Cult of Personality

I can't decipher what they're saying as it's all local dialect but they're certainly loud enough to be heard; cruising down our street in a white van equipped with two extra-large bullhorns spewing into the air at full volume what I can only assume is a call to their Communist agenda. With a big red flag billowing out behind them, the Maoists have apparently invaded our otherwise quiet Samakushi neighborhood.

Like Napoleon, but without the horse, I ran through the house shouting to Hamid, "The Maoists are coming! The Maoists are coming!" I wanted to point out these exotic interlopers like a tourist appreciating the local flavor - but my excitement was immediately sobered by the realization that these are 'the bad guys'.

I don't pretend to understand the politics they engender or the space these guerilla rebels occupy in the culture we're currently camped out in but it certainly was a bit of a surprise, and admittedly quite interesting, to look up from my work to spy the giant red symbol of Communism flying gaily in the morning breeze just outside the compound walls beyond our garden.

Fortunately, they did not stop in for tea.