After reading that mail from mam made my feelings overflow. These are just few words of many i want to scream away.....
As far as I can trace back my memory, there is just one thing that I recall hearing about Bihar- Bihar is screwed up, people of Bihar has got some problem, there is something wrong with Bihari mentality, bla..bla...bla...!! These feelings went so deep inside the Indian society that even few generations of Bihar stopped believing that there is a huge difference of perception of the condition among non-Biharis and people of Bihar.
Many a times I find someone suffering from Bihar mania, I just can't stop myself asking them-" Why is it so that Bihar alone has produced more IAS's and IPS's than rest of the south India put together? [Interestingly if we add U.P. with Bihar, the number exceeds the sum total from all the other states put together.]
What made a place in Bihar(Vaishali) to become the cradle for the first democracy?
What made Bihar to be the womb for the seed of one of the most peaceful religion to flourish?
What was so special about Bihar that once upon a time the largest university, with students from all over the world, The Nalanda University, studying wide range of subjects existed, where the first entrance test was conducted by the security guards sitting on the entrance gate?
Why was Bihar one of the most richest state when the Britishers came into India?
Why is it so that most of the prominent leaders in most of the big parties share a common origin?
Why till the time of creation of Jharkhand from Bihar, formation of cabinet at center could not be imagined without Bihar?
Why once upon a time getting into Patna University in general and Patna Science college in particular, was as prestigious as today getting onto IIT's or IIM's or IISc?
What was so special about this land that the legendary astronomer Aryabhatt had his first laboratory made in Bihar?
why,why........the questions follows out of my emotions and it finds no ends!!! After all it hurts me.
And to my utter surprise, the people who do not hesitate talking bad about Bihar has got no answers to it, other than a very stupid sounding and silly answer-" look at the situation now."
YES, I strongly agree that something is seriously wrong. But not with Bihar. Something has badly gone wrong with the way the nation thinks today. When ever I pose the first question, most commonly the answer comes back in a form of question, asking me to explain!! And I always feel more than happy to put things straight in front of them.
Bihar is a land on the banks of mother Ganges, and any civilization flourishing on a river bank is bound to be agriculture dependent, and when it comes to river like Ganges, things are much more special and at the same time more complex. Population is bound to increase to a point when the productivity of land is surpassed by the pressure on it. Bihar started experiencing a situation when large chunk of population eneded up as unproductive workers. After the abolition of zamindari system and enforcement of land ceiling act, the farms were reduced to considerably smaller size, unable to sustain a large family. Hence ,
THE SITUATION: Kids from those families were facing, experiencing and seeing such an extent of suffering and poverty that they were left with just 2 options: a) continue living in a pathetic way. b) break even, do something big. When someone finds himself/herself in lower most point of social strata, he/she can only think of other end. The desperation became so strong backed by the intellectual legacy in their sub-conscious mind that, they decided to not be the ruled but the ruler. Now, just imagine the case. Someone with a long family history of suffering decides to become an IAS or IPS. He/she goes out to prepare for it. It has to cost something. Now the parents already with pains and just a small chunk of land, once gold but now badly hit by nature's fury of drought and flood, are very ambitious and knows that their child is unto something very big. They don't even hesitate to risk everything by selling off land which is their last possession, to fund child's education.
THE RESULT: The child knows everything and realizes that now he has no option left other than to get what he/she and his/her parents dream of- "a happy life, free from poverty". Now tell me what else can be a stronger motivation than question survivability? This makes the kid fall so deep into commitment towards one focused goal that he comes out as a winner. I could not stop myself from quoting 2 examples of abundance of motivation and concentration in Bihari folks.
1) There were two friends of the same village facing the same situation stated above. Both preparing for public service commission. In the mid, both of them together qualified for railway clerical job posted at same place. A permanent job, too good as far as north Indian social setup is concerned today also. But, they were so focused that while doing their job, they continued preparing for UPSC and both of them qualified for IAS simultaneously. A classic example of friendship and determination. And this is not a story of long back. It happened just 2 years back.
2) Who would not have heard about super 30 and Anand Sir. world talks about it today. Anand sir, himself from a very poor family, a mathematical genius, got a call from Harvard to do his further studies. But due to financial reasons could not get through. Today he is on his mission to not let talent get wasted just due to something so small like money. Who are his students? Children of clerks, rickshaw pullers, vegetable vendors, even who don't have money for one day meal and so on. What else can be a bigger sacrifice and service. Today he has offers from big names to come and join them, but he has already moved far ahead towards self-actualization.
What ever people say about Biharis but they cannot themselves deny a fact. In premier institutes like NIT's and IIT's, they are the most simple and focused students.
Yes, corruption is prevalent in Bihar's system, but it must be understood that what all Bihar has gone through over past few decades after independence. Who is more corrupt? Bihar or the country as a whole?
People say that people from Bihar are rude. I say they are robust. Now what type of personality characteristic do you expect from a person who has moved ahead in his life facing cut throat competition and resistance at every step. Who has paved his way with his own blood and sweat. Whose every dream realized is at a cost which most of the people cant bear and would broken into pieces long back.
I say I am proud of being from a land which once fed the entire nation. I am still proud of being from a land which is today struggling to feed her own people. But phoenix will rise. Its inevitable.
I feel pity for people like Priyanka Chopra who feels bad saying that she is from that very land.
There is a lots of things i can lecture about on this topic as i feel very close to it. There can be many cross fires on this topic but believe me its just a shadow of an entity with mask you would be firing at. Everything has a rational reason. It hurts me to see few people not doing things they should be doing in that land, it hurts me when I see people so irrational towards my land. But I feel happy that things are again changing.
Time is not far when the nation and world will once again look towards this state for guidance as once they did. I has come many a times in my dreams and I know its gonna come true one day, someday.
I salute that land!!!!!
As far as I can trace back my memory, there is just one thing that I recall hearing about Bihar- Bihar is screwed up, people of Bihar has got some problem, there is something wrong with Bihari mentality, bla..bla...bla...!! These feelings went so deep inside the Indian society that even few generations of Bihar stopped believing that there is a huge difference of perception of the condition among non-Biharis and people of Bihar.
Many a times I find someone suffering from Bihar mania, I just can't stop myself asking them-" Why is it so that Bihar alone has produced more IAS's and IPS's than rest of the south India put together? [Interestingly if we add U.P. with Bihar, the number exceeds the sum total from all the other states put together.]
What made a place in Bihar(Vaishali) to become the cradle for the first democracy?
What made Bihar to be the womb for the seed of one of the most peaceful religion to flourish?
What was so special about Bihar that once upon a time the largest university, with students from all over the world, The Nalanda University, studying wide range of subjects existed, where the first entrance test was conducted by the security guards sitting on the entrance gate?
Why was Bihar one of the most richest state when the Britishers came into India?
Why is it so that most of the prominent leaders in most of the big parties share a common origin?
Why till the time of creation of Jharkhand from Bihar, formation of cabinet at center could not be imagined without Bihar?
Why once upon a time getting into Patna University in general and Patna Science college in particular, was as prestigious as today getting onto IIT's or IIM's or IISc?
What was so special about this land that the legendary astronomer Aryabhatt had his first laboratory made in Bihar?
why,why........the questions follows out of my emotions and it finds no ends!!! After all it hurts me.
And to my utter surprise, the people who do not hesitate talking bad about Bihar has got no answers to it, other than a very stupid sounding and silly answer-" look at the situation now."
YES, I strongly agree that something is seriously wrong. But not with Bihar. Something has badly gone wrong with the way the nation thinks today. When ever I pose the first question, most commonly the answer comes back in a form of question, asking me to explain!! And I always feel more than happy to put things straight in front of them.
Bihar is a land on the banks of mother Ganges, and any civilization flourishing on a river bank is bound to be agriculture dependent, and when it comes to river like Ganges, things are much more special and at the same time more complex. Population is bound to increase to a point when the productivity of land is surpassed by the pressure on it. Bihar started experiencing a situation when large chunk of population eneded up as unproductive workers. After the abolition of zamindari system and enforcement of land ceiling act, the farms were reduced to considerably smaller size, unable to sustain a large family. Hence ,
THE SITUATION: Kids from those families were facing, experiencing and seeing such an extent of suffering and poverty that they were left with just 2 options: a) continue living in a pathetic way. b) break even, do something big. When someone finds himself/herself in lower most point of social strata, he/she can only think of other end. The desperation became so strong backed by the intellectual legacy in their sub-conscious mind that, they decided to not be the ruled but the ruler. Now, just imagine the case. Someone with a long family history of suffering decides to become an IAS or IPS. He/she goes out to prepare for it. It has to cost something. Now the parents already with pains and just a small chunk of land, once gold but now badly hit by nature's fury of drought and flood, are very ambitious and knows that their child is unto something very big. They don't even hesitate to risk everything by selling off land which is their last possession, to fund child's education.
THE RESULT: The child knows everything and realizes that now he has no option left other than to get what he/she and his/her parents dream of- "a happy life, free from poverty". Now tell me what else can be a stronger motivation than question survivability? This makes the kid fall so deep into commitment towards one focused goal that he comes out as a winner. I could not stop myself from quoting 2 examples of abundance of motivation and concentration in Bihari folks.
1) There were two friends of the same village facing the same situation stated above. Both preparing for public service commission. In the mid, both of them together qualified for railway clerical job posted at same place. A permanent job, too good as far as north Indian social setup is concerned today also. But, they were so focused that while doing their job, they continued preparing for UPSC and both of them qualified for IAS simultaneously. A classic example of friendship and determination. And this is not a story of long back. It happened just 2 years back.
2) Who would not have heard about super 30 and Anand Sir. world talks about it today. Anand sir, himself from a very poor family, a mathematical genius, got a call from Harvard to do his further studies. But due to financial reasons could not get through. Today he is on his mission to not let talent get wasted just due to something so small like money. Who are his students? Children of clerks, rickshaw pullers, vegetable vendors, even who don't have money for one day meal and so on. What else can be a bigger sacrifice and service. Today he has offers from big names to come and join them, but he has already moved far ahead towards self-actualization.
What ever people say about Biharis but they cannot themselves deny a fact. In premier institutes like NIT's and IIT's, they are the most simple and focused students.
Yes, corruption is prevalent in Bihar's system, but it must be understood that what all Bihar has gone through over past few decades after independence. Who is more corrupt? Bihar or the country as a whole?
People say that people from Bihar are rude. I say they are robust. Now what type of personality characteristic do you expect from a person who has moved ahead in his life facing cut throat competition and resistance at every step. Who has paved his way with his own blood and sweat. Whose every dream realized is at a cost which most of the people cant bear and would broken into pieces long back.
I say I am proud of being from a land which once fed the entire nation. I am still proud of being from a land which is today struggling to feed her own people. But phoenix will rise. Its inevitable.
I feel pity for people like Priyanka Chopra who feels bad saying that she is from that very land.
There is a lots of things i can lecture about on this topic as i feel very close to it. There can be many cross fires on this topic but believe me its just a shadow of an entity with mask you would be firing at. Everything has a rational reason. It hurts me to see few people not doing things they should be doing in that land, it hurts me when I see people so irrational towards my land. But I feel happy that things are again changing.
Time is not far when the nation and world will once again look towards this state for guidance as once they did. I has come many a times in my dreams and I know its gonna come true one day, someday.
I salute that land!!!!!
