The Bihar I knew…

What did I know about Bihar, the place I was born at, the place where my roots lie? My recent visit to the interiors of Bihar was an eye-opener to someone like me, born in Bihar, but brought up in Jharkhand, culturally similar, yet very different from its parent state. Did I know the real Bihar, as it exists today? Or, was I harboring numerous illusions drifting me away from the reality? Did I simply know Biharis, living away from Bihar, representing a considerable chunk of Bihar, but certainly not the whole of it? The questions are disturbing enough.

Of course, I did not know that Bihar is considered amongst the fastest growing economies in 2006-2007, owing to its fast changing macro-environment. I did not know that Patna, the richest city of Bihar, boasts of a per capita income greater than the Indian average. I never cared to know that!

But, I certainly knew the Bihar which has been the birthplace of religions like Buddhism and Jainism, which first propagated the principle of non-violence so vehemently, a concept that has eluded the civilized world till now, the Bihar which marks the birthplace of Goddess Sita, who epitomizes womanhood for the Hindus of North India, and Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru of Sikhs. It has been the land of Chandragupta Maurya and Ashok who gave this country one of its best periods of its social, economic and cultural history. It has given birth to the oldest and the best centers of education of Ancient India, in the name of Nalanda and Vikramshila universities. And, we all know the Bihar which gave this country some great national leaders, writers, scholars, academicians and is still producing the maximum number of IAS, IPS officers, IITians, Medical graduates, Software professionals and what not!

Everything seems a repetition after some time. Is not it? All this glorification and deification of a place which has been ranked amongst the poorest of all the states of India, a place where education is in its most dismal state, and corruption breaking its backbone in all sphere. A place where I found some of the finest people I ever met. At the same time a place where I saw some of the rudest and the most uncivilized lot living under the garb of an elite upper class and trying to be elite Middle class.

I cannot close my eyes towards its scintillating past which becomes almost haunting at times. I cannot remain silent at the mocking remarks of my fellow non-Biharis. It is too much for my proud soul to accept wordlessly. I can not join hands for Bihar-bashing either. I seek solutions; I seek answers from the Biharis, in and outside Bihar, who have remained neutral and just shamelessly neutral towards all this.