Kerala model strike
I had first hand experience of ‘Kerala model strike’ early this week during my lecture trip to Calicut. From 6 am to 6 pm, the shops and businesses were closed; no vehicle — public or private — was allowed on the road. It is 6-to-6 because of a court ruling that public life cannot be disturbed during the strike for a ‘whole’ day! That day I was giving a talk at Vimla College in Trichur, about 120 km from Calicut. We had planned to leave at around 6:30 am but were urged by the hotel and the taxi driver that we should be out of the city before 6 am or else — we left at 5:30. An IIM-Calicut professor also left at the same time for the airport. To catch the Bombay flight at 3 pm! She had to sit in a rather poor specimen of an airport for nine gruelling hours. All Calicut natives who were going out of town by plane, bus, or train at anytime during the day, left homes that early. What happened to those who were arriving at Calicut?
