Ever since democracy brought adults-only franchise to Nepal ten years ago, a major gain has been the right of every citizen to declare a bandh. However, except for the Marxist-Leninists, most of us have been too squeamish about using this great avenue to express our desire to take a day off. Why, we still have spoil-sport politicians in our country who think we should not have national shutdowns. How can freedom ever be safeguarded if we don\'t vigorously exercise our fundamental human right to stay home and play paploo to register our protest of the Indian occupation of Kalapani?

Look at our neighbour Bangladesh, the hartal superpower of South Asia. They didn\'t get there by pussy-footing with democracy: they had a systematic plan to enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the country with the highest per capita national strikes in the world. And, sure enough, they achieved it: in April, Bangladeshi political parties shut down the entire country cumulatively for 18 days. Democrats in Dhaka have hurtled headlong into hartals and are consistently aspiring to perfect their strike techniques and endurance skills. Not satisfied with 24-hour shutdowns, they now even have four-day hartals in Dhaka. With that kind of a head start, when is Nepal ever going to catch up?

One thing we shouldn\'t do is give up hope. We shouldn\'t say, the Banglas are so far ahead, we can never overtake them. That is having a negative and fatalistic attitude. Our slogan should be: "Yes, the Nepali can. And the Nepali will." We must strike while all our irons in the fire are hot. We will match, or even overtake, the rest of the world by declaring national strikes whenever and wherever we please. Starting tomorrow. The success of a bandh hinges on people voluntarily keeping off the streets. But we must persuade them by training the guardians of our democracy in the art of shattering the windscreens of a speeding car from 25 yards. And who exempted rickshaws and airplanes? How can we defend freedom if we allow planes to fly around with impunity? Are we serious about bringing this country to a halt or not? When we say we want to jam all chakkas, we mean it, and that includes anything running on ball bearings.

I don\'t know what you have planned for Thursday, but I have lined up a busy paploo and beer schedule designed to put pressure on the government to immediately implement my 18-point demand that includes:

Immediate withdrawal of all Indian troops from occupied Kalapani.

Ending all corruption by Friday

Giving the nephew of my wife\'s friend\'s

maternal uncle a job in the Food Corporation

Declaring a two-week bandh during Dasain.