Up Close and Personal

Namaste Friends!

Last night things got "tense"! The Maoists increased their Protests, extortion of shop and business owners and Westerners were advised to "stay off the streets"! The "heat is on" and many of the "first timers" here now realize that this is not some "made for T.V. movie"! Skirmishes broke out between students and Maoists. It was "Final Exam Day" for High School seniors. The Maoists came to the main testing center and tried to break windows and furniture and tear up the tests. The Students "fought back" and drove the Maoists off the site!! So....the "tide seems to be turning" led by "The Educated" who know that Change is needed but that this is not the Way!
I was sitting in the small lobby of the Potala Guest House(where I have stayed on all my tips here). I was talking to two people from Italy and a Frenchman....when a large "disruption" broke out one floor up at the small privately owned restaurant attached to the Hotel. We heard glass breaking, shouting and someone yelling for help!
I ran upstairs to see a Tibetan man lying on the floor bloodied and beaten. The owner of the restaurant had failed to "heed" the Maoist's warning to keep their business closed! The result "A Beat Down"! The "westerners" declined to get involved yet, it was obvious that this man needed help! We brought him down to the lobby and I asked the hotel staff for a Med Kit. They produced a "rudimentary" box of supplies and I proceeded to treat his numerous wounds. The staff said that the only means of transport to the Hospital was by "human powered" rickshaw about an hour away.He seemed to have a concussion as his pupils were "not right" and he was somewhat incoherent. We helped him into the rickshaw and off he went!
Here is what I emailed my friends back home ...." The Maoists and the current Leaders....and any group, who desires to "be in power"....have one "Agenda"....as have many other leaders and "want to be leaders".... now and throughout history. They "placate" the masses with "idle promises", yet never produce! Their "rhetoric" implies " Better Times For All".
But....in the end....it is all about Pride,Greed,Fear,Ignorance and Desire! And "the common, hard working people, pay "the ultimate price"! Sound familiar?
Tomorrow, I am leaving Nepal....but I will return in a short time,striving in some small way.... with my Nepalese brothers and sisters to "Make A Difference!"