Real Status

From one direction, the cars and taxis lined up, snaking their way toward the pump slowly but surely. But not too surely: many cars sat empty as their drivers abandoned them to socialize and pass time during the wait. One taxi driver told us that he waited for eight hours in line the other day. From the other direction, motocycles and scooters queued. If there is one thing that has lightened, it is traffic in the city. You see fewer vehicles on the road, and of those vehicles that you do see, some are simply sidelined as they wait for fuel. I wouldn't say that the streets are clear or calm, but it's an improvement. So, the fuel shortage, with its inconveniences and frustrations, has left at least one camp in Kathmandu happy. Just ask this traffic director why she's smiling under that mas