Being a Bihari (Hum Bihari hai)
How does it feel to be in the other states as a Bihari? How we are stereotyped? How we are looked up? What is our impression on other Indians and the reality?
I, myself is a Bihari, who have lived the major part of her life in almost every state of India and met with the most diversified crowd of India. The last 17 years of my life was always been on wheels, every time with a new surrounding and new people. This is been my life’s belief for all these years accept and respect the change, adapt to and learn to enjoy it.
There are two extremes ends of the perception which people of other states carry for Biharis. The First one is that Bihar is an underdeveloped state with poor people residing in it, who are involved in criminal activities. These people are uncivilized and backward. These people migrate to other states and cities to do all the “low-class” jobs.
They can be identified by their accent of Hindi or the “ hum” word they use frequently. In some cities, the negative perception of Biharis has exacerbated to such extent that anyone who is worthless is a Bihari. The word Bihari became more of a kind of abuse than an identity.
I am sharing some of my personal experiences. I had lived in Chandigarh for a few years. So, one day I went to get a haircut at a normal beauty parlor. So this lady asks me “ looks like you are new here” I said, yes, just shifted. So, she asked me ‘Where are you from.’ 4–5 more ladies were present there. I said “ I am from Bihar” and suddenly she said, “ you don’t look like a Bihari”. I didn’t retaliate, I felt bad and returned home without any haircut. What am I supposed to look like a Bihari? Am I an alien? The Interesting thing is that before I left Chandigarh, I visited that parlor again and with four of my other Bihari friends and make her daughter understand that what her mother did and what is wrong with that. Hopefully, she made her mother understand or she will lose her customers like me.
I was there in Delhi for a very short while, I boarded a bus from Laxminagar Metro Station for Ambala. After some time, the bus stopped somewhere in between. This man sitting beside me rushed towards the bus gates, while in passage his leg brushed against an old man sitting on the third front seat. The old man screamed so bitterly while saying ‘ bhai dikhta nhi hai kya, bihari khi ka’( cant you see, you Bihari). The first person replied,‘ sorry sir, lekin gaali to mat do’ ( sorry sir, but don’t abuse me). After that, he went off the bus but this bitter memory remained with me for always. How these people made the identity of the people from a particular state abuse?
Gulzar sahib once said cinema is the mirror of society, and Bollywood portrayed Bihar always in the bad light. The Bollywood movies always showed the picture of Bihar as the most uncivilized and corrupt state. They stereotyped the roles which are not good in appearance, illiterate or poor will be portrayed as someone from Bihar. All the characters who do menial jobs were given getup of a Bihari. This is like we used to watch movies which were shot in Europe and we started admiring it and accepted it as true because we never visited them. In the same way, Bollywood portrayed Bihar in a bad light and the people accepted it as true, because they never met Biharis and if they have met their perception has changed.
They showed us how police officers come to Bihar to erase the corruption and crime in Bihar like god’s messenger. But what about those Bihari officers who go to other states and give stellar work records. Why we are shown as the people who speak broken English like knowing English has anything to do with which state you belong to?
The second perception is that these are the very hardworking talented people, who are expected to be stellar in academics. We have the image that these are the people who dominate major competitive exams whether it’s UPSC or IITs. People like our language but still they don’t know that there are five languages which are spoken in Bihar its just not only Bhopuri. There was this Assamese girl who asked me “why you Biharis are so good in Maths like all my Maths teachers were Biharis”.
They expect you to be hardworking and intelligent by the virtue of being a Bihari. It’s very common for us that anyone asks, ‘Tumhare ghar me koi IAS/IPS hai kya’(Do you know any IAS/IPS personally?). Some people shared that the best kind of entertaining friends they have are Biharis. Many of my friends ask me for that Chhathh Pooja Prasad and visited my home on the occasion. This shows their respect for our culture and us. Everyone who shared this perception welcomed Biharis with open hands.
Every state has its plus and minus. In the past, Bihar had a very bad record in corruption and development but it was not due to the Biharis. It was because of the dirty politics. That can happen with any other state as a matter of fact.
People migrated from Bihar for employment but that doesn’t mean all of them are doing menial jobs. And one thing more who are you to degrade a work? Maybe lockdown has shown you how important these errand runners are. Respect everyone’s work. I just want to convey all the stereotypes whether it is in favor or against Biharis are not completely right, so you can do a thing in the right way which is to respect everyone.
In the past too, Biharis had carved their identity by their hard work and talent and they are continuing the efforts. I am not boasting about it I am showing that there is a positive side of Bihar that is intentionally ignored. I am not going to write about the culture and the people of Bihar who glorified India because you can easily find them by a single web search or most probably you know them already. We want to be respected as a Bihari because that’s part of my identity. Give respect and take respect that’s how simple it is. “ Aur suniye, Chhath Pooja me aaiyega zaroor.”
