While I was roaming amid the sandstone temples of Ranipur-Jharial on a blissful Sunday, Left-wing guerrillas were blocking all roads leading to the western border districts of Koraput and Malkangiri. They had called for an economic blockade in their strongholds on Sunday and Monday and a state-wide bandh on Tuesday, India’s 59th Republic Day, protesting the arrest of Subhasree Das, a propaganda leader of the banned Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). “On Saturday night, the Berhampur-Rayagada route was blocked by felled trees. Bus communication to many places was affected in Ganjam, Gajapati and Rayagada,” Monday's New Indian Express said. The Orissa State Road Transport Corporation halted services beyond Rayagada, cutting off Koraput and Malkangiri. The few private buses in the area too stayed off the road. Even the East Coast Railway cut short Hirakhand Express and
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