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Culture
Stereotyping Biharis - A Bihari Girl's take on 'Being a Bihari'.
"Oh you are a Bihari, but you don't look like one," a statement each one from Bihar living in the other states must have come across many a time. People cannot digest the fact that there can be a well dressed, well mannered or well-spoken Bihari. The Indian media and entertainment industry has a lot to its credit for strengthening the Bihari stereotype. In movie plots, a Bihari is either shown as a gangster or an illiterate rustic or a servant in some lavish household speaking in a typical Lalu accent. All Biharis don't look like or talk like Rabri or Lalu. But, a Bihari is someone you have the right to look down upon and laugh at without feeling guilty about.
Being a Bihari girl just adds on to these comments that come at you. Statements like "Tum English bina ruke bol leti ho (can you speak English without stuttering)", "Papa se ladai hui hogi aage padhne ke liye (You must have fought with your father to study further meaning all Bihari fathers are backward)", "Bihar ke log to bade gareeb se dikhte hain ( but you look well off)", and what not.. Forget about people who don't know us, but the office colleagues, institution faculties and even the closest of friends leave no chance to taunt and throw mean comments relating to the state we belong to.
If other regional languages and industries can be accepted and given respect across the nation, why not Bihar? Does it fall out of the geographic boundaries of India? Do we Biharis have different physical features from the rest of you? Or is it just the thought, the stigma related to us that is making you mock us and consider us inferior to the rest of the world?
People, your discrimination is brutal and without any understanding of the subject 'Bihari'. It is your sheer lack of knowledge of our rich culture and lifestyle is the biggest reason for your non-acceptance. Next time you want to mock your Bihari friend or neighbour, know the following facts about Bihar-
1. Bihar was the birthplace of Lord Gautam Buddha and Lord Mahavira, the founders of Buddhism and Jainism.
2. India's first and world's oldest university, Nalanda university, was started in Bihar in 5th Century AD and flourish for 600 years where students from all over the world came to study here.
Nalanda library attracted people across the word especially Iran, Korea,China,Japan Greece. When the army of Baktiyar Khilji set this huge library on fire, it kept on burning for three months destroying nine million manuscripts.
3. Land of Maurya and Gupta dynasty, Bihar was a trade and political centre of the world in the Vedic period.
4. Bihar churns the maximum no of IAS officers in India. Biharis are there due to there hard work and diligence.
5. Biharis excel in every aspect and this statement can be proved with strong and valid examples. Be it art, education or entertainment the state has produced some phenomenal legends.
6. Land of Lichi: The juicy scrumptious Lichis that you eat every summer come from Bihar.
7. Land of great Indian people: This blog post is not enough to contain the name of all the great Indians who contributed to all the sectors be it freedom struggle, politics, music, literature, film and media personalities.
Raviish Kumar, Anuraag Kashyap, Imtiaz Ali, Shatrughna Sinha, Pankaj Trupathi, Neetu Chandra, Sanjay Misra, Sushant Singh Rajput and many more are all from Bihar.
The world is changing and it is time the thought process of people in our country and the way they perceive Biharis change. You just need to sit down with us and have a conversation. Just a conversation will make you realize that the language we speak, the attire we adorn or the region where we belong to might be different and which is obvious but the emotions we have and the relations we share are just the same. Just like a Bengali, a Punjabi, a Tamilian, a Gujarati or like any other person belonging to any other state, even a Bihari is an Indian and we are like you in every manner.
Through this article, I just want to do my bit to let the world know about the impact they create by mocking somebody on the basis of their culture and how important it is for it to stop.
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