"Bihari"

I had written this post a long ago and i didn't think of publishing in my blog, but due to some people who made mockery of my ethnicity, provoked me to publish this. Here i am not proving or stating Bihar is good, i am just answering some people. Hope they understand.

BIHARI..........With this word, comes in your mind, image of illiterate, ill-dressed, tobacco chewing and rough behaving man. Isn’t it?

All right. I recount one of my train journeys when I had to go to Pune for an exam. Somehow my e-ticket got cancelled and I had no other option but to continue by general compartment. People sitting beside me were poorly dressed and looked as if they had come after swimming in a sea of dust. After some time they started chatting amongst themselves in “BHOJPURI”, a dialect of Hindi spoken in western part of Bihar. I belong to the same place. So, out of natural curiosity, I asked them in Hindi where they are from. Much to my surprise, their answers were Lucknow, Kanpur and Bhopal. I was surprised because none of these places lie in Bhojpuri speaking region. I didn’t lose the hope and tried the same question in Bhojpuri (my Bhojpuri is awful). The idea clicked and the answers went as Ara, Sasaram, and Patna. When enquired about their first answer they replied “Bihar bolne par koi izzat nai deta.”

I had written some part of this post in train while coming to Delhi (even one co-passenger enquired me if I am writing love letter. I excuse that poor fellow because it’s not his fault that I am in an engineering college). Last night, a Marathi old man sitting in front of me asked the usual question, “how is Bihar?”(as if it is in some other country).
My encounter with anti-Bihar freaks has taught me to handle such question and I decided to ignore. I said “uncle, you know better than me. Newspapers and TVs say it all. “

Old man (after a brief pause): There should be some industry in Bihar. Then people won’t come to Mumbai.

Me: There is nothing, no raw material, and simple economics says no one want to lose their money. So why will anyone set up their industry there?

Old man: some 20 years back, this situation was with Andhra Pradesh and Karnatka. But look now, they are giving fight to Mumbai.

(At once, I remembered movies of 90’s starring Ajay Devegan, Suneel Sheety, in which villain used to be some “Anna”, which are now replaced by “bhaiya”)

Old man: Every state has everything for development; it just needs political will power and some good hard working people for a revolution.

What do these two train incidents tell?
First one says situation is bad. But the second one says it’s not too bad.

Now, some statistics about Bihar, 47.53% population is illiterate, 42.6% people live Below Poverty Line (BPL). Considering this class of people of Bihar, general perception of WHOLE BIHAR is derived. We care anything else in this world when we have “roti, kapda aur makaan “. And we are expecting these people to show decency when they have none. These people are also good at heart but have a lot of self-esteem but constant suffering and rejection by main-stream of society have made them hard where their true nature gets hidden. Ok, leave Bihari, show me people from slums of Delhi and Mumbai (not from Bihar and those people should fall in above mentioned class) who are well behaving. There number will be in scarce. Conduct, manner, behaviour depend on our economic and social standings and it has nothing to do with region or language.

Over the years, I met several people who tag others “bihari” in sarcasm, but I excuse them considering ignorant. But if someone studying in my college (considered one of the best engineering colleges of India) uses such rubbish thing, I question his/her learning and knowledge. And I can say that there is no point in getting reputed degrees like MBA, BE, MSc, if you can’t respect people on their knowledge and capabilities. Instead if you go on branding and dividing people, and making mockery of their ethnicity, all these degrees are futile. Reflect upon these thoughts and clear your pre-occupied mind (if applicable ;-)