The strike

On Tuesday 27th April, the whole of India stood still. Well, almost.

There was no public transport in Kochi, apart from a few bold autorickshaws, and many of the shops and restaurants were closed until 6pm (I assume they didn't have the staying power for the whole day!).

Many people who I asked about the strike didn't seem to know why they were striking, and others had slightly different versions of the truth. I guess the backwaters seem a million miles away from the big cities.

When he stopped by me, I asked one lone rickshaw driver in Fort Cochin about the strike, and indeed who he was not striking. He, whose name was Salu, told me the strike was lead by a group of 13 political groups in protest of the rising cost of living across India (something that I hadn't considered myself, as comparatively India is insanely cheap compared to anywhere I've ever been). The aim was to send a message to the current Government, although it struck me that maybe they should focus their efforts on one thing at a time, rather than a general cost protest - this may have been done before though.

When I asked Salu why he was not striking, he said he had lived in Kochi all his life and was not afraid like the other people here. Maybe he was trying to act like the tough guy in front of me, but, by implication, if you did not strike you risked a beating.

I wondered what effect it had in the big cities, such as Delhi and Mumbai, and how much money the country as a whole lost in that one day.

Let's hope the Government is listening!