One of my good friends, which I would not name here, in IIT Bombay,
was actually from Patna. Except for two years in 11th and 12th, he
studied in Patna. His immediate family has always been in Patna and
in fact, his dad is a very good surgeon in Patna. But whenever he
used to introduce himself in IIT, he would always say he is from
Delhi. Later on during our train ride back home for the winter
vacation, I asked him about it and I said I feel offended when you
lie, my friend. He very coolly said, "I feel I am taken lightly yaar
if I said I am from Bihar". I didn't argue. I guess I didn't because
somehow I could feel it may be somewhat true. You know we never
talked about it but it left a lasting impression on me.

If something stupid happens once, you are surprised. If the same
thing happens some more number of times, you feel angry. If it keeps
on happening you learn to get used to it. IGNORE. IGNORE. IGNORE.
Then, you become quite a thick-skinned that it doesn't affect you
any more. So am I. When someone laughs at me, I feel little bit
Jesus-like. Forgive Lord, (s)he doesn't know how much ignorant (s)he
is about such a beautiful and historical place like Bihar. Now that
I have spent most of my adulthood outside Bihar, I have come across
these incidents too frequently. Most of my friends who are from
Bihar have similar tales to tell. It always had made me
wonder, "Why?" "How come such a beautiful and historical place,
janmbhoomi of Buddhism and Jainism, karmbhoomi of first truly pan-
India ruler Ashoka, Chanakya, Mahatma Gandhi, and JP in most recent
past have become so much maligned that Bihari has become some sort
of abuse in itself?" I really wonder and have always tried to find
answers to these questions.

To me, Bihar is the most beautiful place and it always will be so.
Being born in a village which is in the heart of Nalanda and Rajgir,
I see myself as a part of such glorious and illustrious past that I
feel humbled. My village is at a stone's throw distance from
Pawapuri, the place where Lord Mahavira attained Nirvana and
whenever I used to think about it, I used to feel so lucky that I am
walking on the same place where once such a divine person used to
spread the message of love, peace and humanity. Always the same
pride and even today it's the same. Unfortunately when I get too
nostalgic about it, I feel so much sorry about its current state of
affairs that I feel an urge to quit everything, go back in my
village and do something to improve at least my village. Being a son
of that soil, I think its one of my responsibilities too. However,
confronted by the wisdom of Vedas from my parents that my first
responsibility is the well-being of family and then the social
responsibility, I stop myself. For now. Probably later on sometime,
I wouldn't stop myself and do something on the social level there.
Surely not on political level. Since the days of Chanakya, politics
is something every son and daughter of Bihar understands. So I would
leave it in "supposedly" better hands and focus my two cents on
social level. Every time, I have been called a Bihari, I have wished
that one day I would see Bihar flourish in all walks of life. Alas!
It has gone worse and worse. Hopefully before I breathe my last.