A region-wide strike was held on our last day in southern India. The purpose of the strike was to protest the demonetization efforts. Demonetization is having an outsized effect on poorer areas, because they don’t have the means to transact electronically. We abandoned our itinerary on the last day because everything was closed. On our way back to the airport, a man stood in the middle of the road to stop the car. He asked our driver: “Why are you driving? There is a strike. You must stop driving.” Our driver explained that we were tourists trying to get to the airport, and the man in the road reluctantly let us pass.
