don't know why...

Recently I have been to my native. It is a small village in north Bihar. Like a typical village its basic infra and modern developments are negligible. Even modest facilities like a decent road and electricity are not available. If you go there you won't believe there can be a place like that in this era. You will get a peaceful surrounding and pollution free environment there. This is the only thing that attracts me there. But this can't be a excuse for an undeveloped village. I mean, there must have been funds and development programs but why were they not successful. And a negligence of this kind is totally unacceptable.

But in a different context I found it so rich that it raised my doubts to an alarming level. The thing I am talking about is the intellect and the argumentative tradition that prevails there. Almost every evening at least 4 or 5 people gathered at the front of the house (it is called "DALAN" there) and they discussed about every aspect of life. May it be politics, traditions, religion, study...or anything and everything. This was almost like a ritual or kind of daily habit. I had seen this on my earlier visits but what amazed me was their level of thinking. Earlier I was not able to digest their talks and so it seemed non-sense to me. But when I sat and listened to them this time it was terrific, at least I can say. Some of them were religiously bent, no doubt, but there were people who criticized the superstitions. They gave proper arguments in the support of their statements. It reminded me about the belief in Hinduism called "lokayata" which questions the existence of God. It mainly focuses on the life that we are living and neglects almost all beliefs related to supernatural powers. Most astonishing thing was that even children were not excluded in these events. There were preparation based arguments in case of any event as community meals called "BHOJ". There were post analysis of the events. There were discussions on each and every subject. This is the source of entertainment for them them as well, as there are no televisions or other electrical appliances due to lack of electricity.

If there have such intellectual prowess then why the hell is this place so undeveloped. This is I think due to the same reason which seems so attractive from outside. They have developed their political reasoning to a good level and when the power goes into the hands of political leaders (I don't want to name one, there are many...)they know how to bend the rules and use it for their own needs. Undoubtedly, there are people who have shown their talents in almost every field. But the major problem is that there are arguments only. These thoughts need to be implemented in the real world and that too in a proper and healthy way. This is the matter with Indian mindset as a whole. They have talents and they have theories for development but everything is on paper. This is why there are many mathematicians and philosophers and economists in India but scientific discoveries and inventions are almost negligible.

Hopefully situation will change. And this not only a baseless hope. There have been recent developments in this state. Good roads, electricity, industrial investments are on their way. This is a slow process but I know one day it will be there....