Being a Bihari

Like the rest of the country, there is an ‘us vs. them’ in Bihar too. The middle class and above, the educated and the talented make for ‘us’, while the poor and illiterate form 'them’. We never thought about our own state. We probably hated it as much as the world outside. We had our dreams and the will to achieve them. And conquer the world. We took pride in being in Delhi and Mumbai. When back home, we bragged about our successes and walked with a swagger. We never took part in the electoral process, dismissing politics and politicians with disdain. The leaders saw it as an opportunity and suitably played to the gallery, displaying their game of caste and corruption. The uneducated and poor applauded it and developed a false sense of pride. They didn’t realize that they were hurting themselves. The poor had to reach out to other states for livelihood. But they considered the whole of India their playground. They never thought in the terms of ‘other state’ or ‘our state’. Soon their poverty and illiteracy started disturbing others. Their false sense of pride, coupled with the all pervasive north Indian crassness didn’t help either. Some people became intolerant of them. They were sometimes abused and beaten up. The other states they had so readily made their own, made sure to make them feel like ‘others’. Bihari became a cussword. Something people sneered at. More hurt were ‘us’, the professionals and the achievers. People started scoffing at us, pulling us down because of where we belonged to. The brave fought on, but the sensitive ones were hurt. We realized our folly. Slowly we too started developing a sense of ‘our state’. There are many NRIs and successful people within the country, who are for the first time thinking about ‘our state’. Nitish Kumar gives us hope. His information page on networking sites like facebook has thousands of fans. They are all part of ‘us’. For the first time ‘us’ and ‘them’; the haves and the have-nots are thinking coherently about our state. We all think of returning some day. Lakhs of labours have already returned, causing labour shortage in Punjab, Surat and parts of Maharashtra. The pride is slowly returning. Bihar state was formed decades back, but statehood was formed in the last few years. We thank the rest of India, specially people like Sheila Dikshit, the Thakres and others for giving rise to a new statehood. And we really really thank Mr. Nitish Kumar for all he has and will do for our state. Some of us still didn’t go back to vote for him. But I hope and wish that we all are queued up outside the voting booths the next time around.