The Being Bihari Conversation

Bihar is one of the state

Which is sadly negatively portrayed by Media..

Things have changed,its no longer the same Bihar we know..

When you are travelling alone,a 34 hour train journey can be mentally and physically draining,specially when I have been doing it every month for past 4 months.It was one of those journeys which prompted me refresh my head cap to discover my roots.A middle aged gentlemen in Media,2 popes from church,2 simpletons and me.It wasn't one of those same age groups train journey and people were reluctant to speak to each other.I felt a dire need to introduce myself to create a candid conversation among st the passengers.It all started with

A(Media person from Bihar):Where are you from?

[ It has to start,no matter where you are this question is what makes you different and most of the times decides on your being on which side of the ball game are you in.People connect on same language,sometimes same rituals,same cultures,sometimes accent.Some cultures hit high notes on superiority factors,others are looked down upon.How far have we reached mentally?India is biased.The states which are shown well-off in the media are indeed well off,the states which are not shown so well off are considered poor illiterate uneducated less modern.The fact is however,India can't alone develop on one state.The media has to revise facts which are not still updated,not even on google. Probably they never will be. Cauz as a country we know,

Sad stories make headlines,good stories are part of editorial.]

Back to the conversation

A:Where are you from?

Me:Living throughout the country,originally from Bihar

[It guess it was his same pinch moment,the sparkle in his eyes almost meeting mine only to soon fade in an unexplained silence].

A:You don't have that...accent.

Me:Excuse me!

A turning to other passengers,now in a little less interested in me,where are you from?

B(pope):Karnataka

C(others):Karnataka

D(others):Karnataka

So now we have 3 Karnatakas,2 Biharis.We now start our most immature virtual conversation which can make all of us to think or rethink when we say "we all are equal"

[I consider myself more Indian but a excited look on A's face made me choose over my state than the rest of the country]

It was interesting to note a certain biased opinion of people thereafter.I didn't even say a word,just mere observation was enough.Satire sometimes can be humiliating. Exaggeration sometimes can be untrue.Many a times I have seen people rave about their state "No Mr.Until you have done or contributed even a 1 % in either way to develop your state or think about its well being,nobody just qualifies being born.And it's good that your state is doing well,but that doesn't give you the right to belittle other states.In just a matter of second or choice of god,you could have been born in any part of the country to the most illiterate parents or the most affluent ones.Respect it and Think about it"

A,B,C were too busy appreciating the progress their state has achieved so far while they didn't leave a single stone upturned to prove how Biharis lag behind  based on the facts by Media.Mr A. almost rose to clarify how he was treated like an outsider in interiors of Maharasthra. In another of my candid conversation in train,a Delhi guy almost mentally raped a women to prove how great Delhi is and how she should be proud to travel first time to the most cleanest( :/) ,progressive and fashionably sound state of India.Can't you see it all over?If you haven't faced this so far,you must be born in those lucky affluent states of India.I have full faith and sympathy with the whole of north east.What wrong have they done?As far as I know they are people who are very pure at heart.But see the recent Bangalore melodrama,we are born with a racism in our blood.Forget India and Pakistan,we ourselves have a feeling of being inferior or superior.

In my recent visit to Maldives,a russian lady very innocently told me "Oh..I love Indians..they are so beautiful,lively..bollywood,Shah Rukh Khan".And while we still struggle to manage our images in our own country!

The most biased public opinions so far I have heard...

Baniyas are Kanjoos
Jats are "Ask the people of Gurgaon!You would get the answer"
Punjabis do balle balle on every occasion(Thanks Bollywood!)
Kashmiris are Muslims(How does it even matter!)
Biharis are most backward and notorious criminals(Seems like Rowdy Rathore was from Bihar)
North Eastern people are Chinkis
Kannadigas are nice people
Chennaihites don't help other state people

Of late a lady told me

Armymen are "well the word is literally too sexist to be written in public"

It's rather funny to see people use all their mental algebra to generalize facts about the whole community either based on their own personal experiences or by word of bad media mouth.It's disturbing,It's irritating but it's true.

"I am from Bihar. Never lived there.I am neither too proud,nor not so proud.I am OK with me being from wherever.But I have faced several remarks my whole school life,however innocent or stupid that may be.My parents are very open minded,they never argued me on my choice of either a guy or a career or my friends.I consider myself lucky to have traveled throughout the country and I respect every state and religion.I know in some ways or the other,every state has contributed to my being grown up.I have my folks in Army,and they are not definitely what the lady told me,even if lets say I use spoof cameras,they are not!"

But Mr. A was too adamant to know where I belong to,may be he wanted to reconfirm my state level existence on the basis of what I was wearing or my accent.Or he just wanted to conclude.

A:You are not connected to your roots,you are not a true bihari. Are your parents connected?

[For good or bad,I avoid telling my state name for the very same reason to not either start a lalloo land conversation or how much I need to prove to be one of those true Bihari]

Me:Well for that,I don't care.I love India,and I don't have time to have conversation like these.

A:But you know you must be connected to your roots[Whatever that Meant]

C:wee hee :).She stays in Bangalore,She is a Bangalore-an.

A:Bihar
C:Karnataka
A & C:Repeat

Me:My parents are from Bihar. I have lived all over.I am going to Delhi,staying in Bangalore.Clear enough?

A:So what do you do?

Me:I write about travel and adventure.

A & C:Almost shocked,you are married[100th time that is,people emphasize on the phase being married to stress it to an extent you would feel a sudden pity inside and that is when you remember oh he was nice,he was charming,my college crush,my school crush and then you hit the reality real hard and you say that's ok,he loves me..so what!],
travelling alone[I remember Jab we Met Dialogs most then],
lady[How bechari..I guess I need bodygaurds now],
a bihari[people don't relate to biharis being adventurous,it has to be someone from Punjab or Delhi or Bangalore],
adventure[Ok..not engineering,not doctor,adventure???]

A:How educated are you?

Me:BE (Comp Sc).

A: ..and still doing adventure.Weird choice..Almost laughs off.

Me:I didn't know how to react

A[in the most concerned tone ever]:You know this Jumping Off is a risky business.You should be doing something more safe.People in my entire family has never done something like that,neither I think it's a good career option.Winks you know as a Bihari an advice from an elder brother[brother ehhh..]

C:You should manage home.Do you know families who have ladies as their housewives are more happy?

Me:No,I don't think so.Well I am on a mission to Delhi this time.

A & C:And that is..

Me:My brother just made a plan to discover the(roots) together to capture the new evovled Bihar

A:Really[Finally Mr. A got some connect]

C:That's a waste of time.The land has nothing.

In the next episode,we bust the negative myths of the most critized Bihar.Mind you the journey is going to transform your image about the people and the place and the scope of adventure in Bihar

I know I am lagging 3 destinations on my blog.2 marriages ahead,2 camps ahead,and many many blogposts ahead.

Mussorrie-Will be completed by Dec.
Maldives-Is a high priority.My comp crashed,sent for replacement.As soon as I get it back and I install my video edit software,Maldives is the first one to go live.
Bihar-In next 10 days
Eurotrip-The detailed plan would be published by start of december.
Bangalore Meetup:December