Today has been declared a strike day by a bunch of labor unions in India. I’m told this happens 2 or 3 times a year. The hotel staff and my contacts here are telling me to stay at my hotel all day because no transportation is running and in case any demonstrations turn into mobs. So far it looks pretty peaceful out, but it’s still early here. (India is not an early-to-rise culture, which suits me very well.)

I want to go see the rural area around Kolkata today if I can find a way to get there and back. The rest of my visit will be devoted to spending time with my business contacts, so this is my last chance to explore. For those of you back home who worry about me (you know who you are), I promise I’ll be careful.

[P.S. I ended up staying in my hotel all day. Nobody would take me anywhere for fear of the unions. So the strike turned out to be more like a cold war than a mob. The city is back in business today.]