Wish you were me?

Just because I laugh a lot does not mean I don’t take life seriously. It means I enjoy the fact that I’m alive and kicking.

Just because I peacefully sit back and relax does not mean I’m idle. It means I’m self-ideating and mentally strategizing.

Just because I party hard does not mean I’ve had a questionable upbringing. It means I know how to have a great time despite a 9-hour job and hectic work schedule.

And just because I don’t talk to you does not mean I’m snobbish. It means you are not worth talking to, for you will always misinterpret what I do.

Now, go die…

No kid stuff, this

He has been waxing eloquent about the past glory, present developments and future prospects of Bihar. Aryabhatta, Sher Shah Suri, Rashtra Kavi Dinkar, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan; he discusses Bihar’s association with these names without missing a beat. Meet Vikram Chauhan, age 10. This small wonder from Rohtas district packed a punch while delivering his speech at the Bihar Diwas on Tuesday.

Similar was the case with Priya Kumari of Jamui district, Divya Kumari of Sheohar and Priti Kumari of Saharsa. They, along with approximately 430 students from all 38 districts of the state, have been selected to give a presentation of their talent at the ongoing Bihar Diwas.

“Roughly 10 students from each district of Bihar have been selected to perform at Bihar Diwas. We have a variety of programmes lined up for this representative sample of talent from across the state,” said Anjani Kumar Singh, principal secretary of HRD and chairman of Bihar Diwas organising committee.

Saqlain Wahid from Katihar district claims to be a bit nervous to be performing in front of a packed house, but once on stage, he transforms into a picture of cool composure as he discusses “the challenge of population increase in Bihar”. It’s hard to believe that these children -- all in the age group of 10 to 16 – are displaying so much of confidence.

“The fact that they are getting to perform in front of this distinguished crowd is the biggest thrill for these kids as most of them have never even gone beyond their hometowns before,” said Jyoti, a mass education consultant supervising the programme.

The different performance categories are singing, musical instruments, painting, speech, poem recital and others, which includes magic, yoga, mimicry, gymnastics et al. Dr Sarita Singh, consultant to HRD, informed TOI, “These programmes would provide the participating kids with the right kind of exposure and due appreciation of their talent at the state and national level.”

“This is a great opportunity for us,” enthused a class IX student from Gopalganj, here to perform magic tricks. P Shekhar, or “Jadugar”, as he is popularly called at the Bihar Diwas venue, has been learning magic for the past 5 – 6 years and already made his name at the district level. Going national is a dream, which looks set to be realised given his special talent for sleight of hand.

Priya Mallick of Patna, Srishti Sargam of Saharsa and Srishti Suman of Nawada will perform ‘raag malkonsh’, ghazal, and semi-classical ‘thumri’ respectively, while a Hrithik Roshan dance number would be performed by Zulfi from Gopalganj.

“We have some really talented and unique kids performing here including singers, dancers, artists, poets, magicians, mimics and gymnasts,” said Uday Chandra Bajpei, Dy DSE, Gopalganj. “The best part is, these children have come together on a common platform from all walks of life and from all socio-economic backgrounds,” chiped in Dr J K Shukla, TLC secretary. Both these officials were seen coordinating the programmes in the specially constructed ‘Kilkari’ hall.

Kumar Milan Jha of Patna, a class IX student, who also happens to be a national chess champion of under-14 category, promptly twists his wrist at an angle of more than 360 degree as an impromptu demonstration to TOI of his unique ability. This gymnast is all set too amaze the audience at Gandhi Maidan during the Bihar Diwas.

But perhaps the biggest show of resilience comes from Mahindar Ram, a polio afflicted boy of just 11, hailing from Bhore in Gopalganj. The hall reverberated with his sonorous voice as he sang with gusto a patriotic bhojpuri song. An inspirational moment for those present to realise that his legs may have betrayed him, but his spirit carries him along just fine!

Delicacies, with a twist!

At the Vyanjan Mela at Gandhi Maidan, the delicacies offered come with a twist. Ole sweets, salted khaza, cauliflower kheer; it’s as though a ‘match the columns’ puzzle has gone haywire. And that, incidentally, is the biggest draw of this Bihar Diwas food festival, which is being used to promote exotic Bihari cuisine. A generous sprinkling of innovation in the delicacies ensures that the food items keep you coming back for more.
On sale are Barh's laai, Maner laddoo, Kesaria peda, Gaya's anarsa and tilkut, Bhojpur's belgrami, Fatuha's khurchan, Banka's hilsa and kalai imarti, Silao khajaa, Mithilanchal 's tilkaur leaves, dahi-chura, tengra fish, Bihia's puri and makhana, West Champaran’s ‘anandi chawal' and 'mirchaiyya chuda', 'makuni' (sattu roti), litti-chokha, puri, kachri, 'ghughni', 'pakori', dahi-vada, and other items like rewari, malpuaa, hot gulab jamuns, ice creams and juices. For those looking to sink their teeth into some non-veg spread, there’s 'chawal-macchli', stew and fried mutton called ‘taas’.

Old-timers' guide to gourmet delight

For Shankar Kishore Chaudhary, answering inquisitive queries about his products has become a way of life. And why not, for this herbal farmer from Hajipur in Vaishali district has been dishing out exotic sweet delicacies made of ‘ole’ (elephant foot yam) when everyone else traditionally associates the crop with chokha, chutney and acchaar.
“We have been preparing 56 different ‘ole’ items, which include ‘puri’, ‘bhujia’, ‘chhole’, ‘rasgulla’, ‘chyawanprash’, ‘ice cream’, ‘halwa’, ‘peda’, etc,” said Chaudhary, in Patna for participating in the Vyanjan Mela at Bihar Diwas celebrations in Gandhi Maidan. He has also received two national level awards in farming. His biggest reward, however, came in January 2010 when Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had a taste of the ‘ole’ kheer and lavished praises on him.
In business since 1994, Chaudhary does farming on three hectares of land in Hajipur and has been exporting ‘ole’ seeds to states like UP, Goa, Haryana, Kerala and MP among others. Besides he would soon be heading off to Kerala for imparting training on effective farming techniques to self-help groups there.

Somewhat similar is the case with Sanjeev Kumar, a young organic farmer already bestowed with a national silver medal and a progressive farmer award. He has put up a cauliflower ‘kheer’ stall at the food festival. “We have been engaged in organic farming of cauliflower, a fact that has been recognized and duly supported by the state government,” said Sanjeev, who also happens to be the secretary of Annadata Farmers’ Club, which has around 25 active members. Their Rajendra-Chakwara variety of cauliflower (named after Rajendra Prasad Agricultural University and Chakwara village) is to be released by the state government in 2012 and the process to patent this variety is already on, he informs.

Some, like Sanjay Lal of the ‘Silao ka Khaaja’ stall, have been into the preparation of Bihari delicacies since ages. “My shop at Silao, called Shri Kali Sah, is more than a 100 years old. We have been into the ‘khaaja’ business since the time of my great grandfather,” he informed. He too, like many of the distinguished stall-owners at the Vyanjan Mela, has many awards to his name, one of them being the Sagar Mahotsava award he received in Mauritius. Lal reminisced about the time when former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam, had tasted and appreciated his ‘khaaja’ made in pure ghee. “Much before that, I used to send sugar-free ‘khaaja’ made of ‘gurh chashni’ on special demand to former PM Morarji Desai,” he reveals after some prodding. The Bihar CM too, supposedly, loves his ‘khaaja’, a bulk of which is bought by visiting NRIs and foreigners to be taken back to their respective countries. The next step for Lal is setting up his own ‘khaaja’ plant in Silao, the registration process of which is already complete.

Swastik Sattu, a homegrown company, too has its presence at the food festival, and a heavy rush is seen throughout the day at the stall, what with ‘sattu’ being one of the most preferred item of consumption and relief in Bihar during summer. “Besides being tasty, ‘sattu’ also has many medicinal properties and negative side-effects, unlike junk food,” said Ramesh Agrawal, MD of Swastik Sattu. They have recently launched Swastik Gold Tea, a product packed and branded exclusively in Bihar.

Visitors have been feasting on ‘balushahi’ at Suraj Kumar’s stall. All of 19, Suraj is looking after his family business with vigour and dreams of taking it places. Others, like Mahesh Kumar Singh, have been exporting their product – ‘laai’ from Barh – to countries like Mauritius. Looks like the CM’s vision of putting a Bihari food product on the dining table of every household in the country is inching closer to its realization, what with the Bihari cuisine finally coming into its own at the Vyanjan Mela.