revolt."

Right now, the radio says that the parties took out rallies in the Terai proclaiming victory, that this meant that Madeshi's issues had finally been addressed by the nation. My driver perhaps felt the same joy but for a different reason. I asked,

"So the Terai Aandolan is over? They have reached and agreement?"

"Yes! It had almost reached famine here.."

The translation does an injustice to his emotions. He said, "Ho! Yaha ta hahakar nai macchina laagya thiyo."

He was happy that prices would drop, that petrol would be available finally, that he could buy instant noodles for his kids, that he wouldn't have to worry about how far prices were going to go up. Perhaps he was also from the Terai- like my driver yesterday who was at pains to explain to me that he was a Chaudhury and that in his village, everyone of every caste and ethnicity lived together peacefully, that he could not understand why these Madeshis were causing so much trouble.

The radio also announced that the electricity authority will be reducing load shedding by 6 hours a week to 42 hours.

So, we will be in the dark only 25% of the time now.