Why we should Proud Bihari?

I think we should. I have never spent much time in my hometown Muzaffarpur. I was born in Delhi and raised in Himachal Pradesh. My parents made sure that I knew about the place where we came from. What I am proudest about Bihar is that parents know the value of good education. They provide their sons and daughters with equal educational opportunities. If they see a particular talent in their child they help them out in honing their skills. I have found this to be true with all the Bihari families I have met over my lifetime.

The fact that we had Nalanda Univeristy there, a king like Ashoka reigned from our region, a mathematician and astronomer like Aryabhatta are just not the things we need to proud of. We have a rich history, true that but what we are today is nothing to be ashamed of. We have so many hard working and intelligent people living in and outside the state. We have people with rich background in classical music and performing arts. Not only do we produce public administrators but also thinkers, critiques, academicians, actors, musicians, singers and journalists. We may not be the people who get mainstream success but are definitely an important gear in the machinery of several industries.

Having said that, there still are a couple of things which I find inappropriate. It sometimes feels that we are overly patriarchal and tend to be the people who ogle a lot and make others around us really uncomfortable. There have been so many sexual offenders that we have produced. May be being a Bihari myself makes me more critical of ourselves than I should be but we do need to change. We need to educate every single individual and make them more aware about the world. We also tend to mix up self-respect and ego very often. There is a fine line in having pride in who we are and where we come from (self-respect) and feeling that we are superior even without having anything (ego).

I have a lot of hope with us, because in my heart I feel more optimistic and positive about ourselves than the negative. For 355 days a year you may feel disconnected with Bihar, but on March 22, Bihar Diwas, just for once, think of Bihar with dignity, respect and all the good things that it stands for. There are many.

 Akarsh Sinha on Quora
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