By Ria Dayal:
Well, we all grew up listening that whenever you get struck by a difficult situation, try to look at the brighter side, or when life dwindles and lands you in a dilemma, you must think and scrutinise both the pros and cons of the situation.
However, in some cases we become so disregarding that we don’t even care to look at the other side of it.
Well, that’s what happened in the past few days with Bihar.
It got landed itself in a tainted topper scam, which proved to be a really mortifying event for the entire state and the Bihar School Examination Board.
In a few days, the wreckage was done and people conjointly with the media had already started lashing out, giving derogatory remarks, lampooning, ridiculing and mocking the state.
Yes, the scam did prove to be a huge blemish for the entire state and deserves flak as well but this has always been the case with Bihar.
It will take a thousand achievements from Bihar to get an exaltation but one mistake, and vituperation is on its way. What is the possible reason behind it? One word answer: Stereotype.
Let’s face it, India is a land of stereotypes. Here, it’s probably easier to break bones than stereotypes.
When foreigners assume absurd beliefs about India being a land of snake charmers, we smirk and sneer a lot. But don’t we do the same with people from different states? All of us have some sort of cultural prejudices against people of other states.
Illiterate, uncultured, socially backward. These are often associated with the word ‘Bihari’. This has been going on for so much time now that it does not really affect anyone. It does make sense when you are being called a Bihari because you are from Bihar but it doesn’t make sense when it is being related to all possible atrocities.
But in the same course of time during which Bihar was being berated of its education board, there were many other people from the same state doing something stupendous in their respective fields.
1. Dame Asha Khemka- She is the principal of the West Nottinghamshire College and became the second woman of Indian origin to be conferred with the female equivalent of Knighthood.
2. Bhavna Kant- She was amongst the first female fighter pilots of India.
3. Sharad Sagar- He got mentioned in the list of Forbes’ under 30 entrepreneurs in January 2016.
4. Ashutosh Prakash – He made a voice controlled and battery operated wheelchair inspired by Stephen Hawking for his ailing octogenarian grandfather.
5. Dr. Manas Bihari Verma – He is the mind behind India’s first indigenous multi-role supersonic aircraft Tejas.
6. Anand Kumar- He is already famous for his Super-30 initiative and this time, he got a teaching offer from Harvard’s online initiative.
When people speak about Bihar in utter disgust, I feel pity for them as that speaks the volume of knowledge about this state.
Yes we did remain in the spotlight for some corrupted officials, nefarious criminals, and yes the tainted topper scam but then, even we have a brighter side which people mostly overlook.
We do not want to be lauded on the same old grounds of a glorious history but we do have a gleaming and glistening present, which surely shouldn’t be quashed and quelled under some typical stereotypes.