The life thereafter-Part 1

It all started on 1st august2003, the sky was covered with thick black, rain-laden clouds, and one cud sense that rain was around the corner. There was hurriedness around, and ppl were not too keen to meet the rain gods in the open. The over night journey didn't leave me with much of energy and to add to that, i had to change the bus in mid-way that too in a place where i had come for the first time and i had no idea abt the local language(still don't have) !! the heavy bag i was carrying was making matters worse !! anyways, i asked few ppl abt the address where i was supposed to go. Thank God, the place wasn't too far. The moment i entered the building, and enquired where i must report, the lady at the ground floor directed me towards the third floor. The bag was now getting too heavy to carry, so i left it in the safety of the Guard who was standing at the building entrance, with the hope that the humanity exist and would exist, in the form of my bag, wen i wud come back.

The third floor was ur typical admission office, lot of boring and mundance faces, staring at u as u walk around. After exchange of few qstions and answers, i reached the person who wud now carry me through the whole process. And then began the paper work, so much for our love for red-tapism !! While i was busy with the work at my hand, few more souls arrived on the scence. Soon, we found out that the purpose of our visit was same and we were co-destined for the same future. Sometimes the most boring of works, like filling of forms, could turn out to be bearable, and even interesting when done in a group. Soon the chattering began, not much to the liking of the person who was incharge of this admission forms. Her face was saying it all, but she chose to avoid the usage of words, which worked fine for us and we continued. Soon we got acquainted with each other and fringes of friendship began to appear. Once i was done with the form, albeit it forced me to make many a visit of lady concerned to get my doubts cleared bcoz i knew, if i err on this one my future cud be spoiled, i know a far fetched imagination but at that time i was not eager to flamboyant my chances so i stuck with the safest of routes even if it meant asking some idiotic questions and earning the ire of the lady; i took leave of the "junta" with the hope to see them soon which didn't take much time to get realised.

As the elevator was going down, i had just one thing going on in my mind, my bag. The very thread of my trust in humanity, my belief in the goodness of world then had hinged upon that bag. I knew that if it went missing, it won't only mean lot of trouble and discomfort for me but would leave me with a blot on my psyche against humanity, goodness for my whole life. 2,1,stop, door opens, few people get out,few people get in,door closed,going down,G,stop, door opens, i get out and take a left turn, my bag supposedly lying four steps away from me. On seeing the same 'Guard', the flame of hope began to burn brightly and once i saw my bag lying safely at the place where i left it, the belief of humanity and goodness in me got bolstered. It aint completely Kalyug yet !!

There is something special abt money. No matter how much damn u give to it, but wen u have to give it to someone else, it doesn't leave u with a happy feeling, if not sad also. And here i was to deposit 66,500 rupees, huge amount of money by my standards any day. The cashier, again a lady, asked me for the draft or the cash. i had none. i offered to pay it by cheque. Then she handed me a paper giving details in the name of which the demand draft must be made, also giving details of the account number where i must transfer the money and for either of this to realise i must visit the nearby bank. I told her abt my tiring journey, and how i hadn't yet got freshend-up or eaten anything since morning and she should take the cheque and forward it to the bank and should took pity of my condition. And If cheque bounces she can cancel my admission. But no logic, no statement was enough for her, and she said, without any ambiguity, that if i wanted admission i must make a visit to the bank. So there i went again, leaving the bag once again in the custody of the good hearted "Guard" and also taking directions from him to how to reach the bank.

The bank wasn't too far, and that gladdened me. ICICI Bank. ICICI has revolutionised the modern day retail banking concepts and have brought a new wave of professionalism into the banking world much to the comfort and happiness of the customers. And somewhere i was going to become a part of that revolution. The bank was a bustle of activities. I didn't know whom to go to for getting my work done. I asked the lady(once again!!!) sitting at the first chair about where to make cheque deposits so as to get admission. She directed me to another chair, a man this time. I told him the same, and he asked me to give me the cheque. I gave him the cheque. He took a look at it and then asked for the PAN No. "PAN No.", i said. "Yes", he said, "PAN No.". I said," what PAN No. ? " He then thot for few seconds and then told me to meet the branch manager. so i went to meet the branch manager. i told him abt my problem and that i was being asked for some PAN No. Then he told me that for transfer above 50,000 in a single day from a saving account, u need a PAN No. I told him that i dnt have any. Then he came up with an idea," deposit 36,500 today and 30,000 tomorrow", and smiled at his little moment of brilliance. But i was in no mood to buy it, and told him tht i was leaving the town by evening so all this transfer had to be done by that day, somehow or the other. He said," that won't be possible". And then I Lost IT, and made him, and the people nearby, hear some not so pleasant words and asked him to come up with some thing or the other to get my work done. He looked flustered, probably bcoz of my reaction which he quite didn't expected like that. Then after few moments of thinking and silence b/w us, he said,"i will accept the whole money and wud show as transfers in two days, and will give you the transfer receipt to furnish at the university office". Now that was his moment of brilliance, but he chose to ignore it, i guess that he was still not able to come out from my little moment of fury.

Once done with the work at the university office, i was asked to report to the college to complete some paper work there and also to take the hostel room, if i desired so. My bag was still lying comfortly at the same place, though the "Guard" was missing wen i came back to took it. I would have liked to thank him. I found out, again by asking ppl, that the college of my concern was at some distance, although a walkable one but with such a heavy load on my back, taking an auto-rickshaw(universally known as auto except in mumbai where its called rickshaw) seemed more logical. Once i reached the college, i won't say i was disappointed but neither it left me with a glowing eye. As i walked up the stairs, i had this strange feeling, sensation inside me, i still have no idea what it was, may be my first walks of college life and I, at that moment, walking all alone in that corridor. On reaching the admission office of the college, i was once again asked to fill out forms. ( you just can't escape it). But things moved faster and smoothly there and i was soon directed towards the chief warden's (of hostel) office. On reaching there, i was ushered into his chamber without any delay. A Sardar. Cheery faced, wearing glasses, turban headed, looked like an easy going man. Well, then started some customary talk and after that i was asked to fill up a form (once again, there was no escaping it, even now) and to deposit money. Once done with all that, i asked whether i could have a look at my room or not. "Yes", was the answer. So i left for having a look at my soon to be home away from home. The place was in a mess, whole lot of construction going on, the scene there didn't really left me with much of "kodak" moments, but the people working there told me that the things would be fine in 45 days wen i would be coming back to this place. I hoped and prayed for the same.

All work done and tired by all of it and weight of my bag, i took an auto and headed straight for a hotel. I dnt remember the name of the hotel, but it wasn't much and i soon crashed into the bed once i was behind the door. It was 6 p.m. wen i woke up. i had not eaten anything since morning, and my tummy was burning with hunger. And the bus was to leave at 9:30, so not much of time left in my hand. I got freshend up and chekd out of the hotel. Then an auto took me to a eating point near the place from where i was to catch the bus. Had 5 aloo parathas and a glass of lassi which finally succeeded in quenching my hunger. Period. As i sat there in the night, sky thundering with lightning though still no rain pouring down but the chances if it had loomed through out the day,waiting for the bus, i thot abt the place, looked around. This place was going to be the place where some defining moments of my life would happen, some good and some bad. i knew at that very time that this is a special place and the life here, the journey here is going to be once in a life thing.

I was brought away frm my dreams by the horn of the bus and it was time to leave. As i watched through window the beautiful town of Manipal, not so big a town, in the midst of Western Ghats in Western Karnataka, I was imagining my life that i was going to spend there for next 4 years, my college life at MIT(lesser known as Manipal Institute of Technolgy), new friends probably some for life time, hostel life. The water drops falling on the window looked like the points on a canvas on which i was drawing my imagination, and without me noticing it the sleep beckoned me and i drifted off to sleep.

the punching bag !!

read this...
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/readerspeak-main-khiladi-tu-bihari/39093-3.html

so is Bihar, my home state too, the punching bag of India ??

well, u you can not deny the fact that Bihar is one of the most backward and the poorest state of India. The local economy is just a shadow of any existence whatsoever. The law and order situation is pathetic. The crime is rampant and doesn't show any signs of relenting. The basic infrastructure is in the most poorest of conditions, at the places it exists, be it education, hospitals, roads, electricity...etc..etc. Forget abt blogs n youtube, many people wud not have even seen a computer, if atleast they mite have heard the name here or there.

But this is also the state from where, every year, year after year, maximum number of people qualify for India's Administrative Services and India's elite engineering institutes, namely IITs, NITs. One may argue and to some extent rightly so that bihar is a failure, if not the people of bihar.

lets take a closer look.

Population. It shows no signs of control. The increase rate of population is one of the highest in country partly so because people are illiterate and they either don't have the knowledge of family planning or don't have access to contraceptives. But bihar is also the state which boasts of lowest rate of female infanticides in the country, much lower than the developed and rich states of punjab, haryana and delhi.

Illiteracy. Bihar boasts of literacy percentage of 47.53, with males literacy percentage standing at 60.32 and that of female at 33.57, much lower than the national values. The only reason for this has been the failure of government to impart education, to create the required infrastructure. Lakhs of students frm bihar go outside, every year, for pursuit of higher education and its a fact that they do well. So talent is a questiont that doesn't arise !! Simply, the politicians and administrators of Bihar, post independence, just failed to do their duties. And the present lot is also not doing much. But is bihar alone performing so badly ?? nope. u have rajasthan, jammu n kashmir, u.p., orissa, arunachal pradesh.

Healthcare. The modern healthcare just doesn't exist in bihar. Most of the healthcare that exists is private and costly and its a proven fact that for a healthy state, a "solid" and modern public healthcare must exist !! But similar is the story in many other states of India like Himachal Pradesh, U.P., M.P., Rajasthan.

Industries. Bihar doesn't boast of any big industry. Before its partition ( Jharkhand was formed out of Bihar in year 2000), Bihar cud boast of being one of the most richest states in terms of minerals and industrial places like Jamshedpur (TATA's) and Bokaro. but despite of having so much natural richness, bihar didn't make the progress as it shud have made. The reason being simple, apathy of administrators and politicans and bad economic policies. I often hear that Mumbai contributes 43% of India's commercial tax so it must be given special preference for its development. No doubt, mumbai deserves special treatment. But have u ever wonder how a city like mumbai can contribute for 43% of India's commercial taxes ?? the reason being simple, all the corporate head offices are located in Mumbai from where the tax is contributed to the state government. So the factory or the production site mite be at some other place , lets say Jamshedpur, but the tax is given at Mumbai : so Maharashtra being the state from where the tax is given gets a share of it which shud have ideally gone to the home state of Bihar. I know its a crude financial logic, but even after refinement, the state of bihar has sufferd because of some bad financial policies like these and shud have been adequtely compensated.

Agriculture. It is the mean of bread n butter for majority in Bihar. Bihar can't boast of being the granary of India which Punjab so blatantly does. But the agriculture in bihar has been a silent success. Go n have a look at the figures of Food Corporation of India(FCI). Bihar contributes majorly to the agricultural stock of India, despite of that its farmers are economically not as rich as their counterparts in states like punjab, haryana. Again, bad distribution of money and sick economic policies are to be blamed for that. Then the Havoc of yearly flooding during monsoon causes a lot of drainage on the state's treasury and on people both economically and personally. And it is something that Bihar alone can not tackle, as most of the rivers that cause flooding come from Nepal, so building of dam on these rivers is a matter b/w two countries and for that Government of India and Government of Nepal must get involve, which has not happend till now despite many requests by consecutive governments of Bihar.

Social Justice. It is the word that is often used in reference to bihar. It has been hot bed of revolution of social justice and to some extent has been a success too, as some social engineers put it !! but the success has taken a wrong turn, and stigma of casteism, which was erst-while under wraps and lower castes being oppressd by lower castes, is now out in the open and "success of social justice" has led to the empowerement of oppressd caste, if not the upliftment. By empowerement, i mean, that they have got a voice now which gets heard. Its a kind of caste war in bihar now, where everything is decided by ur caste, to whom u vote, to whom u marry, whther ur boss is going to like u or not, whether ur work is going to be done or not, whether u will get the electricity connection smoothly or not...everything depends on ur caste, unless n until u have got access to "bade loge" who can do some "pairwee" for u !! i used to think that this problem is most acute in bihar. But i was wrong. the problem is worse in U.P., another hot bed of social justice experimentation. The situation is also no good in IT and modern states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The caste decides it all and is probably true for whole of India.

Corruption and Lawlessness. Corruption is prevalent everywhere, frm the modern states like Karnataka to rich states like punjab, and to single out bihar on this front wud be erronous. The law and order situation in bihar is pathetic and there is no denying this fact. The kidnapping has taken a form of industry. The murder rate is high. The ever increasing graph of crime shows no signs of slowing down. Then there are several caste armies and naxalites, who in themselves are powers of their own in their respective areas of state of Bihar. Despite of all these, bihar can boast of no communal riots in last 17 years. In december 1992 and 1993, in the wake of Babri Masjid Demolition, wen the whole country was burning, there was not even a single case of stone throw in bihar. be it Gujarat 2002, bihar has been at communal peace. The state of Maharashtra has the highrst murder rates in India as per the data frm Home Ministry of India and the state of Rajasthan has the dunious distinction of having the highest crime figures committed against woman !!

Laloo Prasad Yadav n Co. Any mention of bihar wud be incomplete without the mention of Mr.Laloo Prasad Yadav. The man is so famous(rather infamous) that the word Bihar and Laloo has become synonomous. The man practically ruled over the state of bihar for 15 years from 1990-2005, with his wife being the chief minister from 1998-to-2005. And mind u it was a democratically elected government. Laloo Prasad Yadav is often blamed for the present scenario of Bihar. I have often heard that he brought the state frm bad to worse condition, some ppl also like to call it the worst !! If Laloo Yadav was so bad, why was he elected for three terms consecutively to rule over the state of Bihar(including his wife's tenure) ?? are people of Bihar mad to do so ?? Yes, is the answer i have normally heard to this qstion. lets go a bit deeper n back in time. In 1990, wen Laloo Yadav was first elected, the wheels of social justice were moving fast and was at a crucial stage, and Mr.Yadav understood the situation well and acted accordingly. He acted for the empowerement of lower castes, if not their upliftment. He gave them a voice. He successfully projected himself as the person who belongs to them and has risen frm them. HE championed the cause of social justice and his cotories n political supporters successfully presented him as the messiah of the poor and lower castes. The lower castes people who till yesterday did not even exist and were being relentlessly oprressd by upper caste people suddenly found their voice, their messiah who will cure them of their miseries. let me illustrate, before Laloo era, police wud not even register a case of rape or murder if a low caste person has dared to come n get it registrd. Most of them did not dare to do so. And if a person dares to do so, he wud be beaten, sometime killed, his family humiliated n beated. He just had no voice and no choice but to bear the oppression. This aslo led to rise of Naxalism in Bihar. Then came Laloo Yadav, who gave them a voice, now their cases were getting registrd, police were made to act in some cases which mite cause some political turmoils, low caste ppl have suddenly found their existence and Laloo Yadav made sure he gets the major credit for this social churning of State. And so the halo of messiah Laloo Prasad Yadav started to brighten. He practiced his politics along the caste lines and not just him, all the contemporary leaders of bihar, infact whole of india, did the same. Its just that he did it probably the best way and most successful way. But with empowerement comes awakening, with awakening comes knowledge, and people started to realise the importance of financial upliftment, and the halo of Laloo Yadav started to dim out. The economy of bihar was not given its due attention by Laloo Yadav, as he was happy enough to ride on his rath of "social justice" !! Laloo Yadav must be credited with the social upliftment of people of bihar; if not social equality, the ideal goal of social justice revolution. There is no denying that he is a champion of secularism, even if for his political reasons, the state under his command never had a case of communal riot for which Laloo Yadav must be credited !!
Laloo Yadav is an important chapter in the contemporary era of Bihar. From social justice to making his wife the chief minister of bihar, to the financial bankruptcy of bihar, he changed Bihar. He mite come across on television as a joker or a comedian, and thats how ppl refer to him(make fun of him, actually), but underneath that demeanour is a shrewd politican, a master strategeist, and i won't be surprised if he makes a come back to the political throne of bihar in next election. He now has the famous "Railways Turnaround" to show as his proficiency in financial matters, on grounds of which he lost the last elections in Bihar !! so watch out for this space and this man particularly !!

Biharis. So in all these, wat do people of bihar think. wat do people of bihar do. The general view of people of Bihar abt their own state is full of pessimism. They don't think highly of their state and do not expect much from it. They are talented people and hard working people. Its just that their home state doesn't provide them the opportunity to show their skills, so they head for greener pastures, where it cud be seen that they have performed brilliantly in all fields. And this is wat has led to their negative mindset, the constant failure of their state to provide them with facilities and opportunities that sadness is now giving way to despair. But everything is still not lost. u will often find biharis living outside their state sharing their dream of turning bihar around. u will often find them arguing for their state, even if they don't have much to defend with, except their hope. Biharis mingle easily with people of other cultures n communities. Just look at the population of migrants biharis in other states and you will come to know that. May be their language of "hum" has got to do something with it. i often hear people accusing the migrants from other states especially from bihar for the mess in their cities, from the lack of civic amenities to those of crimes, which is factually false. Its just that if a person frm bihar commits a murder in mumbai, the news gets the space on the first page of Times of India and if its some localite, it wud be on the 4th page at the left hand corner which hardly gets noticed by the majority. And its truly, if u don't believe me check out the newspaper, in and out, for last two months and u will get the right figures.

So is bihar a punching bag of India?? yes, it is. We Indians are a pessimistic lot and we need a avenue to pass on the baton for our failures. We steal electricity, waste it and wen its not available we curse the government. Our civic sense is pathetic but we don't forget to blame the municipality for the garbage present on the roads. We are part of every mess that India is in. We have created most of it but we will not acknowledge it. We need an avenue where we can hide our guilt and shame of being incompetent, where we can vent out our frustration for our failures.
Similar is the case with Bihar. We Indians are tired of corruption and lawlessness in India, so we seek Bihar as our target and take solace in the fact that we are atleast better than state, which mite not be factually true, just to hide out our lost cause. We Indians, indulge in killing of female foetecide and rape of women but where do we hide our guilt n shame, its Bihar. We eat the rice which is produced in Bihar, but we won't acknowledge it. We cheer for the Thai Chicken and Mexican Raviolli.
Bihar is an easy target because its down on its knees. It is true that Bihar is in the most shabby of conditions and it has a long way to go on the path of modernity, prosperity and development. But the rest of India is also not doing any good !! We cherish that Maharashtra and Gujarat has given us Reliance and TATA which are becoming truly global giant industrial conglomerates and blame that Bihar has given India nothing, but drags India back. But look closely at the workforce of these companies, their customers, biharis form a big part of it. We have contributed to the development of the country doing the "dirty jobs" for which we do not get acknowledgd. The state of Bihar has sufferd and continue to suffer because of some bad financial policies !! And turning it around will take some time and some dedicated effort and help from "Other-India".

Both Bihar and India is in deep shit, its just that some part of India has put on a perfume and some nice clothes, and bihar still stands half naked and stinking !!

And i don't know the story abt the stolen car of Laloo's personal Physician and where it was found. so if some one knows the story please do let me know.