PATNA, FEBRUARY 20: It is perhaps easy for everyone to write off a state for its corruption, poverty, backwardness and political leadership. The people of Bihar know it best. From public ridicule outside the state and bawdy Bollywood numbers to embarrassing questions during interviews for jobs elsewhere. But there is hope.Even amid political degradation, criminalisation and a constant `out of the world' feeling, one can sense this hope trying best to survive in all corners of the state. For the people it is hard to believe that a state so rich in minerals at one end and agriculture at the other has today fallen off the national map.In the remote village of Bidupur near Hajipur, the orphaned localities did not wait for the government to open schools for their children. They invented the likes of Oxford English, Mount Carmel and British Columbia in dilapidated houses.``There were no government schools in the area and we wanted to educate our children. So we started private schools. We copied the namesfrom the best schools in Patna just to make it sound attractive,'' says Ganesh Prasad, a teacher-cum-owner of one such private school.The narrow road from Bidupur leading to Mahnar is lined with such schools, some even running under the shade of trees. Where there are none, the children brave the bright sun.Still ahead in Rustampur near Vaishali, there are no primary health centres to attend to the sick. So, some enterprising youths have obtained homeopathy diplomas through correspondence and set up their practice.``I have obtained the diploma through an institute in Kerala. I do not face any problem in diagnosing some of the common diseases like cold, cough and viral fever,'' says Kishan Singh, a local practitioner. ``I opened the clinic because there is no government health centre for another 10 km from here. Even the one in the other village has the doctor missing. After all people have to survive,'' he argues.In Bhojpur, the prime zone of warring landlords and landless labourers, roads do notexist. But the one-time real landlords who have now been reduced to being farmers with average five bigha land holdings have purchased tractors from their savings.``We hear about the bumper crops in Punjab and Haryana. We feel that we can do it here. The soil here is good and can give rich dividends. So our wives sold their ornaments to help us get the tractors,'' says Jagdish Prasad Yadav. He and his fellow farmers have not even thought about asking the state government for help.``Our yield has gone up after we purchased the tractors,'' he proudly declares, pointing to the cascading mustard crop in the fields. The use of tractors has given rise to ancillary units like repair shops in the remote villages. All human enterprise.Back in Patna, only a handful of internet kiosks have scores of inquisitive students waiting for hours together for their turn to explore the Net. Despite the lack of speed and frequent tripping, the youths hang on. They make use of their pocket money to ``get connected to theworld''.``I heard about net-chatting and that any information in the world can be obtained on internet. Even we want to join the mainstream,'' says an excited Ashutosh Pandey, a second-year arts student of Patna University.Consider the case of Ajay Kumar. The youth in his early thirties was a researcher with the Indian Labour Office in Delhi. In 1994, he left his job and returned home.Today Kumar runs a non-governmental-organisation which does extensive work on issues of development. Kumar himself has been to the most poverty stricken districts of the state for studying the problem. ``As a part of the project, we were supposed to visit poverty-stricken places in the intervals of three, six and 12 months. And, surprisingly, we discovered that everytime there was some new innovation or improvement in the usual lifestyle of the people,'' he says.Kumar's attempt to link the residents of the state with an internet site has got tremendous response with natives from all over the globe joining his``Non-Resident-Bihari'' (NRB) concept. The message board has scores of messages posted from the NRBs sharing ideas and plans for the upliftment of the state.``If not a renaissance, certainly a silent awakening is occurring in the state. And the most surprising fact is that it not politically initiated or an organised movement. This change will become very apparent in the next few years to come,'' says eminent social scientist Manohar Lal.So although the people of Bihar may consider pardoning or punishing their political fathers for all they did unto them, the art of mastering survival against all odds is finding many disciples. From cowdung polished `Oxford English' schools in Bidupur to happening internet kiosks in Patna, all are lending a hand to save Bihar from falling off the Indian map.
