Bihar,Barack and my Political Idealism

15 months since Barack brought the “change” and few months left for Bihar election to occur. Strange comparison but Barack to me signifies the change misplaced in terms of expectation of the intelligentsia of my state. I belong to the legacy of Macaulay, I belong to the intellectual (don’t raise your eyebrows!!) English speaking class who loves to opine. I was born in the late 1980’s in a politically engrossed family, where political affinity was completely dependent on the potential leverage out of it. Throughout my formative years I saw the laws of land been bent, broken leaving it in tatters to benefit people I am closed to. As I near my graduation with obvious expectation of people around me to know my leanings, I have some serious introspection to do. I remember, when Barack was shouting aloud to bring the change in America there was an instant connect with him because he was the personified aspiration of the young English educated youngsters of India. But America is not Bihar and Barack is no Nitish. I have seen and observe the political imbroglio to the best of my capacity and it makes me sad because as a young man in search of idealism, it leaves me with two options. Either accepts the fidelity to an idealism and fail. But it that case you will always be revered for your fidelity or harmonize your self with the complex and intricate social stratification and take advantage out of it. It was so easy during American election to line up your leaning as your naïve political understanding of US coupled with a very filmy plot of one person coming out of 100 years of racial discrimination made Barack an obvious choice. In Bihar things are different. We don’t vote for change, we vote for status quo. We vote so because the “righteous” anti-establishment force of our state is too busy and engrossed in pontification and they don’t provide us with an option. Barack, now for me is much more than a Nobel laureate US president. He to me signifies the comfort we seek by not actually going through the pain of our political system but rather have a false sense of idealism. Come this December, We will have an important decision to make. But will that decision be right or wrong, this needs my immediate attention. Coz as a student of science, I know that a sense of right or wrong comes from a set of rules it adheres to. In realms of politics, it’s the idealism, the empirical formula which I haven’t found yet.