Empowered State, Belittled Nation

Empowered State, Belittled Nation

Who are we supposed to be? Residents of this country or citizens of this country? Or are we merely natives of a particular place belonging to a particular state; having total loyalty, obligation and sense of belonging to that State only, relegating the Country to a secondary status?
There is a major difference between a mere resident and a bonafide citizen. Though it seems we are bent upon forsaking this citizenship for the “myopic regionalism”. Also on innumerable occasions we are forced by the socio-economic and socio-political system to accept the superiority of regional loyalty over love for our nationality.

This I state, without malice towards my fellow citizens. Rather these are all statements of facts rooted in my own experiences. And I am sure each and everybody has had his or her share of fling with regionalism---at times voluntary and at other times involuntary. I have been at the receiving end of such loyalty towards regionalism and herein I would like to share with you all some of them, which have had profound impact on my life.

I was born and brought up in Bihar, the much-maligned state for reasons galore and at times without any, as well. Well, that is not my contention here, rather my experiences are. My father was a University Professor and a teacher of great repute, and is still much loved and respected. He superannuated from his service in December 1999. During that time he held the post of Dean, Faculty of Science. Incidentally, he too has been born and brought up in Bihar, my grandfather having shifted his base there for his profession.
I had my entire education there. First, school and subsequently, B.Sc, from a college, which is over 100years old, followed by M.Sc from the University. We moved to Kolkata lock, stock and barrel in the year 2000 after my father’s retirement from service. In the meanwhile I qualified in NET (National Eligibility Test), a must for Lectureship in India, from a center in Kolkata.

These are the facts. Now come the effects and experiences.

In spite of our long, to say the least, association with the place, the respect that my father gets there from his students and colleagues, it couldn’t become our home. Time and again, we were discriminated by the people, in general, as, “Bangali hai na (After all is a Bengali)”, “Bangali aisa hi hota hai (Bengalis are like this only)”, etc. True, at the same time, the love that we continue to get from our acquaintances is unparalleled and we feel blessed for that. In fact when we left that place, I didn’t find single such an eye, “tear-less”.
But still, the discrimination hurt beyond expression, graduating to Rejection.

Well, this is not the end of the story. There are two more to follow.
Let them be in the chronological order of their happening.

After securing high marks in my Class 12th exam, I was fortunate to get admission in Miranda House, New Delhi with Honours in Chemistry. But I had to forgo the admission after attending classes for about 8 weeks as I was denied an accommodation in the hostel despite my having maximum marks in my stream. All because I hailed from Bihar and had dared to speak the truth during the interview conducted for admission to the hostel. How could I be taken in? I was a Bihari sitting in the confines of the Principal’s room in India’s capital and still daring to speak the truth!

Then comes an incident that took place later. In an earlier paragraph, I’ve specifically mentioned that my center was in Kolkata for the NET, which is conducted, twice a year, jointly by CSIR & UGC and qualifying in the test is a prerequisite for getting appointed as Lecturer in College/s in India. Thus having cleared the “net of NET”, I was assured of Lectureship, in a college with vacancy in the relevant subject. In the interim, I started my PhD programme in a renowned institution, where I got chance after a rigorous interview and due to my “NET qualification”. The research got discontinued, due to certain physical limitations that developed subsequently and the rigidity of the people concerned. They didn’t want to modify the working condition nor the approach towards the assignment was changed.

I knew that I would face stiff competition for Lectureship, but my candidature would be summarily rejected, that I didn’t envisage. Because I had the “specified” credentials. Even my “demo” class impressed quite a few in the interview panel: in the interviews that I faced.
But I was not considered. That didn’t hurt me because in interviews such things do happen. You can’t succeed in all. But the reason angered, hurt and perplexed me. The reason that was made to do the rounds “pseudo-officially” was my lack of a PhD degree. With due regards, PhD can’t be the deciding parameter for Lectureship and teaching acumen. To become a good teacher, it is not essential and that is what has been stated by the UGC, though NET is the decider. To be a good teacher the communication skills plus the grasp over the subject are quintessential. Furthermore, it is not my fault that I don’t have a PhD. I won’t get into it as it is a different issue altogether in the given context.

The actual and unofficially aired cause for the rejection of my candidature, that did the rounds of the corridors that mattered, was my Bihar connection. Lo and behold, I appeared in the NET from Kolkata, withstood interviews and made my dedication towards my chosen profession very clear. But it is the stigma of Bihar, which became my undoing.
At present, I am a part time Lecturer in a reputed Government College, where I have been teaching since November, 2003.I got the job because of my NET eligibility.

But then I could’ve had full time lectureship.

I am not complaining, but merely stating that now I have become a “Bihari”. If my degrees, from Bihar, were false, how did I clear NET, faced long interviews, have my students well placed abroad by competing in various relevant competitive examinations? Here I do not want to extol about my capabilities but want to lay the bare facts out in the open.

Just imagine, in an Independent Country, I do not know who I am: a Bengali or a Bihari? Nobody (people who decide the fate of a person’s career) considers me as an Indian. While in Bihar, I was a “non-resident Bengali”, in Delhi I was a “resident Bihari non-resident Bengali” and in Bengal I have been labeled a “non-resident Bihari, speaking Bangla”! And amidst all these, the concerned people have overlooked my Indian citizenship. So it is with many others, I am sure, Maharashtra projecting one of the most glaring examples in recent times.

I am afraid that this problem will rise exponentially, with the demand for and creation of many more states. The country is being fragmented or rather fresh boundaries are being drawn as new states, in our country’s map. True, this might help in better governance and addressing the local issues, by the decentralization of power.
But a serious backlash would be a further rise in this regional feeling; as if other discriminations based on caste and religion are not enough. Rather with more and more states, this uprising of regionalism will get a license to be exercised: nationalism being torn while the boundaries are etched.

I sincerely hope, the states do not become malignant tumour crippling the working of a united nation. We should’ve the right to exercise our rights as Indians instead of being pushed into the regional quagmire of being a Bihari, Bengali, Punjabi………etc. the number of such “names” being equal to the total number of states!
States are building blocks of the country, like a “dx” in Calculus, which when integrated over a specified range gives the entire picture, here the country. But they can never supersede the country in significance and importance.

I am sure of my identity. I am an Indian.

Sushmita Mukherjee,
11th January, 2010