¬¬Beginning of a new era of Hope

“I don’t like to be called a Bihari. I don’t like to be called not- a- Bihari as well. When someone says to me that you are an exception because of your unBiharian ways, since you don’t drink, never indulge in petty politics in the hostel in the name of caste, region and religion, don’t use abusive language after every other word, or ogle at girls while walking down the road and so on and so forth, I want to resist this reductionist fixing of identity with a set of characteristics strongly and debunk this myth of Biharian ways. Two years ago, these remarks sounded highly pleasant to my ears and I felt myself absolved of the burden of representation. I am painfully aware of the local accent that I have, and some semblance of rusticity that I have been trying to dispense with for quite some time now because this will not be acceptable to the affluent Delhi elites, who often remind me what it means when you are pinned down to a certain negative identity. From identity and representation I can recall one instance of literary representation from Jhumpa Lahiri’s Namesake where, Mr Ashok Ganguli is afraid of the robbers lurking
in Bihar..."
This diary entry, which I made a couple of weeks ago, needs either to be deleted or rethought in the light of two important experiences that I underwent recently. The first one concerns my reading of Orhan Pamuk’s Snow in which a Turkish character named Blue shares his experience of spending some years in Germany as an exile with the poet called Ka. In Germany, wherever Blue happens to be walking, he feels a ubiquitous presence of a German, who always stood as an object of fascination for him. The interesting thing is that Blue does not think of that German but he imagines what he might be thinking of him, of his appearance, his clothes, his history, his nation. It makes him feel terrible and degraded, and then, he realises how his countrymen must be feeling. After undergoing this experience, he comes up with a prophetic proclamation: “Most of the time it’s not the Europeans who belittle us. What happens when we look at them is that we belittle ourselves.”

I was struck by the universal applicability of Blue’s statement, especially when measured in the light of the anxiety of disclosing or hiding one’s identity by Biharis, for example, in conversation like this: “Yes, I’m from Bihar. But I’ve done my schooling outside the state...” or “I’ve hardly spent any time in Bihar...”, and a sense of pride involved in it. Self- gaze makes one more vulnerable and perpetuates one’s sense of inferiority more than any form of discrimination at any level. We need to get rid of this self gaze and the tendency of reading other’s mind more than anything else in order to stop this self-belittling inclination. The same tension I could read on the face of a Delhi University PhD student from Baramula in Kashmir, who while disclosing his place of origin, was trying to observe the changing expression on my face.

The second experience I was referring to regards the biggest ever victory of Nitish Kumar government in the legislative assembly election in Bihar, where it is said that people do not cast their votes but vote for their caste. This outcome is historic not only for Bihar but also for India in the sense that people of Bihar have unanimously rejected the casteist politics of Lalu Prasad’s RJD and have shown that there is no substitute for development. It will inarguably restore the faith of the electorates in democracy and politics of development, and bring the wind of optimism. Today, one of India’s most socio-economically backward states feels proud in declaring that it is led by a man of integrity and honesty, who will steer Bihar against all the odds and sustain the process of economic and social development, which has already been initiated. Congratulations to Nitish Kumar and best of luck to Mr Ashok Ganguli for his next trip to Bihar!