Bihar Through Stamps

प्रदीप जैन 

डाक टिकट  संग्राहक,पटना 

Bihar Day is much more than celebration. It is more than another public holiday. It is more than the pride and excitement of citizens who call themselves Biharis. Bihar Day, celebrated on 22 March to commemorate the State’s separation from Bengal in 1912, is the one day of the year where over 103 million individual Biharis, regardless of their religious beliefs, can come together in shared experience; an experience that may not be easy or necessary to articulate, but that – often unconsciously – binds them to this remarkable land and its people.

This is an important occasion to remind ourselves how lucky we are to be citizens of the most historical place in the world that is the cradle of Hinduism, the birthplace of Buddhism, Jainism and the tenth guru of Sikhs. Our cultural identities reflect the common historical experiences and shared cultural codes which provide us, as ‘one people’, with stable, 

unchanging and continuous frames of reference and meaning, beneath the shifting divisions and vicissitudes of our actual history. This ‘oneness’, underlying all the other, more superficial differences, is the truth – the essence of ‘Bihari-pan’ or simply ‘Biharism’.

The day is celebrated all over the world with flag raising ceremonies, tributes to our heroes and fireworks taking place in the capital – Patna. On each day by morning, crowds comprising mostly youth, begin to build up, soaking in the classy ambience that is imparted by the majestic Gandhi Maidan, the venue of a three-day long cultural extravaganza. The festivities include a number of colourful and authentic folk dances, music and theater performances, art and traditional crafts exhibitions, panel discussions on literature and cinema and a feast of exquisite Bihari cuisine. 

The celebrations of the Bihar Divas on March 22, every year, crossed the boundaries of the state and the country. The foundation day of Bihar was celebrated with gaiety and fervor in several states and foreign countries. California and New Jersey in the US, Sydney in Australia, Seoul in South Korea, Dubai, Qatar and Bahrain in the Gulf, besides Canada and England are the countries which observed Bihar Day. At all these places, the celebrations were held under the banner of the Bihar Foundation. In India, the foundation’s chapters in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore organised the festivities with pomp and grandeur. It’s also been a time of leadership and hope, as Bihar will complete 100 years of its formation on March 22, 2012.