What Time is it? : Time Changing in Morocco and Nepal

So, the annoying topic of the day is how Morocco has decided to follow Daylight Savings Time starting this morning. This is not like the US where even though it is annoying, it happens every year, so we're used to it. This is kind of an "experiment." Morocco has tried it before, but that was years ago. Of course there wasn't any referendum or anything ( and if there had been, we already know what the "official" outcome would have been,) just an announcement last week or so that clocks would be moving up an hour starting this morning.

Every person with whom I have spoken with today and almost every conversation I overheard walking down the street, in the old city, or in the taxi was about the time change. Most of the conversations either started out with " So - what do you think of this time change thing?" Or you heard people saying, " So- what time is it now?" Most people just seemed to be in bewilderment as to why exactly we were moving the clock forward. It just seemed to be inconveniencing everyone and throwing off peoples rhythms. Especially with regards to prayer times around which a good number of people here still manage their lives, ALhamdulilah. So now sunset prayer will not be until around 8:35pm at night and the night prayer will begin at around 10:15 pm.
People are already trying to figure out how this is going to effect their fasting in the month of Ramadan which is about 3 months away.( This Daylight Savings is supposed to stay in effect until Sept 27th)

The official line is that this is going to save Morocco some energy (a whopping 1%) AND allow Moroccan businesses to deal better with their international partners. Here is an article with their explanation.

You know I used to always complain that Moroccans were always complaining, but it seems that I too have been bitten by the bug. I beg your pardon.

What about some inspiring news from Nepal? The Nepalese monarchy has fallen and a new republic has been declared. While I am not one who puts alot of hope in politics or politicians, it does give one a slight bit of optimism about the " will of the people" we are always hearing so much about, here is a BBC news article about changing times in Nepal.