i Biharii

I saw a sardarji backing his car and his horn singing ‘hutt bihari, hutt bihari, hutt’ – that was 2000. Ten years have gone by and Biharis today are building up a different niche for that colloquial ‘shout’.

Describing me at times or most times becomes intricate. Originally a Bengali, born and brought up in Bihar and now in Delhi for the last ten years – I am literally a fitting example of a multicultural Indian. However I have always counted me a Bihari first because of reasons like – Bihar gave me my birthplace, first friends, first adult joke, first date and first of many things. But most importantly an identity!

Delhi saw the first of me in the year 2000. I had successfully transited from many of the first things mentioned above. I was a bihari lad from Patna who was dreaming to make it big and had taken the first step toward the giant leap of life.

I dropped to Katwaria Sarai (frankly I never missed Bihar a single day their). Every house had ten times more people it could accommodate with majority being Bihari tenants. A valid reason for ‘Bihari’ to be so famous.

Didn’t take much time for me to realise shopkeepers, green grocers, bus conductors and anyone or everyone chanting the magic word bihari to second any stupidity or foolish act. I felt popular everyday.

Leave apart anyone else; even we bihari friends would often do a serious mock drill of calling each other Bihari – for anything that was silly.

It was clearly the ‘in’ word for all comic reliefs – no more to be.

Today on Bihar –divas I must say I miss the ‘B’ word. It’s no more used that frequent. And things have changed in just the last couple of years.

Biharis getting acknowledged as ‘changed’ ‘improved’ has taken out the sting from the ‘B’ word. Sounds like any other buggers – Gujrathi, Bengali or Marathi.

We are enjoying it nevertheless.