Having an abused birthplace.....

Bihar...the moment you utter this word at least to an Indian, you cannot help noticing the smirk on other's person face. 9 out of 10 times, it would be true. If you are a Bihari, you would know the feeling. No, its not my insecurties and shame that makes me feel so. Most of the times, its blatantly there to ignore such smirk. You can at least feel the sense of inner happiness and relief that (s)he is not from that place...then invariably a comment or two abt Biharis and Lalu Prasad would follow...

I happened to chat one otherwise pretty beautiful lass and things were looking pretty much encouraging to say the least. Such incidents have been far and very few to me, so if you are somewhat like me, you would know the feeling when such rare pleasant exceptions happen. The chat went on fine for quite sometime abt all the useless things on the world, which both of us seemed to like and I was pretty much sure abt asking her out again in a more formal way. Just before parting, she asked me, "by the way, where are you from? " I said,"Patna. Its a beautiful city of interesting contrasts. You would love to know abt ..." and before I could finish myself she said, "Patna se hatna nahin..ha ha...Laluji kaise hain? Maine suna hai ki wahan pe logon bachpan mein pakad kar shaadi kar dete hain...maine suna hai ki wahan pe log gun lekar hi ghumte rehte hain...blah blah...blah.." Now that I am used to such (un)intentional fun..I laughed along, not sure of how and what to say. I guess I dont have to mention now that nothing further happened.

One of my good friends, which I would not name here, in IIT Bombay was actually from Patna. Except for two years in 11th and 12th, he studied in Patna. His immediate family has always been in Patna and in fact, his dad is a very good surgeon in Patna. But whenever he used to introduce himself in IIT, he would always say he is from Delhi. Later on during our train ride back home for the winter vacation, I asked him abt it and I said I feel offended when you lie my friend. He very coolly said, "I feel I am taken lightly yaar if I said I am from Bihar". I didn't argue. I guess I didn't because somehow I could feel it may be somewhat true. You know we never talked abt it but it left a lasting impression on me.

If something stupid happens once, you are surprised. If the same thing happens some more number of times, you feel angry. If it keeps on happening you learn to get used to it. IGNORE. IGNORE. IGNORE. Then, you become quite a thick skinned that it doesn't affect you any more. So am I. When someone laughs at me, I feel little bit Jesus like. Forgive Lord, (s)he doesnt know how much ignorant (s)he is abt such a beautiful and historical place like Bihar. Now that I have spent most of my adhulthood outside Bihar, I have come across these incidents too frequently. Most of my friends who are from Bihar have similar tales to tell. It always had made me wonder, "Why?" "How come such a beautiful and historical place, janmbhoomi of Buddhism and Jainism, karmbhoomi of first truly pan-India ruler Ashoka, Chanakya, Mahatma Gandhi, and JP in most recent past have become so much maligned that Bihari has become some sort of abuse in itself." I really wonder and have always tried to find answers to these questions.

To me, Bihar is the most beautiful place and it always will be so. Being born in a village which is in the heart of Nalanda and Rajgir, I see myself as a part of such glorious and illustrious past that I feel humbled. My village is at a stone's throw distance from Pawapuri, the place where Lord Mahavira attained Nirvana and whenever I used to think abt it, I used to feel so lucky that I am walking on the same place where once such a divine person used to spread the message of love, peace and humanity. Always the same pride and even today its the same. Unfortunately when I get too nostalgic about it, I feel so much sorry about its current state of affairs that I feel an urge to quit everything, go back in my village and do something to imporve at least my village. Being a son of that soil, I think its one of my responsibilities too. However, confronted by the wisdom of Vedas from my parents that my first responsibility is the well-being of family and then the social responsbility, I stop myself. For now. Probably later on sometime, I wouldn't stop myself and do something on the social level there. Surely not on political level. Since the days of Chanakya, politics is something every son and daughter of Bihar understands. So I would leave it in "supposedly" better hands and focus my two cents on social level. Every time, I have been called a Bihari, I have wished that one day I would see Bihar flourish in all walks of life. Alas! It has gone worse and worse. Hopefully before I breath my last.

Being born there, having my immediate family there, having spent early 18 years of my life there and then spent so many years outside that place, I think I have been getting some ideas about how could be that. In the coming posts, I would try to answer these questions from the perspective of a Bihari. I am sure you would be surprised to know more about this beautiful state and its people. Just to initiate the discussion, I would paraphrase a quote famously said about Indira Gandhi during those dark days of emergency. Lalu is not Bihar and Bihar is not Lalu.

And yeah, I hope that beautiful lass happens to see this post.