All-India hartal

All India bundt today to protest the drastically increasing prices of everyday items-most drastic being, of course, the 96% increase in the price of rice, the staple of at least 2 billion of the planet's population.
Living in a Communist state, yesterday (May 1) was (goes without saying) a holiday. So long week-end for a lot of workers- and, as long as they left yesterday, probably lots of family visits. Traveling on a strike day can be hazardous if you run into any political zealots, and you most probably will.

Leaders from Kerala appealed to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to exempt the state from the strike, to not hurt the common man even more. But I just tried to reach the Emirates office in Kochi and all I get is answering machines or fax lines. They are most definitely closed.