2. Table of Contents
How to connect with the fellow Biharis : ............................................................................................ 3
Want to contribute to this magazine .................................................................................................. 3
Want to advertise in this magazine ................................................................................................... 3
Editorial Board .................................................................................................................................. 3
From editor‘s desk ............................................................................................................................ 4
BENCON 2011 ................................................................................................................................. 5
Bihar My Mother Land....................................................................................................................... 9
Do you speak Bihari? ...................................................................................................................... 10
Saas and bahu: the eternal struggle ............................................................................................... 13
Bihar Development Trust ................................................................................................................ 16
Much Needed Change and Development in Bihar, necessary to avoid revolution ........................... 18
" ...".. ................................................................................................................................. 21
Book Review ‗The Plain Truth‖ by N.K.Singh .................................................................................. 25
A tale a tale story of the rampant corruption in the Civil Services .................................................... 25
The Curious Case of Bihari Cuisine: Part 1 ..................................................................................... 26
Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar': Whose Pen Literally Burnt the Page ........................................................ 33
........................................................................................................................... 35
Chasing a Mirage............................................................................................................................ 36
I am Death ...................................................................................................................................... 38
............................................................................................................................... 38
Love's Journey by Rashmi Singh .................................................................................................... 41
The Concept of a Nation ................................................................................................................. 42
Pride of Bihar Culture- Ramayan Group ......................................................................................... 43
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 2
3. How to connect with the fellow Biharis :
Please join us on Facebook:
1. Facebook Bihar Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/bihar
2. Bihar Society Org on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/biharsociety
Want to contribute to this magazine
Please send your artcile to the Editor: at thebiharwebzine@gmail.com
Want to advertise in this magazine
Please send your advertisement to the Editor : at thebiharwebzine@gmail.com
Editorial Board
Editor - Santosh Pandey (email: santoshpandeyca@gmail.com )
Blog: http://santosh-pandey.blogspot.com/
Executive Editor - Atul Kumar (email: atultech@gmail.com )
Blog: http://atultech.blogspot.com/
Consulting Editor - Manoj Pandey ( email: manojpandeycma@gmail.com )
Consulting Editor - Sarvesh Upadhyay ( email: sarveshk@gmail.com )
Design & Creative Editor - Sanjay Prasad ( email: prasadcom2@gmail.com )
Blog: http://www.freewebs.com/sanjayprasad/
Ankit Ptrakash (email: in_ankit@yahoo.co.uk )
Website: http://tech-tweak.com/
Abhishek Kumar (email abhishekkjha@facebook.com
Associate Editor - Bhartendu Kumar Das ( email:
bhartendu_351@rediffmail.com )
Associate Editor - Vivek Kumar (email: vivek.learner@gmail.com )
Blog: http://visionvivek.blogspot.com/
Associate Editor - Ankit Kumar (email: ankit4jec@gmail.com ),
Editor - Ajit Chauhan (email: ajitchouhan@gmail.com )
Blog: http://coolbihari.blogspot.com/,
Consulting Guest Editor - replace Mrunalini with ―new editors ―
Dwijendra Kashyap(emai :l
dwijendra.kashyap@facebook.com)
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 3
4. From editor’s desk
Dear readers,
We are thankfull for your overhelming response with the first edition of this webzine. We have received many
encouraging responses from all quarter of society and from Bihari and non-Bihari community from across the
globe. It is this tremendous response that helps encourages and gives us much needed fuel to continue with
this publication in its second consecutive edition.
Since the release of the first edition, a lot has happened in Bihar, there has been a tragic case of Police
atrocity in Farbesganj, Meeting of Nalanda mentor group was recently held, in another encouraging and bold
step, Bihar Society with the help of people of Bihar has established Bihar Entrepreneur Network (BEN) and
the first conference of BEN (BENCON) was held in the historic city of Bodh Gaya. The event was well
received by all stakeholders.Since, the idea of BEN germinated on the online/facebook forum and finally
culminated on the ground which is similar to the idea of launching this webzine as well, the theme of this
edition is dedicated to BEN -IDEAS to EXECUTION.
After successful organization of BENCON, Bihar Society is now planning to organize another Bold and large
scale event which will bring lot of positivity and energy not only in Patna but whole of Bihar. This event is
PATNA MARATHON. The ground work has already been started and soo you will see lot of action.
Although many of you have sent your contribution to this edition of the webzine and earlier edition there is still
deficiency of good quality articles on current relevant topics, hence, we would like to urge upon you to share
your articles on relevant topics for the next edition. Only your participation and contribution can elevate the
quality of this webzine and sustain this wonderful initiative in a longer run.
We also invite interested people with journalistic flavor to assume responsibility in publication of this webzine.
Please do write to us at thebiharwebzine@gmail.com if you are interested to be part of this webzine in any
manner. Please send us your suggestion as to how this webzine can be further improved by email to us.
Editorial Team
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 4
5. BENCON 2011
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last month (21st May 2011) we organized our first summer of Gaya (when temperatures touched 45
BEN CONFERENCE in Bodh Gaya. It has created a centigrade often).
wave of excitement and energy among the young 4. The fact that 150+ entrepreneurs were able to
entrepreneurs, students/teacher and locals of Gaya. converge at one venue on a saturday morning in the
The energy and hunger for creating jobs and being a heat of gaya itself was a good reflection of the
part of changing Bihar was very visible and palpable. "hunger" and "need gap" that exists in Bihar.
This event was unique in many ways and the way 5. The fact that people like Ajay Kumar Gupta from
event got organized and hosted itself had some Noida ( via Santosh Pandey) , Tanya Prasad from
lessons and reasons to celebrate Singapore (via Atul Kumar), Akhourie Nites (via
Kumar Ankit) offered financial sponsorship for the
event which was just an unproven idea and
experiment also proved the need for many such
events.
6. We also got great support & participation from
various govt departments was another eye-opener.
We didn't know Industry Commissioner (Principal
Secy), CK Mishra jee till 1 week before the event and
he bought in the idea and promised to sponsor the
event. He also sent two of his senior team members
to the event, who presented their case very well. The
ease with which we could walk in & reach-out to to
various departments in secretariat with no political
connection was an example that entrepreneurs
interested in Bihar should take note of.
1. We had no formal organization or paid staff to
conduct this event. It was organized in an open
source / wikinomics model.
2. It started as an idea discussed over facebook
and skype between Kumar Ankit, Naveen Sharma in
Gaya and Santosh Pandey in Europe, Atul Kumar in
USA. Many of them had never met in person so it
was an example of how the rules of collaboration and
doing business in the 21st century are changing.
3. There were lot of skeptics, critics, cheerleaders,
supporters and very strong supporters. Like all new
ventures we had a fair share of all of these. As the
event started to catch momentus more and more 7. The participation of 60+ students of Gaya
people started joing in but initially some of the key College in the event at a short notice gave a very
members were also skeptical abou the possibility of encouraging signal. The way they were able to put
pulling off an event like this in Bihar especially in
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 5
6. together a professional show and got trained in few Prachin Bharat, Ranjan Verma and Kumar Ankit
hours, put up a Rangoli under Lalita jee guidance. (locals from Gaya), pulled all their local network of
8. The way Prof Madhukar Shukla, Prof Piyush freind sand family to the event ( Kumar Ankit's
Sinha, Prof Ashok Ghosh, Prof Nupur Bose and younger sister, Lisa, a +2 student, helped us call
many others supported the event and offered their media people), Kumar Rahul and Manish Dayal,
networks and guidance was a symbol of the Aunty and uncle, friends & family all came together to
resources and guidance that was available. make the event a success .. this was a good
9. The participation of investing community showcase of EVENT 3.0 or Org 3.0 where events
especiall two young girls from Mumabi based funds can be executed at a short notice using the power of
was encouraging, the way many of the speakers networks and collaboration.
agreed to come on their own (in fact paid registration
feed also) was a symbol of the event, the
participation of media ( Prabhat Khabar, Hindustan,
Hindustan Times, Telegraph, Mint, Appan Samachar
and many more was very encouraging) and symbol
of the fact that media, professors and investors are
available if you put-up a team and lay out a vision
and mission.
10. The way multiple orgs like Bihar Industries
Association, Bihar Udaya, Tie-Patna, Prachin Bharat,
Green Leaf Energy, Sulabh International, Prabhat
Khabar, Apnacircle.com, Appan Samachar,
Kamdhenu, Karma Society and many others
collaborated to make this event possible is
something to take note of and get inspired.
11. During this event, Ram Kumar & Tanvi Nalin ,
who were managing the speakers, partners and
sponsors from Delhi flew to Gaya to host the event.
Ranbir Bahadur of Bihar Uday, came from Caclutta
and took charge of registrations, Kavi Kumar & D. S.
Mathur, Adviser, Sulabh from Delhi, Santosh Singh
from IDRF, Chennai, Prof Ashok Ghosh and Nupur
Bose from Patna, Mrs Jyoti Sinha and her team
12. As a result of the event, many enterpreneurs
(Kamdhenu) from Patna, Rajiv Kumar came from
discovered each other, their business and possible
Maner with his world famous Ladoos, Ajay Gupta
partnership opportunities, sales opportunities .. BEN
came from Noida and his team not only sponsored
discovered Abhihek Kumar Sinha, who single
the event but also supported as a volunteer/team and
handedly manged the show and logistics in Patna
panelsit on Infrastructure, Akhourie Ntesh and his
and got the brochure published with some help from
team (Praniti Motors) not only sponsorsed the evnt
Prabhat Khabar and also managed the Patna
but also offered their cars and transportation help,
logistics of guests
Naveen Sharma jee stayed in Gaya for those few
13. After the event, many enterepeneurial ideas and
days inspite of his crazy enterepreurial life as CEO of
partnerships are in discussion but those discussions
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 6
7. obviously in closed rooms and private discussions, been shared woth the 550+ members of BEN and
we should see the fruits of BEN being launched in ideas are being discussed on a real time basis.
near future. Abhishek Kr Singha & Kaushalendra Planning for 2012 has also started and you can visit
discovered each other and are leveraging each below URL for details
other's networks and resources, Ravi Chandra found https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2502
a wider net for his venture.
36768325022 . As a spin-off from the event, few
14. One of the highlights of the event was after the event
entereprenurial venturess have also been kicked
when enterpeneurs were given a change to present
the idea on stage and many did present their ideas (
off and you will see the detail from upcoming
Image Bihar and many others). publication by BEN. (Atul Kumar)
T-Shirt and other creative stuffs designed by
Manish Sinha and Jugad Studio for
BENCON 2011
Many many more results and learnings. We also
learnt some hard lessons The promised 10 lakh INR
from Indian Oil and 5 lakh INR from BPCL didn't
come but we are sure more will come in next event.
The quality of mikes and sound system at event
venue could have been better and so on .. but then
we have the next event to plan much longer for
.. miles to go and miles to go before we sleep but
the journey of a thousand miles beging with a single
small step .. we took it .. now the topic of discussion
in Bihar is changing from corruption and politics to
job creation and entrepreneurship and that itself is a
big giant leap forward ….. on the lines of TEDx, we
hope to have smaller events in various cities of bihar
( Muzzafarpur, Chhapra, Hajipur, Darbhanga,
Madhubani, Saharsa) and also maybe host the event
at a national or international venue ... more to come
later. After the meet, we had couple of meetings
online and in Patna and the process of formalizing
Madhu the first Bihari Twitter Bird
BEN as a Trust is in progress. The Governance
Model, Charter of BEN, Membership and goals have
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 7
8. 6. Business Line (The Hindu) 16th
May http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-
and-economy/economy/article2021439.ece Bihar
Society to meet at Bodh Gaya
7. http://www.biharchronicle.com/2011/05/prof-piyush-
sinha-on-ben-in-prabhat.html
8. http://www.biharchronicle.com/2011/05/bencon2011-
in-hindustan-times.html
9. http://growingbihar.com/2011/05/bihar-entrepreneur-
network-an-idea-whose-time-has-come/
10. http://www.biharchronicle.com/2011/04/bihar-
entrepreneur-netwrork-bencon.html
11. http://www.viadeo.com/groups/?containerId=002l15k
yvoy8ck2
Some media coverage of BENCON
12. http://twitter.com/#!/Biharent
13. https://www.facebook.com/biharnetwork
14. http://www.technocube.in/index.php/7-latest-news/5-
bihar-enterpreneur-network-comes-to-a-successful-
end
15. http://www.technocube.in/index.php/7-latest-news/4-
bihar-enterpreneur-network
16. http://www.quora.com/Bihar-Entrepreneurs-
Network/open_questions
17. http://www.scribd.com/doc/54727191/BEN-Prgram-
Details-05-05-11
18. http://www.goiit.com/posts/list/news-b-school-iit-
alumni-join-hands-to-encourage-entrepreneurship-
1107212.htm
19. http://www.3dsyndication.com/dna/BUSINESS_ECO
NOMY/dna_english_news_and_features/B-
Some Press coverage links of BENCON 2011 school/IIT-alumni-join-hands-to-encourage-
entrepreneurship/DNMUM212238
1. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110521/jsp/b 20. http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_b-school-iit-
ihar/story_14008562.jsp (Global meet to alumni-join-hands-to-encourage-
boost business by ALOK KUMAR entrepreneurship_1550926
21. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110520/jsp/jharkhan
2. Forbes India (In May, Bihar saw its first ever
d/story_14005395.jsp
conference on entrepreneurshipRead
22. http://www.scribd.com/doc/56359531/BENCON-11-
more: http://business.in.com/interview/close-
Entrepreneurship-Wealth-Creation
range/in-bihar-cops-are-the-problem-not-
23. http://moviescy.com/movie/bihar-entrepreneurs-
goons/25672/1#ixzz1RSE1eqjA )
network-ben-conferenc
3. http://www.prabhatkhabar.com/node/5391 24. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110522/jsp/bihar/stor
y_14013003.jsp
4. http://prabhatkhabar.com/node/6097
5. http://www.prabhatkhabar.com/node/6194
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 8
9. The Buddha spent five years at Rajgir after having
attained enlightenment, and many of the remains at
Rajgir commemorate various incidents related to life
Bihar My Mother Land of Buddha, the hill of Gridhrakuta being perhaps the
-------------------------------------------------------- most important, as this is where the Buddha
BIHAR is the name derived from the ancient word delivered most of his sermons. Bodhgaya is the spot
"VIHARA" , It is indeed a land of monasteries. Hindu, where Lord Buddha attained enlightenment, with the
Buddhist, Jain, Muslim and Sikh shrines abound in Mahabodhi Temple marking the precise location.
this ancient land where India‘s first major empires
rose and fell. Where the ruins of the worlds‘ earliest Today Bihar rising in all aspect , todays Bihar is the
university slumbers in the void of time. The passage best place for entrepreneurs, businessmen. There is
of Ganga, flowing wide and deep enrich the plains of huge potential and boundless of opportunities
Bihar before distributing in Bengal‘s deltoid zone. across many sectors including infrastructure,
Education, Healthcare, Telecommunication,
Ancient Bihar (which consisted of Anga (East Bihar), Agriculture , Energy , information technology (IT),
Videha (North Bihar), Magadha (South Bihar) and Food production and Tourism.
Vaishali (North Bihar)) was a center of power,
learning and culture in ancient and classical India. In my last visit of Patna, i was there for one month,
From Magadha arose India‘s first greatest empire, now i am sure in next five years Patna is going to
the Maurya empire as well as one of the world‘s most achieve Metro status and Bihar is going to be
widely adhered-to religions, Buddhism. Magadha number one state growth wise , because of lot of
empires, notably under the Maurya and Gupta other advantage , its is next best destination for IT
dynasties, unified large parts of South Asia under a Company , again i am sure by 2014 Patna is next IT
central rule. Its capital Patna, earlier known as hub in India .
Pataliputra, was an important center of Indian
civilization. Nalanda was a centre of learning Now this is time of for us. We need to unite for our
established by the 5th century CE in Bihar. mother land, for our states development. We need to
contribute our talent, our efforts. We need to do
Among all Indian states, Bihar is the one most something great and outstanding for our mother
intimately linked to the Buddha‘s life, resulting in a land.
trail of pilgrimages which have come to be known as Please awake and arise.come and join and be the
the Buddhist circuit. The Buddhist trail begins at the active part of growth of our Mother Land "BIHAR".
capital city, Patna, where a noteworthy museum Now Bihar Govt and "BIHARI" people is ready to
contains a collection of Hindu and Buddhist bring Bihar on world MAP.
sculptures as well as a terracotta urn said to contain Author : Binay Yadav
the ashes of Lord Buddha.
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 9
10. Do you speak Bihari?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
language. It has 'devnagri' script.. it has 'Hindi'
"So do you speak Bihari at home?" grammar.. It doesn't have it's own script and
More than often we are stumped by this question. vyakaran.. so surely not a different language
Am sure, most of the fellow Biharis never knew
that there is a certain language called' Bihari' Is it a Hindi Dialect: Not sure as how one would
before they left Bihar. No parents told us this... no define 'dialect' as? If i look at other 5 Bihar
school book taught us. dialects- Magahi, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Angika and
Bajjika.. i am able to differentiate the sound of it..
My answer to that question was always a the tonality.. the words.. the specific districts where
big 'No'.No, because i never knew what 'Bihari it gets spoken. I am not able to imagine "Bihari' in
language' meant. What we speak at home is Hindi the same light.
and that's the only language i am familiar with, i
know of and i speak. Is it Hindi: That's what i always thought of.. .. so I
would stick to it. But yes it is surely different from
For long I defended that there is no such language Hindi that is spoken in the mainland in various
called Bihari.. We have Bhojpuri, Angika, Magahi, ways.
Bajjika and Maithili as dialects of Hindi in Bihar but
nothing as such which would be referred and For e.g.
recognised as 'Bihari'. 1) the way we speak... so we love strectching the
word ( )
However, lately if posed with the same question,
my answer has been in affirmative...and primarly
2) We know the distinction between ,
because of love for the place.
, and theoretically... And we also
Alright, so back to the same question.
say व and instead of badi and choti
What is Bihari language? matra...( Something that seems to be absent in
other region) but mess up with the pronunciation.
a) Is it a different language? So Sheela would become sila...( or silwa) silsila
would become shilshila.. We also mix र and
b) Is it a Hindi dialect?
. So is र and र is .
c) Or is it Hindi?
3) We might be excellent with our Hindi vyakaran
Is it a different language: Am not a linguist but i and adept at all those , , क क र et
would still want to believe that Bihari is not a
al or but we mess up with gender. So
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 10
11. though we know that dahi is khatta (grammatically)
but in practice when we are speaking then we'll 8) As my sister sushmita says, Bihari Hindi exudes
say, .. .. I think we are fond respect for one and everyone. So we say ' प'
of using masculine gender for most of the things. ' ' ( not ) instead of . ' ' used as a
Although the interesting thing is that while writing,
prefix for lot of words to suggest respect like:
our sentence construction is correct. So in our
, ...etc...
essays we would write और
.
9) Then we have super rich vocabulary which only
Biharis would understand. And well, it extends
4) We don't like saying things straight. When was beyond the popularly known 'burbak' and 'baklol
the last time your name got pronounced as is. We
love suffixing. so Nina becomes Ninwa... rohit I have been trying to recollect the words which you
would become rohitwa.. ruchi would become get to hear in Bihar only..
ruchiya.. khao would become khaiyebe.. nahao
would become nahaiyebe.. andhera would be Spontaneous ones.. :-)
andheriya and so on.. so each of the Hindi word
would have it's suffix according to what suits the So you make bhaat in tokna and eat in a chipli.
pronunciation... so'suffixing according to Tarkari is made in kadhahiya with the help
convenience' is one of the intrinsic characteristic of cholni. You take out daal from the tokna with
of Bihari Hindi. the help of dabbu. Roti is rolled on a chokla with
the help of belna
5) Then we don't even like answering straight. You
The sisa ka sisi (glass bottle) has got a thepi
ask a question and you get another question as an
You see your face in an Ena ( Not Aaina)
answer.
You wipe your gor with a ghamchi
Sugga (parrot) has a 'laal lol'.
Question: ?
Answer: ? Sugga eats boont and sings sita ram sita ram
Mummy would make
6) Fetish for affirmation: Like my friend Ejaz rightly nenua and kadima ka tarkari today One is 'ek
says that after every two sentence you would end tho'.. two is ' doo go' You sit on a peedha and
up saying- " " :-) when your eyes water when you cut the onion then
that's 'jhons lagna'
When somebody is screeching then he
7) The use of ' ' , क ' instead of ' ' and
is 'chichiya raha' You go to
' क '. I have actually always wondered about school 'Bhihane' (Morning). Kapda feechna is
washing clothes Okta jaana ( not ukta) is getting
usage of hum in Bihar particularly. ' ' to me is an
bored. When you are stubborn then you
urdu word so i would understand it's wide usage in are 'thethar'
awadh belt but Hindi in Bihar does not have Urdu Jonk ( earthworm) is 'jhonkti'.. and mitti ka cup
influence. Never understood how 'hum' got (kulhar) is 'kaptee or cuptea' :-)
calibrated with Bihar's Hindi Butru kaan raha ( the kid id crying)
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 11
12. Bartuhar or Kutumb are coming home to see the then it's called 'susum', Bindi is 'tikli' and a gold
girl and even if they like her they would ask for chain is a 'sikdi', Mattress is tosak you wrap
grand 'tillak'. Door is Kiwad and chouraha is yourself in oodhna. Your head is 'kapar' while a
'chaubatiya' tattoo would be 'Godna. Wife is 'kaniyan' and
Samosa is Singhara, chahe baliya ho ya Aara Jeth is 'bhaisur' Jethani is 'gotni'.. while a sasur
Gulab jamun is kala rasgulla and if you have sore remains a 'sasur'. 'Biha- saadi' ( vivah- shaadi)
throat then do 'susum paani ka kulla' Desi daru is the biggest celebration and if you didn't serve
is 'taadi' while the meetha sugarcane is 'ketari' 'Buniya ka laddu' then that's quite an
Cut the 'kasaili' with a 'Sarauta' ( betel nut cutter) embarrassment.
and the tarkari on a 'hasua'
Eat 'boont ka saag' garnished with mirch and tel To see is 'laukna'... and to to slip is 'sasarna' and
that should be 'Karuwa' ( mustard oil). You go to If you blink then that's 'matki marna' and if you
maidan with a 'lota' and if you spot a big black limp then that's 'lengrana' ( not langarana).
ant, then that's a 'khota'
Ok.ok ok...The list can only get longer... as i am
Go to 'kansaar' for 'bhunja bhunjane' writing this, am actually being able to think of so
When you get lost then that's 'bhutlaana' many words which had almost become absent in
Polythene bags are 'Panni' and hard board would my vocabulary. (Sorry.. bhocabulary.. that's the
be 'koot' way we would pronounce it)
'Gaach' would be tree and 'fawa' is free :-
Anyways, the point is not to create the shabkosh
)Kheechad is "Kaado" while hibiscus is "arhul"
but just to establish that Bihari has a distinct
Handbag is 'jhola' and you store water in
'shabd-kosh'.... that the way we speak is slightly
a "ghaila".
different.. that we have used all our freedom to
make it flexible... But at the end of the day it is
Mirch is ' Marchai' while chai is still a chai
HINDI.
You jamao the dahi in 'matkuri' while the kaccha
aam is 'Tikola' and if there's a hailstorm then
?
that's called 'oola' Ribbon is 'feeta' and teekha
is 'teeta' You 'chilo chimdi on your kotha' in
jaadey ka mausam and if the milk is lukewarm By Richa Rai
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 12
13. Saas and bahu: the eternal struggle
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The saas feels threatened by the entry of
An exceprts from the book: ―Bhojpuri Kahawaten- the bahu so she wants to dominate her (the bahu)
Ek Sanskritik Adhayan‖ written by late Satyadev and underscore her powers.
Ojha and the Bhojpuri transcript from the book
produced hereunder is translated by his son A smart bahu slowly works her way to a status so
Santosh Ojha. that her voice is heard within the family. She
exerts her personality and challenges the
unbridled powers of the saas.
In the olden days of child-marriage a saas could
easily establish her influence on the family; since
the age of the bahu has begun getting higher this
too has gone. The bahu would no longer meekly
subject herself to torture and let her saas control
her life. The bahu is ready to raise her voice
against her tyrannical saas.
There are many Bhojpuri kahavatein dealing with
this changing equation.
@@@
The relationship between two women in a family is Any mother is keen to see her son married.
between a mother and her daughter, sister and (A bahu is critical to the extension of the family
sister, sisters-in law (nanad-bhabhi), daughters-in- tree). Her anxiety grows when her son becomes
law and mothers-in-law (saas-bahu). But the older. Many-a-time, the matrimonial proposal may
relationship between the mother-in-law (saas) and even break down when the enemies of the
the daughter-in-law (bahu) attains importance for groom‘s family create obstructions. The older the
the power-struggle in encapsulates, the power for son, the more suspicious is the prospective bride‘s
the upper hand in the affairs of the family. Not family. So, when the son does get married, it is
surprisingly we find more kahavatein on this natural for his mother to rejoice as in the
relationship. The role of the saas is paramount in following kahavat:
the household affairs till the bride (bahu) arrives.
Before the marriage, the mother-in-law is the ,
housewife- and the boss. And she genuinely
believes that she has the rights to meddle into all प .
the affairs within the family.
Having a son is lucky,
Having a daughter-in-law is fortuitous!
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 13
14. And, when the bahu enters the household, र,क -क
the saas does not relinquish her powers to the
new bahu. To the contrary, she gets even more
इ र, क -क
attached to them.
He is away, and I am free to go wherever I wish,
,
And she is off to her mother’s place; and I can eat
प क whatever I want.
All saas’ are pious, But the saas returns and does what she is
traditionally expected to do, trouble and torture
All bahus are sinners. her bahu:
The saas believes there really is no point in giving ,
any rights to such useless bahus, even in the
.
tiniest affairs of the household:
र क र, My saas feels a surge of affection for me,
And she singes my cheeks with glowing embers.
कर - व क .
Saas regularly criticizes even the tiniest of
Respect your bahu, yes, mistakes of the bahu and makes frequent
sarcastic remarks. The bahu does not find these
But why let her touch the domestic vessels? funny at all and she starts retaliating.
The saas shows her miserly attitude to
कव
the bahu as mentioned in the kahavat:
कव प ,
क ,
A manipulated lamp-wick,
कर, .
Or a criticized bahu,
In an outpouring of affection says the saas,
Both are counter-productive.
Dig a little cavity into your litti, I will fill it up with
mattha (butter-milk) @@@@
In the days of yore it was rather common in The bahu starts feeding her husband with real and
households to serve the best portions of the meal imagined tales hersaas‘ tortures. And, over a
to the men of the family and the dregs to the bahu. period of time, with such stories she is able to
No wonder the bahu would feel liberated when her influence her husband enough for him to develop
husband and saas were away:
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 14
15. hatred towards his mother. The mother senses this From one spout she pours buttermilk
and laments:
And amrit from the other,
प प ,
The old lady gets the sour buttermilk
इ प र व व While she serves amrit to her man.
I nourished my son, he was my own, @@@@
The bahu arrives and cuts me off from my own. The bahu tries to dominate her saas by all means
fair and foul. She even threatens:
The animosity intensifies and the saas is
devastated. Once when her son was unmarried
she longed for a bahu and now she can not stand
her.
इ पर
प व ,प व ,
I will scream my lungs off,
प क क व .
Enough for saas to vanish.
Let a bahu come, let a bahu go; do I care?
@@@@
My body burns when I see the bahu.
Sure enough, the bahu starts dominating the
household. She rules the roost even as she takes
The bahu keeps consolidating her position with her
off on her saas ever so often:
husband who has now clearly turned anti-mother.
She now feels emboldened to start treating
क
her saas badly as said in this picturesque kahavat:
क व र प क -प
क , The bed-clothes of saas
क र, Serves as the foot-wiper of the bahu
क
The break between the bahu and saas is
र, poignantly captured in the following kahavat.
प प क
My cultured bahu, since she has come,
क र
Serves food from a two-spouted vessel.
Saas dies today,
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 15
16. Cries tomorrow, the bahu. protagonists. Perhaps the saas should reconcile to
the fact that one day, over time, the bahu will be
The bahu was never happy with the treatment ruling the roost in the family. Why not reconcile to
meted by her saas, right from the beginning. this situation early on?
Though there were some moments (especially
when the saas helped out with the chores when क इ , प क रव
the bahu was in the family way) when the bahu felt
some emotional attachment to hersaas. Hence
क
the bahu weeps a bit, albeit a day late.
@@@@ Neither a well-fed son, nor a thieving bahu,
The relationship between the two women Carry the family gains away.
deteriorates perhaps due to the lack of
Santosh Ojha
understanding between the two female
Bihar Development Trust
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
receiving support from Bihari and people who feel
strongly about the development of Bihar. Over the
last three year, It is emerging as a platform for the
youth who are passionate about Bihar to create
and provide employment & services to benefit
millions of people in Bihar. It is striving to to break
the scale barrier of non-profit sector. It has aimed
to demonstrate that professionals can turn
entrepreneur in Bihar and catalyze the growth of
economic activity with the help of poor people
which has been achieved to certain extent. Bihar
Development Trust is an idea to adapt GRAMEEN
and AMUL model to Bihar context and in different
sectors (manufacturing as well as services)
supported by most efficient technologies. It has
Bihar Development Trust has been founded on adopted a value chain approach for each
March 26, 2007 by management professionals livelihood initiatives. Its vision is to make Bihar
from IRMA (Institute of Rural Management, most developed state of India in next 20 years. Its
ANAND) with a belief that professionally qualified mission is to build a US$20 billion enterprise in
youth should come back to Bihar and turn Bihar by 2020 in areas of opportunities like
entrepreneur to provide employment in their native microfinance, handloom and handicrafts, fruits and
state. The feeling was that Bihar Development vegetable, Agricultural commodities, health care
Trust should act as an honest platform for and education, power and
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 16
17. BPO(animation,graphics etc),carbon trading and
tourism etc with an outreach of 10 million families.
Its core values are Ttransparency, Honesty, Faith,
Integrity and Discipline. It has an outreach of 6000
families and employee strength of 40.
The Lodipur Bunkar Trust has been given share in
the marketing company. It has provided drinking
water facility, constructed drainage and cemented
the work place of weavers and conducted design
workshop with designers from NIFT, NID etc to
develop contemporary designs .Rickshaw Sangh
program enables cycle rickshaw drivers to own
Bihar Development Trust is operating in Patna,
rickshaws by accessing formal credit, repaid
Bhagalpur and Aurangabad Districts of Bihar.
through easy installments. BDT has partnered with
Microfinance program provides credit and
American India Foundation to implement this
insurance services and promotes savings and
program in Bhagalpur.
financial literacy among women members. BDT
has disbursed more than 5000 loans to women
borrowers with more than Rs.500 lakhs till date
with a repayment rate of 99.5% over last three
year. It has an outstanding of over Rs. 150 Lakh
with around 3000 active borrowers. Tasar Silk
Livelihood Program has organized 20 weavers in
Lodipur in form of Mutual Benefit Trust. It has been BDT is providing the rickshaw puller a new built
working with two more weavers‘ clusters with an rickshaw, identity card, municipal license, health,
outreach of 100-200 weavers with sales around medical, asset and life insurance.
Rs. 50 Lakh.
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 17
18. BDT has improved the livelihood of 100 rickshaw small span of 11 months. His role in BDT is
puller under this program in Bhagalpur. Farmer networking, fund raising, external communication,
Livelihood Program is providing services like strategizing, designing and starting new programs
Institution building, input supply at fair price, Agri besides documentary, legal and financial
Extension services, market linkages, Credit to compliance to various statutory bodies and donor
farmers at the doorstep to improve their earnings. agencies. He is good at networking, planning,
BDT has an outreach of 500-700 farmers and training, communicating etc and in data
more than 20 farmer clubs have been formed in management, documentation etc.
Aurangabad District. Bamboo Based Livelihood
Program is providing micro credit and market Mr. Dev Kumar Dubey had worked in Employee
linkage assistance to 50 farmers to promote Provident Fund (EPF) under Ministry of Labour as
bamboo cultivation & employment to 200 women. Account Officer during 1998-2004. He joined IRMA
NABARD supported manufacturing center in in 2004 after quitting his job. He did not joined
Kahalgaon area of Bhagalpur District has been set SKS Microfinance from where he got an offer
up. during campus placement. He spent one year
working with NGOs in Bhagalpur working in SHG-
Bank Linkage program besides exploring
opportunities in social entrepreneurship. His role in
BDT is day to day operations management,
providing guidance to team members of various
programmes, meeting government officials,
ensuring proper implementation of programmes &
utilization of funds, maintaining internal control
systems etc. He provides strategic inputs from
ground while the development programmes are
Bihar Development Trust has been founded by Dr. designed by Dr. Ravi Chandra
Ravi Chandra and Mr. Dev Kumar Dubey on
March 26, 2007. They have studied together in Mr. Diwakar Vats joined Bihar Development Trust
Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) in 2008 after quitting his corporate job in DLF
during 2004-2006. Group Company. He has done his post graduate
diploma in business management from
Dr. Ravi Chandra has graduated as dental International Management Institute, New Delhi in
surgeon from Manipal University in 2003. He has 2007. He is helping both of them in planning and
worked with Foundation of Ecological Security as strategy while in running day to day operations at
Community Mobilizer before joining IRMA in 2004. Patna and doing local networking.
He got rich management experience while working
in different kind of organization and situations in
Much Needed Change and Development in Bihar, necessary to
avoid revolution
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 18
19. The question is, when our politicians and 2. He can request help from the best agencies in
bureaucrats shall began thinking as a facilitators? the world in Policing, Judiciary, bureaucracy and
Like Haryana, Gujarat, Tamil etc… Political System. Hire services in respective fields
from best governed countries like UK, US,
Right from CM to general public, there is immense Germany, Netherland in order to revitalize the
need to think and act in terms of development, otherwise defunct corrupt system and enforce a
removing corruption, providing civic amenities, change for better, understand how these
only then; we can raise the living status in Bihar developed countries evolved their system from the
above African States. old legacy.. By the way we are still carrying the
leftover of the old British system, which have been
Governance and law enforcement in Bihar is not completely revamped in their own countries.
better than any African state. We have almost
defunct civic system, policing, judiciary, health, 3. He can simplify most of the rules for better
education system…. everything is rotten. Civic understanding by common people and easy
system does not take care of cleaning drainage, implementation by agencies.
road, hygiene in hospital, restaurants, Dhaba,
Hotels, there is almost no honest inspector who This job shall not take more than one/two year/s. I
works honestly for the enforce of law just for can further elaborate if there is such need.
salary. Police and judiciary is another most rotten,
corrupt and junk system. You have to pay tons of Regarding economic development in Bihar, you do
money to get your legal and rightful work done, of not have to go far, checkout Haryana, Gujarat,
course you can get all illegal work done if you Tamil, AP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, what they are
spend money as the system demand. providing, why Bihar cannot provide. Free zones
like all these states are providing.
We have plethora of law, but their enforcement is
almost nil and these laws are selectively used for 1. We have a lot of land unfit for agriculture and
targeting people at convenience for making money inhabitations, identify them and allot for the
or suppressing opponents by the bureaucrats, development of Economic free zones, we can take
politicians, police, judiciary. Do you think our chief help of infrastructure developers, to develop shade
minster Mr. Nitish Kumar, does not know all these, 40%, plots on lease 50%, roads drainage 10% and
but what he has done so far is not sufficient but power for these free zones.
cosmetics.
2. Every districts shall have at least one such free
Did he setup a working group till date even after zone
over 5 years in power. Below are some very
common ideas, but need real zeal and honest 3. Make all investment and commercial approval
approach in implementation: simple, online and fully computerized in order to
reduce human interface resulting into reducing
1. He can setup separate working corruption and fast processing.
groups/committees on how to get rid of corruption
in police, bureaucracy, judiciary and politics.
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 19
20. 4. Deploy development and facilitator friendly development. Unfortunately Congress failed. Then
official in guidance and approval. It shall be their public gave almost 15 years to RJD. Baring the
duty to complete the task of approval in time commendable change in psycho-social
bound period and get the same from central govt. engineering for backward classes, RJD failed in
if any. Approval in services sectors should be in maintaining law and order, controlling of corruption
one day. For instance, if you want to start any and much needed development say roads,
business in Dubai, it needs one day in Chamber of employments, etc... Now the same public gave
Commerce and Ministry of Industry and Economy, mandate to JDU-BJP for the very much needed
2-3 days for labor visa in labor department. change in Bihar.
5. The delivery mechanism must have
What are the options left with the people other
incentive/bonus for efficiency and achievement of
than mandate to change the government? Some
targets. This job is not tedious and must not take
of them have already taken arms in their hand are
more than one/two year/s. The government needs
called Moist. The next option left for the public is
to concentrate on the development of social
come on the street in mass i.e. revolution.
sectors:
a) Re-investment in health, education, technical e) Years of JDU-BJP rule is already finished and it
and professional education sectors on mass scale is running in the second span for 10 years. This is
by govt. and private sector. Old requirement like 5 right time to pull all the strings of development,
acre land (impossible in city areas / or high entry control on corruption and began reforms. Instead
capital barrier, running period) should be modified. of doing cosmetic change and creating political
Shall be complemented with quality teaching, hype (say public display of wealth of babus /netas,
sufficient equipment, laboratory, building and cycle scheme, etc...) we need real reforms (reform
placement. on policing, reform in judiciary, reform in
bureaucracy and politics), We want to stop
b) It shall approve as much as possible colleges leakages of resources from plan and non-plan
in medical, engineering, management, IT etc. expenditure and its implementation in real sense
say 99% like the western countries.
c) Strengthens Municipalities / rural
governance and all honest and hardworking NGOs
The evolutions in Middle-East & African countries
in all communities. Deploy honest inspector for
are against poverty, low income, high inflation, and
implementation of rules and hygiene though out
concentration of wealth in few hands (mostly
states.
politician/industrialist), corruption in police,
bureaucracy, judiciary and politics. Situation in
d) Some of us in Bihar, say politicians,
Bihar is not different from these countries the only
intelligentsia as well as few general public believe,
exception is we have power to change the head of
that it is the people of Bihar, responsible for the
Govt. every five year, however the junk system
poor state of affairs, including corruption,
remains the same.
underdevelopment, poverty, poor governance etc.
in Bihar. But I disagree, the people of Bihar, gave
a long span of time to Congress for change and
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 20
21. We do not have much time left, we need to
achieve real tangible change or the time is not far (The writer Mohammad Irfan, (from Muzaffarpur) is
when we are faced with the same situation as it is Finance Director with a large overseas group, and
faced in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yaman etc............. has exposure in overseas countries and their
governance. E-mail:irfanmd73@hotmail.com)
"ब र ..."..
"ब र ..."... . .??.. ..औ
. ...
..
....... - औ ...
- ......... - औ
..... .. इ
, औ औ इ औ
. ,
.. .??..... औ
,इ " "...औ
इ ,औ
- .. ,
- ..
..औ ..?..इ
इ ....
औ
,
..औ
.
. ,
..
इ ....
..इ ..
,
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 21
25. Book Review ‘The Plain Truth” by N.K.Singh
A tale a tale story of the rampant corruption in the Civil Services
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kissa Kursi Ka, the sugar scam, Airbus bribery
N K Singh is the CBI officer who arrested Indira and St Kitts forgery were no ordinary criminal
Gandhi in 1977. Forced to return to his home cases investigated by the CBI. Singh describes in
cadre in Orissa after she returned to power, this some detail how these important functionaries of
courageous and diligent Indian Police Service the Indian State shamelessly subverted the
officer was brought back to the CBI by Prime system to sabotage the investigation and the
Minister V P Singh's government. judicial process. Facts are indeed stranger than
fiction.”
One of the first cases he was assigned was the St
Kitts forgeries. Unfortunately, his meticulous Singh gives glimpses of the deep-rooted nexus
investigation into the case earned the wrath of the that has developed between crime, criminals,
next prime minister, Chandra Shekhar, who politicians and civil servants. How willingly senior
transferred him out of the agency. civil servants connived at subverting the rule of law
to please their political masters. Blinded by their
In the second of six extracts from his fascinating
ambition, some of them became willing
biography, The Plain Truth, N K Singh discloses
accessories to criminal acts. They told lies,
the genesis of the St Kitts investigation which has
committed acts of perjury, theft, and destruction of
now resulted in a chargesheet against former
evidence, but managed to go scot free. On the
prime minister P V Narasimha Rao.
contrary, they were duly rewarded for their criminal
role. These are the types who manage to reach
Outlook writes about this book “THE Plain Truth,
the top of the ladder more easily. The numbers of
as told by N.K. Singh, is going to shock and
such civil servants—pliable, loyal to the powers
dismay many of its readers. The insider's account
that are, unscrupulous and ambitious—are
of events that have become an important part of
unfortunately multiplying. They are the real villains.
India's contemporary political history makes
The criminal-politician link cannot operate without
compelling reading. The media has not stopped
them.
discussing them, but this book fills some important
gaps in our knowledge about these cases.
It is a very readable, but a serious book. It raises
some fundamental questions about our political
Singh's story confirms our worst fears about the
and administrative system. These questions need
extent of politicisation of civil service and such vital
to be confronted and solutions found, if our
investigation agencies as the CBI. Law doesn't
democratic system is to survive. I recommend this
appear to take its own course when it comes to
book to all, irrespective of the fact whether they
influential and powerful persons, whatever the
agree with the author's version of the events or
rhetoric.
not. It is good that such books are coming out. The
The book unmasks a number of senior political villains who strut around as heroes need to be
leaders and well-known civil servants, some of exposed.
whom still hold very important positions. Cases like
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 25
26. The Curious Case of Bihari Cuisine: Part 1
(Part 2 will be published in the next edition of the webzine)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Despite the many Biharis across the country, and
across the continents (Mauritius, countries of the
West Indies and Fiji come to my mind easily), and
Biharis in Bihar, of course, there is no popular
recognition of the Bihari cuisine. We do not have
restaurants announcing in big and bold that they
serve authentic Bihari cuisine. No Bihari food
festivals in five star- or even three star- hotels. Not
even does the friendly neighbourhood restaurant
announce: ―Specialist in Chinese, Mughalai, Daal is something which all of us Indians have
Punjabi and Bihari cuisine‖. A pity, the Bihari regularly, albeit with varying differences. But have
cuisine has failed to grab the attention of other you had the Bihari daal? Arhar dal, just watered
fellow countrymen? Or is it that the Biharis have down so, with a heavenly chhaunk of ―panch-
failed to position their cuisine as something phoran”? (Can you visualize the description of this
unique. I understand that there is Gujrati thali, dish in fancy five star restaurants: ―Toor lentils,
Bangal ranna, Andhra mealsu and Kashmiri cooked to the right consistency with perfection and
waazwaan. But, alas, no Bihari cuisine. How seasoned with a unique, mouth-watering
come? combination of five spices‖.)
It is my humble endeavour in this post to educate
the non-Bihari reader on the delights of the Bihari
cuisine.
Maybe us Biharis are to be blamed. When asked
for our favourite meal, we just utter ―Daal-bhaat-
chokha‖. Or sometimes even ―maad-bhaat-
chokha‖. I am in love with the aforementioned stuff
as well; I am a Bihari and I understand the
delicacy of what other people would believe is
rather pedestrian. And chokha, the exotic mashed potatoes with a
liberal touch of mustard oil and a sprinkling of salt.
Some would also add to it a burnt- and mashed-
red chilli to impart to it spiciness and an exotic
taste.Bhaat, you exclaim is the mundane rice?
Well, mundane the rice may be, but have you
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 26
27. experimented with various types of rice? Usina Oh, you are not in favour of chaawal, at all, and
chaawal (parboiled rice) or Arwaa chawal (the you wish to try some alternate stuff? What
long-grained rice, with a flavour of its own? And about Janera ke khichdi? Khichdi made of corn?
either variety of rice is cooked with varying
degrees of consistency, depending upon the family Or maybe you are a wheat afficionado. Multiple
traditions passed down the centuries. delicacies beckon you! Roti and paratha are
mundane. Maybe you should try some varieties
A cousin of the above is maad-bhaat- ofmakuni. Makuni of different pedigrees. Makuni is
chokha. Maad, the starchy fluid drained out of the what others would callbharwaan paratha. With
pan (tasla) during an intermediate stage of cooking either mashed potatoes, or phool-
rice is used as a substitute to daal. Sometimes gobhi(cauliflower), or murai (radish) as the filling.
relished even without the chokha- with a piece of a Technically correct. But this description equates it
pickle. Nimki, or the sour lemon pickle, made from to the heavily commercial Punjabi fare and misses
large lemons, being a favourite. Sure there will be out on the unique combo of the Bihari spices,
a quantity of maad left behind on your plate. Just specially the two jewels in the spicy
lift up the cheepa, or chhipli (plate in Bhojpuri- crown: ajwain and mangarial. Don‘t understand?
speak) to your lips and quaff the residual elixir! Head out for a dinner with a Bihari family!
You find the above combos too cumbersome, all The cuisine of Bihar is not limited
this effort to fix your daal-bhaat, or maad-bhaat? to chawal, roti alone. You should seek out the
Fret not, you can always feast on khichdi, the vegetables that the Biharis eat. Lauki, konhda,
ultimate comfort food. I have dwelt on this in much nenua, jheenga etc. But the king of all Bihar
detail in earlier posts of mine. Suffice it to say that vegetables would be parwal. Parwal is rather
should you wish to have thekhichdi, do not forget unique to Bihar and to some other parts of the
its traditional accompaniments as mentioned in the East. (Notably in Bengal, where it is called potol. In
following ditty: fact, the Bengalis are so fond of it, some of them
even occasionally name their offspring, Potol!).
―Khichdi ke chaar yaar,
Dahi, papad, ghee, achaar.‖
If you happen to come to our local market and see
a throng of men and women around the rare shop
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 27
28. that sells parwal, you can be sure that the mash some boiled parwal, throw in a few table-
customers are nearly all Biharis or Bengalis. Each spoonfuls of mustard oil and spices, salt, to taste
one in the crowd pressing this little yellow- and you get parwal ka chokha. Or, you can even
speckled green sabzi between his or her finger- prepare a totally delightfulmithai with it. Just that
tips and evaluating if the parwal was ―fresh‖ or instead of filling it with spices, stuff it
―boodha‖ (over-ripe). Some would even break this withkhowa and dry fruits. Parwal ki mithai!
tender vegetable between their fingers. If it gave
way with a smart, crisp snap, then it was fresh You said you do not quite enjoy green vegetables?
(and by extension the entire lot). If it gave way Maybe you should try a combination of veggies
reluctantly and ended up as a squishy mass then it and some other botanical produce as well! Like
was boodha! pieces of vegetables coated with a batter of gram
flour-besan- and deep fried in oil. Sounds familiar?
But why this lavish attention on parwal, a sabzi Of course this is bajkaa, aka ―pakoda‖ in all-India
which rest of the country does not even bother to speak. Or would you prefer green leaves wrapped
consider in their scheme of culinary activities? The in a batter of besan; ―rinkwachch”? (Aka patra in
simple answer is, they are not aware of the magic Gujarati, one of those famous starters of a
you can work with the imperial parwal. Gujarati thali, farsaan). If you really do want to
avoid vegetables, worry not, the Bihar cuisine
It can be made into a bhujiya (not to be confused has khandera, cuboids of fried besan cooked in a
with Haldiram, Bikaneri or generally speaking, the spicy gravy. Best relished withchaawal. And so
Rajsthani bhujiya- those are made of plain or many other varieties!
spiced besan); sautéed slices of parwal with
potato or on its own. (What a delight it is to crunch You want more adventures into Bihari cuisine?
those lovely crisp parwal seeds!). It can be a Wait a bit, I will soon write about the ubiquitous,
gravy sabzi, either in glorious isolation or and multi-faceted, ―sattu‖.
combined with aloo. You can halve
each parwal and stuff it with a mix of spices- and Santosh Ojha
you getkaluanji or bharwaan parwal. You could
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THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 28
29. Leaders Inspire – Perspective on leadership style of M S Dhoni & Nitish Kumar
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dimensions of their leadership style in their own
sphere of influence. They have displayed
remarkably identical traits and style which really
demonstrates similarity in their leadership style
and ability to influence outcomes.
Communication is the key
Dhoni has always spoken his mind out on every
aspect of Indian cricket. Often criticized for being
It takes moment in life to make it special, dream of too blunt, he has never been a favorite of his
a generation, imagination of a nation, heartbeat of bosses in BCCI. Nitish Kumar also stands out for
billions, and then the prayers finally were being upfront and plain talks, he has often earned
answered. India lifted the world cup 2011 with wrath of media, alliance partners and even his own
great pride and emotions. What Dhoni and his team members for speaking his mind out. Another
men have achieved will remain etched in the interesting aspect that stands out of Dhoni and
memory of our generation forever. Tears of joy, Nitish is the way they have been humble and open
cries of triumph, and a sense of gratitude filled our enough to admit weaknesses. Dhoni didn‘t mince
hearts as the realization of world cup victory finally any words in castigating his fielders publicly and
sinks to the nation. even accepted that few decisions didn‘t work to
the plan.
Celebrations still continue and what really stood
out was the cool and razor sharp finesse which Likewise, Nitish has publicly rebuked his own party
Dhoni displayed in his leadership style throughout men and allies on many programs and policies. At
the tournament. Perhaps he summed it up himself the same time, one must acknowledge that they
when he said how his decisions could have been have set right goals,
questioned. But as lady luck had it, Dhoni will
smile all the way to the glorious annals of worked with their teams to strive together as a
cricketing history, perhaps the most successful team. As the captain of the team, both have been
India captain ever. articulating there plans and vision for the teams.
One can‘t help but draw parallels of his leadership Get the best out of limited means
style with another great leader Nitish Kumar who
was the Man of Year 2010 for bringing a ray of One of the most inspiring aspects of both these
hope and faith in the murky theater of Indian leaders has been how they have struck to the
politics. Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, won basics of managing their teams. With limited
his world cup (Bihar elections) consecutively by resources at hand, they have ensured that they
transforming the electoral dynamics in Bihar. Both get the best out of each situation to work to their
Nitish and Dhoni have uncanny similarities in the team‘s advantage and thereby imbibing the culture
way they operate and bring out few unique of self-belief and resilience. Despite India‘s limited
THE BIHAR, Q2, 2011 Edition Page 29
30. bowling attack, Dhoni marshaled team well and there till the end to give the final punch, and what
always had an ace in his weak link whenever a thump it was.
opposition came to bat. Though Indian bowling
attack never looked lethal, but it was very effective Nitish, just like Dhoni has always taken things
and result oriented when it came to the head on and confronted his party members, policy
crunch. Dean Jones went to the extent of saying makers on every public policy decision. He was
that Dhoni must be dreaming to win this world cup the first one to come out and declare his assets
with current Indian bowling attack. With this when he enforced public declaration of assets and
victory, he has really proved that dreams do come wealth owned by all public servants. They have
true if only we work as a team. both inspired there teams by their actions and has
also given them hope in times of despair.
Similarly Nitish has always worked under
constraints, he never had the luxury to spend on What‘s even more surprising is that both Dhoni
public welfare programs, with limited resources and Nitish has been called the Obama
and little financial aid he has been able to transfer of cricket and politicsrespectively. Despite many
a state by just ensuring that limited resources are parallels, both are believed to be inspiring leaders
put to optimum utilization. He has proved that in their own rights.
good governance can lead to electoral success
and one need not always fall back on petty politics Delegation, Decentralization & Team work
of caste and chicanery to achieve political victory.
Despite low per capita income & investment, Gary Kirsten went on record to state how Dhoni
lowest Credit deposit ratio in the country, Bihar gave him complete freedom to work in his areas.
has had the 2nd highest growth rate in the country He said ―Dhoni was the man in charge once they
for the last 5 years. Bihar chief minister got crossed the rope‖ while he continued doing his job
applauds from none other than Melinda Gates for off the field. Great leaders are not the most
his achievements in increasing the immunization talented; they realize they realize that as long as
rate in Bihar . ―In 2005, when Nitish Kumar they get the best from everyone there job is done.
became the chief minister of Bihar, the burden of Dhoni as a batsmen and wicket is not the greatest
disease in the state was massive. It also had a low of all, but he helped the team achieve its peak with
immunization rate, 33 per cent compared to the help of Kirsten and Sachin and other senior
global average of 70 per cent. By 2010, however, players. He has allowed every one the space to
Bihar‘s rate had risen to 66 per cent,‖ said breathe and creating a sense of joint ownership
Melinda. with harmony.
Lead from the front Unlike both Nitish and Dhoni predecessors, there
was no noise in public space to display sense of
Boy.. who can question Dhoni on his ability to lead being in control or vulgar display of authority on
from the front ( though he remains behind the trivial issues. Nitish Kumar has delegated few key
wicket). When it came to the rubber hitting the responsibilities to his key advisor N K Singh (
road, Dhoni stood up for the challenge like a true Rajya Sabha MP & Economist) & Deputy Chief
champion. Not only did he score well and took the Minister Sushil Modi. Just like Kirsten, N K Singh is
battle back to the opposition, he ensured he is believed to be the master strategist and close
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