Patna hille la!!!

Visiting my home state has never failed to amaze me. Having spent time in the whole of this country, I can safely say that Bihar is indeed the most politically conscious state in India. Everybody is blessed with an opinion on what is wrong with the state and and its polity and no one fears to express it. Using the visit to take care of some family and professional obligations, as usual, this visit entailed meeting some really interesting people, and of course hearing what they had to say. In fact, in Bihar, all you need to survive and get familiarised is having a political opinion. It doesn't matter what opinion you have, i.e. no one will love you or hate you for being a a leftist, rightist, anarchist or secularist(i hope that is a recognised term). All you need to be accepted en masse is the ability to make public your opinion. And you will definitely get a stage. In a family get together, any greetings have to be followed by a conversation on what was the newspaper headlines. No even is spared to discuss politics, whether they be marriages, post funeral rituals (occasionally funerals too) or any event in which members of the joint family are meeting. There is a new found pride in Patna's new roads, improved law and order and of course, attribution of lack of the same to the poster boy of bihar politics. Everyone seems to be in anticipation of the next congress government in the centre with Rahul Gandhi at its helm. I came across theories pertaining to Rahul Gandhi's mistress in sweden and the factum of his having two kids. I came across theories which state hotels as the most powerful institutions having impact on policies because they have sleaze videos on every politician!!! Journalists are considered the new power brokers and any deal involving state machinery has to involve journalists. Some of them are so hilarious that you would need a crash course in controlling laughter lest you offend someone or his views. If time is not of the essence, these discussions find their way into professional meetings.

What amazes me further is that all this consciousness does not translate into development. Somehow, there is a dire need to change the attitude of arm chair philosophy and pseudo-intellectualism. Anyways, A-L's new Bihar venture hopes to play some positive and constructive role! Wish us luck!