State of the State of Bihar

I'm going to spare you the gruesome story of my salmonella (I know, it's rare for me not to jump at the chance to discuss diarrhea) and instead grace you with a boring discussion of Bihari politics.

Last week I met up with Vincent, an old friend of mine from Pondicherry University. We hadn't seen each since 2007 (5 years!!) so it was really great to catch up with him. Vincent is a journalist working the Jharkhand beat for The Telegraph, a Kolkata-based newspaper (but he doesn't actually live in Jharkhand; he is based in Delhi). Being a journalist, he's way more knowledgeable about Indian politics than I could ever dream to be. Of course, that's why I love talking to him!

I mentioned to Vincent that I would really love to work in Bihar, because there seems to be great opportunity for impact. Bihar is near the bottom on pretty much every count (education, health, income, etc) like their neighboring states, but governance in the state has been rapidly improving thanks to the efforts of the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has earned the nickname "Mr. Clean" for cracking down on corruption. Surely there is greater opportunity for impact than in horrendously corrupt Jharkhand, I thought. Vincent's response? Bakwaas. (Bullshit.) Bihar has not improved nearly at the rate advertised--key word: advertised. Apparently Kumar has a very good PR team and some friends in the media.

But what about all those articles in The New York Times lauding Kumar's work in the state? (See here, here, and here). Vincent counters with a recent, more critical article by Outlook India here. (Sorry I'm being lazy and referring you to news articles rather than explaining things myself.)

Now I'm confused and don't know what to believe. How effective have Kumar's initiatives really been? What is the state of the State of Bihar?

I recently met with the founder of an agricultural NGO that works in the Hindi belt, and I asked her about the state of the state. She told me that Kumar is, in fact, making serious progress in Bihar--but admitted that Bihar is still quite corrupt, there is still plenty of work to do, and "some may disagree with Nitish's approach."

Nothing is ever simple or straightforward in India.

(In any case, I don't have any contacts in Bihar, so I most likely won't be working there anyway.)

"Praise be to Allah, the rains are here!" ...or are they?

I'm in Delhi!! And the last few days have been super hot, like 115 F. I've only been here three days, so it doesn't really bother me too much yet (though the heat does make me very sleepy), but everyone around me has been enduring these temperatures since April and is anxious for the monsoon to begin--which is why yesterday's sudden downpour was cause for celebration.

The rain came very quickly. When I exited Cafe Coffee Day in Khan Market, it was sunny. By the time I negotiated an auto ride home (probably 3 minutes later), it was cloudy. About 30 seconds after stepping foot in the auto it started to drizzle, and by the first traffic light, the rain was coming down in sheets. Thicker than sheets. More like comforters. When we reached the Ring Road (perhaps 10 minutes later), it had flooded to become the Ring River.

At that first traffic light, my autowallah took the stopped-at-a-red-light opportunity to celebrate. He exclaimed in Urdu, "Praise be to Allah! The rains are here!" He did a little dance in his seat and put on a Bollywood song at full blast. Children ran outside to play in the downpour. And of course, being in an auto with open sides, I became drenched in seconds. Even my underwear and bra were soaked through. I don't think I've ever gone from sweating to shivering in such a short time span before (thank you, wind).

The weather certainly felt like the onset of the monsoon. But weather.com says it's going to stay hot and dry with zero precipitation for the next 10 days (actually, it forecasts "haze." Oooohh Delhi pollution, how I missed you. ...Not). So is the Weather Channel wrong (it didn't predict yesterday's storm!), or is Allah just playing with our hearts?

Here's hoping the Weather Channel is wrong.