Sometime back I was with a school friend, going up to his flat in a happening suburb of Pune. Suddenly out of nowhere, he mused, "Bihari parents are the most unfortunate ones .When we were kids and needed them, they spent their everything trying to make us what we are today Now ,when we have become what we are today and they are the ones who need us in their old age , they are destined to live alone. Because they are caught in the fix between joining their children in the big unknown and sometimes unfriendly cities and the trauma of being uprooted from their homeland, which is the only place they can call- home."
Very recently I have come to realize the full impact of his statement, and the pain behind it; the pain of being a part of the moneyorder economy, where migranting to greener pastures is the only way one can hope to earn money and dignity. This is the penalty we have to pay for letting a Pol Potish regime stay for 15 years whose only aim was to fill its coffers without caring for development, order and prosperity. For 15 years, they sucked our blood shamelessly and we were equally shameless in our impassive tolerance. Hope we realize how dearly we have paid for that blunder.
Two years back, I was appearing for an MBA interview for IMT Gaziabad and the interviewer asked me, "As soon as you said that you are from Bihar, I got a very bad taste in my mouth. Why?"
Why?
That lady got a bad taste in her mouth just because she had a lad from a poor, god forsaken state sitting across the table trying to reason with her? Or was it just plain contempt which a privilaged has for the non-privilaged? I am waiting for the day when the likes of her will be paid in kind, when we rise to such heights that they cannot do anything but stare in awe.
Now when I go back home, I can see that we have a Chief Minster who is trying hard to change things for better. He cannot do it all alone, he needs our unwavering support. Why not give him another mandate so that he can finish the work he started five years back?
This is a message to my brethren back home. Elections are round the corner and the forces which plunged our state into darkness for decades have started rising their heads again. Make sure that you choose for better. Do not let Bihar down by being a mute spectator again.
समर शेष है, नहीं पाप का भागी केवल व्याध
जो तटस्थ हैं समय लिखेगा, उनका भी अपराध !
Very recently I have come to realize the full impact of his statement, and the pain behind it; the pain of being a part of the moneyorder economy, where migranting to greener pastures is the only way one can hope to earn money and dignity. This is the penalty we have to pay for letting a Pol Potish regime stay for 15 years whose only aim was to fill its coffers without caring for development, order and prosperity. For 15 years, they sucked our blood shamelessly and we were equally shameless in our impassive tolerance. Hope we realize how dearly we have paid for that blunder.
Two years back, I was appearing for an MBA interview for IMT Gaziabad and the interviewer asked me, "As soon as you said that you are from Bihar, I got a very bad taste in my mouth. Why?"
Why?
That lady got a bad taste in her mouth just because she had a lad from a poor, god forsaken state sitting across the table trying to reason with her? Or was it just plain contempt which a privilaged has for the non-privilaged? I am waiting for the day when the likes of her will be paid in kind, when we rise to such heights that they cannot do anything but stare in awe.
Now when I go back home, I can see that we have a Chief Minster who is trying hard to change things for better. He cannot do it all alone, he needs our unwavering support. Why not give him another mandate so that he can finish the work he started five years back?
This is a message to my brethren back home. Elections are round the corner and the forces which plunged our state into darkness for decades have started rising their heads again. Make sure that you choose for better. Do not let Bihar down by being a mute spectator again.
समर शेष है, नहीं पाप का भागी केवल व्याध
जो तटस्थ हैं समय लिखेगा, उनका भी अपराध !
2 comments:
I don't have any comment, but i have a n unsolved question abt my identity. I am not able to define my identity, whether am i an INDIAN or maharashtrian. the identity crisis does not end here when i meet people from other state, i introduce myself as maharashtrian and i tries to find people from maharashtra, when i meet people from other region as i introduce myself as Vidarbhian( A region of Maharashtra), my identity crisis does not stops here , it goes untill it reaches to myself and the rest of the world (incuding my family members)
So who am i?
@Anonymous: We are burdened with too many identies and that is causing all the trouble. You will realize that as you broaden your spectrum, your identity broadens. To me, a nationalist identity is as broad or as narrow as a state or caste identity coz at the end of it, all are made by us, in our minds. So when you get to terms with the fact that its all virtual, the crisis lessens to a great extent.
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