For many people, Bihar is synonymous with hell. And if you say rural Bihar, you are asked - "Oh!does life exist there?".
The answer is: Yes, it sure does.
For someone like me, who has spent the majority of his life in the state, anything and everything that is possible is acceptable. In other words, there is no shock value for me when you utter the word: BIHAR. For the last 10-12 years, I have been involved in my own quests for livelihood, everyday struggle and family bonding. I have stayed in cities like Bangalore (Karnataka), Trivandrum (Kerala) and now Noida (a part of NCR).

Within the urban setup, where everything seems to be working like a well choreographed dance sequence, a slight variation causes people to go berserk often bordering on acute depression. Take away the cellphones, and people start wondering if they have gone deaf. Take away the Television sets, PCs, laptops and Internet connections, and people start believing that they have been deprived of their fundamental rights.

When I knew that I was supposed to be in rural heartland of northern Bihar for a week, for a wedding in the family (my wife's brother to be precise!) for a week or so, I started visualising how it would it be. I have been there earlier for smaller durations. But this time, the ocassion was a wedding as I said and I would be in my sasuraal with all the pamperings that a daamaad ji gets in north Indian households.

It was all that and much more! The life in villages is so lethargic at times that you start wondering whether life would indeed be the same for the rest of your life. But that is just a slice of it. If you forget all the trappings of the urban lifestyle, life in a village is an idyllic setup where the lush green fields invite you to breathe openly without any concern for air pollution. Dense mangroves, cattles grazing in the fields, topless kids roaming around a dirty pond, young ladies gaudily dressed up with the ghoonghat pulled upto their noses, smell of cow dung as you move across the by lanes....the panoramic view is as fascinating as designs in a kaleidoscope.

Just as small towns try to keep pace with what is happening in metros, villages try to keep pace with whatever is happening in towns. I noticed a strange urge to act urban in people. The mobile phones have penetrated every breath and corner. The billboards of the leading cellphone companies were also visible there. SRK stood in a paddy field proclaiming Re 1 per local call for Airtel, while Bipasha Basu dressed skimpily for Reliance Mobile attracted ogles from men cycling down the narrow lanes.

The highlights of my visit were of course the wedding I attended and the royal treatment I received as a daamaad ji. The giggles of the women in the household, the guffaws of the haughty men who talked endlessly about anything and everything, the game of cards that went on and on and on, the kumbhkarnisation of my daily routine (read sleep, sleep and sleep).

But I would specially remember a 65 old loyal servant of the family called Krishna. Krishna would massage me everyday with a bowl full of mustard oil and talk incessesantly about his penurious state, his youngest daughter waiting to be married, how my late father-in-law helped him settle his debts, how we were like rajahs and he a simple human being. My heart just went out to him. As I left, I handed over a 100 rupee note to him and saw a glitter in his old eyes. It was just a token of appreciation and thanks - I told him. I asked him not to worry, things would be fine. He smiled.

I have returned to my 'normal' lifestyle now.
Act 1.. scene 2.. Take 10...Lights, camera, action...
Did someone say - 'Cut it?'