कविता

कभी यूँ लगता है , कि मन उमड़ रहा है

क्या कुछ नहीं कह डाले प्रवाह जो बह रहा है

पर शब्द सूरज की किरण हैं

पकड़ो तो नहीं हैं

आँख बंद कर लो तो रोम - रोम में वही हैं

कविता का प्रयास ही एक हार लगती है

की हम इतने लीन नहीं हुए की कविता का ख़याल भी नहीं आया

My small glimpse into rural Bihar...

When i boarded the first AC Rajdhani back to Delhi from Bihar, i felt soo very odd! Straight out of rural fieldwork for 10 days, with a face tanned like a monkey and with such earthy impressions fresh on my mind, I felt almost mean when Hanju Marandi, a local Santhali guy my age, who worked with us, came in the help me load my luggage. To travel in such style after doing grassroot work! But i must say the cool AC and the steaming cup of black tea soon helped me feel quite justified in my actions :) Anyway... the trip, though shortened to half its original length, was so enlightening. Really, India is a country of countries... We went to 3 villages in a district in Bihar. each of these villages was vastly different.. the first one had mostly Santhalis living in it, the second had Many Muslims apart from some Santhalis and others. The last had a predominance of people from the Yadav community. Each was so different. I felt that the Santhalis with their simpler ways were so much more nicer and relaxed... I was pleasantly surprised to find villages in Bihar so green and clean. Banana, Maize, jute, paddy, lady finger and chilli fields lined the roads, bamboo groves near every house, pigs, cows, ducks, chickens, goats, brown sheep and buffaloes being reared and feeding on fresh fodder. Elder Women still donn saris without blouses... the lungi is commonly worn, saw small pretty village temples, entered a small local Masjid in the village, where children get Madarsa education as well... Owning to the active political awareness in Bihar, the people in most of these communities are strongly aware of their rights, especially so for the Yadavs and the Muslims (considering the villages I saw). It was funny as well as intriguing to delve into the internal politics of the village and understand the opposing stakes in the local school and in resources that come from the government. Every group and side had their own story to tell us, spiced with a few village scandals.... or a new, educated and pretty bride just married into a Santhali family, hoping that she can continue her studies... women trying to guess if I was married or not looking for markers of marriage, a bichiya on my toes... Of course all was not beautiful... we also met a boy who was 18 and stunted, whose mother had TB and had 4 children and her husband had abandoned her... the poor boy could not control his tears and it was so disturbing to see someone in such trouble! It haunted us for days later. Caste and gender issues were many. Some houses were made of bamboo and were so cool, the lack of electricity did not bother at all... owning to rains and flooding, many homes are built on small stilts. The room in the hotel with its concrete and cement was hotter.. fresh handpump water (in regions that did not have iron and arsenic in their soil!!) was ever so refreshing... And of course, cheap fresh food on highways and walks down sludgy village roads in the rain with dark beautiful clouds visible up to the horizon... 

Even though rural work was not new for me, this trip remained quite special. And it was great to see Bihar form the inside rather than through the stereotypical lens that Biharis are known through. It is a very alive country indeed!