Hi All! This is for the first time I am writing in this forum because I too identify myself with the issues raised by sujit and saurabh. "which place you belong to" is a comman question in delhi.You tell jharkhand , then more than half of the people (including highly literate and so called elite delhite) will raise their eyebrow ;isn't it the same state which has been chopped off from bihar? or from m.p. or u.p..; No, no , you are correct,it's bihar only.Oh so you are a bihari(as if being a bihari is a crime)? Yes, my parents and ancestors were from bihar.But you don't look like one ,you don't speak like them.You look different from them; Then, how they look and talk.Ohh,they are irritating people,dressing shabbily,speaking like villegers,I mean the rickshawaala type. Now,this much is enough to raise your temper and you end up arguing ,it's the same land which gave buddha and mahavir,from where you get maximum number of ias and iitians. But then they have there own theories.Isn't malpractice very comman in bihar and these people must be clearing exams by question out scandals; and you feel you are losing the battle.But how come everyone is getting question papers before exam and what about interviews? Ohh , there must be some way out, you know, i knew a bihari and .....so and so.....he was very smart in.....blah blah. then they would offer some sympathy too; now that you have a different state so you must say, you are a jharkhandi.why you are fighting over biharies. no thank you! i am equally comfortable being a bihari and for your kind information no one is a proper delhite,everyone is from outside, even most of them from pakistan. you want to vent out more but then you realize there is no use talking to fools. so after being a bihari by birth,jharkhandi due to division of state,UPite as I have a flat in NOIDA and Delhite because i work in central goverment office in delhi , i end up not knowing who i am and which place i belong too at the end of the day. the other day i had an arguement with my boss over the same issue i didn't know what i did was right or wrong and then my conscious told me it's better to vent out your emotion and anger rather than burn from inside. i get a feeling of pride being a bokarite and still cherish the days when the world around us was innocent,competetive but not professional,simple but beautiful and young children would rush to the playground immediately after the school without fancy toys.
Anand Mohan ----- Original Message ----- From: Sujit Kumar Sanyal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, 4 Dec 2007 12:10:24 +0530 (IST) Subject: Re: [ =>> Jharkhand <<= ] I am a Jharkhandi and I am proud to be Jharkhandi. Dear All, After a long time, I saw a write-up, with which I could identify myself as well. I was born in Ranchi to my Bengali parents, hailing from Ranchi and Agra (in Uttar Pradesh) respectively. I had my schooling and early college life at Ranchi (St. John's School and St. Xavier's College). I followed up this with an engineering degree from IIT, Kharagpur (in West Bengal) and post graduation from IIT, Kanpur (in Uttar Pradesh). I started my career in Ahmedabad (in Gujarat), where my daughter was born. I went to Nazira (in Assam) and Dehradun (in Uttarakhand - where my son was born) before being posted in Mumbai (in Maharashtra). I have a flat in Mumbai and in Sodepur (in West Bengal) and had inheritted some immovable property in Ranchi. I speak Bangla at home, though I wrote my Matriculation examinations in Hindi. I can communicate more or less fluently in English, Hindi, Bangla and Gujarati. My children, brought up in Dehradun/ Mumbaiare not conversant with Bangla but have cleared Hindi/ Marathi at the SSC level. I strongly share the dilemaa of Mr. Saurav Mishra. I recall my father grieving that Bihar (where Ranchi was place pre Jharkhand days) did not offer him proper opportunities because he was a Bengali and Bengal did not, because he was a Bihari. The identity crisis has followed through generations and for people like us, who are required to serve in different places, identification with one particular place is always difficult. The federal structure of our country has significantly added to the prevailing confusion. The "Son of the Soil" concept has resulted in clashes of interest, leading to physical abuse of outsiders in states of Assam, J&K, Maharashtra etc. too recently to be forgotten. Do we really have a way out? I do not know. In the meantime, I continue to be proud to be a Jharkhandi, Bengali, Bihari..... and, above all, an Indian. Sujit Kumar Sanyal, Mumbai On 12/3/07, Jharkhand Forum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > *Right from my childhood, i have been frequently been irritated by a few > questions of a similar kind asked by others, that is -'From where do you > belong in India?? What's your caste?? Being a Mishra, how come your > parents > are Bengali?? If your parents are Bengali,obviously you are one too?? You > don't speak like a Bengali, neither can you be called a Bihari??'and the > biggest one-"MISHRA,doesnt seem to be a bengali title?"* > * > Too many questions...and too limited patience for me to answer them.Let me > tell you this that these have been asked by almost everybody-my > teachers,friends,etc. I just give them a smile, and tell them that even I > am > not too sure myself to satisfy their doubts.(cant just bluntly tell them > to > mind their own business) > > Right from my childhood, I have never been a very social person, although > I > like being with my friends always. Never having mixed with the world too > much, I never asked certain questions to my parents ,answers to which even > Indian kids know. Foremost question-'Who am I?' Sounds like some stupid > spiderman stuff but in our country, this question assumes a lot of > significance. Answer to this question describes your identity.i.e. your > caste,your ancestral background,and by what you will call yourself-a > Bihari,Marathi,Bengali...Because,to be frank, nobody calls themselves as > an > Indian, unless and until they have watched a patriotic movie that > day.Youare ,what you describe yourself as, and you are instantly > assigned to a > community in the mind of the opposite person. > > Coming back on track,i would say that my parents were of the kind who > believed that their children need not attach much importance to their > caste,ancestors and such stupid stuff. They just believed that I should be > mindful of my own business and do it. All this was dissatisfying at the > time > when i was constantly badgered with such questions. > > My parents can be called as Bengali as anybody else as they were born and > brought up there. But the absurdity of my situation threw me in a tight > spot. For my relatives and close ones,I was a Bengali , but being born and > brought up in Bokaro steel City,Jharkhand, i had the usual local Hindi > accent,and didn't have that strange characteristic Bengali accent . Thus, > my > Bengali also suffered.Thus, till date i try valiantly to hide my Bengali > parental roots from any outsider in case i am dubbed as the same. Being > born > and brought up in Jharkhand,I have the characteristic of the usual guy you > will find there. That place is in my blood. I am fiercely in love with > that > place..its calmness,its poetic landscape...the fresh scent of earth after > the rains there is the best aroma that i know and long to breathe > always.... > > In short,please dont call me a Bengali.....my parents are > Bengali....Personally, i have a distinctive dislike towards > maccher-jhol-bhaat and rasogullas. Don't ask me my caste:I don't consider > myself as a Brahmin-i love chicken and I am an agnostic. The only > attachment > that i have with the bengali community is that language with which i > interact with the most important persons in my life.I am a Jharkhandi, a > Steel City guy, and am proud to be one. > > Thank you. > > Saurav Mishra > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <nitk.saurav%40gmail.com> * > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -- My life has changed. What about yours? Log on to the new Indiatimes Mail and Live out of the Inbox!
