Today is another half-day hartal. I took a rickshaw to work.
I don't know what happens to these rickshawwallahs on hartal days. Finding the streets free, they go berserk and think they can pedal the rickshaws at any speed they want. Perhaps it is the exhilaration of freedom. My rickshaw almost ran into five people, two children going to school, one taxi coming at a right angle, couple of thela-garis, one van-gari, one tiny bus carrying soft drinks and several tempos with terrified people dangling from the back. I lost count of how many potholes he ran over without slowing down. No doubt I will be sore from this and my blood pressure is probably still high from the tension.
Maybe I will bike to work the next hartal.