Reclaiming Bihar

 In the previous post i discussed how within months of the ban, alcohol again was made available in the market though not openly.  The price tag of the alcohol which was being sold was twice sometimes thrice or even more of the MRP, this meant two things.  First, few people were able to afford it (i.e. the rich and the upper middle class could and the lower middle class and the working class(daily wage workers) couldn't afford it(this will be important later on)).  Second, since the price tags were 200 to 300% higher than before the profits had also increased 200-300%, profit margins this high was very lucrative hence more and more players started to jump in the business, there was little to no risk involved since they could pay off the police to look the other way while they conducted their "business".  This was the masterstroke of Nitish Kumar, with one move he made a name for himself on the national political stage, got free PR by claiming that he has banned ...

It was 2015(around Chath Puja), I went to the field near my house to play cricket, while i was fielding i overheard some people talking about the recent announcement of liquor ban in Bihar, some of them were joking about it claiming the government won't go forward with it. After a couple of months later in April 2016, all the liquor shops had been banned, Liquor was officially banned in Bihar, it seemed surreal to me, because i was used to seeing drunks and alcoholics on a general basis whenever i went outdoors. but for the time being i couldn't care less.   Nobody could believe that it was actually happening, liquor ban in Bihar seems like a joke, except it wasn't. Everybody was aware of the matter they had been for months but now that it was finally taking place nobody could believe it. There was no alcohol to be found anywhere the police was very weary of any activity. The ban was on all kinds of alcohol including the "desi sharab" or "pouch", hence t...

 While Bhojpuri’s popularity is on the rise thanks to social media platforms, its literary presence tells an entirely different story.  As I’ve noted in previous posts, very little literature is being written in Bhojpuri, and it is not taken as seriously as languages like Marathi or Bengali. Bhojpuri still remains largely a language of oral tradition, with most of its rich literature passed down through generations by word of mouth. The beauty of this oral tradition lies in its dynamism. Each time a story or song is handed down, it offers the narrator an opportunity to add a personal touch—a new flavor that resonates with contemporary audiences while carrying age-old wisdom.  This makes the literature relevant while carrying the essence and wisdom of the ages. This evolving nature naturally leads to multiple retellings of the same story, each story a bit different from each other and carrying a different set of values. This results in a large number of stories all descend...

The languages which are native to Bihar such as Bhojpuri, Maithili and Magahi are considered inferior and "gawar" languages in comparison to Hindi. With the exception of one i.e. Maithili all these languages are still considered "dialects" of Hindi, this is quite funny since these languages predate Hindi (the Hindi as we know it) by centuries. It’s not just non-Biharis who consider our languages to be inferior and to be of the uncivilized people, it’s the people from Bihar themselves who believe this and I myself have seen parents discourage their children to speak in Bhojpuri. This is a matter of concern because the majority of the folk songs (lok geet)/stories (lok katha) and other literature remains in the oral traditions only and they are disappearing since the new generation does not want to carry the baggage. Since, the majority of people consider Hindi to be the superior language they don't want their children to learn the regional language i.e. Bhojpuri,...