I agree with most of the points what Mr Pandey has suggested but again Dr Mishra is right in saying that there is no need to hide our accent. "Small drops make a lake", so even a little contribution from us will need to a change and a chain of change. One example - I am a doctor and I have experienced back home that most of our colleagues seniors/contemporary, they don't share their knowledge and they feel proud of it. Many a time it has happened that only a particular doctor can do an important test (even though it's simple) because he hasn't trained his juniors.

Presently I am working in Cardiology in UK and I am sure Dr Mishra will agree with me that here your Guru always try to teach you all the skills which he or she knows. So this is how knowledge flows with ultimate goal to help people.

So one thing which I can/will do and others can do as well is to transfer your knowledge to others by helping our state and country. I am sure we have got enough number of people to do that, only question is they should be willing to do it and its not difficult. That's how you can stop people traveling from far places like Purnia to Patna and even up to Delhi for heart ailments and other conditions which leads to loss of time and money which can be used for other things. I am sure this is true for other educational activities as well.

So bottom line is SHARE AND CARE. - Dr. Prashant Chandra Sinha, UK - Jan. 8, 2006

I appreciate suggestions given by Mr. Pandey and further commented by Dr. Mishra. I feel a person from Bihar should be proud of being a Bihari which does not happen. We hide our identities and create a complex to reveal ourselves from Bihar.

I wish to mention my own experience in Delhi. I wanted four daily wage laborers for doing some work related to my project. My attendant responsible for that told somebody “Are baahar se chaar Bihari ko pakar le; mere sir ko urgent kaam hai” (Go and get four Biharis; my boss has some urgent work). I placidly reacted and told Raju you need only three Biharis, why you asked for four? He said, "Sir, aapne hi to kahaa thaa", (You told me so).

I replied, "I asked for daily wage labors, not for Biharis. However, you wanted Biharis. If so, you get three Biharis and with me, you will have a total of four Biharis. The attender said, "Mera matlab yah nahi thaa sir bahar wale nahi samajhenge daily wage labor. Aise hi samjhaana parta hai (they will not understand daliy wage laborers so they are told like this)".

When the laborers came, I asked their home state. Only one was from Bihar, other three were from Madhya Pradesh.

I realise the term Bihari has become a synonym for daily wage laborers or rickshaw pullers. However, some of the corrective measures indicated by Mr. Pandey are objectionable to me as Dr. Mishra has objected regarding the improvement of language and accent. I see French individuals saying 'support' as 'sooport', and so on. East Asian countries have developed a lot without changing their tone. I have seen a person from West Bengal or Orissa saying 'bhery' for 'very' but people do not insult them. However, if a person from Bihar says that, they call it Bihari accent.

We should not deny or take aggressive approach. Instead, we should have self respect for being Biharis. - Ram Kumar, PhD, Institute of Marine Biology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Taiwan, ROC - Jan. 8, 2006

First I would like to congratulate Mr Pandey for his article and truthfulness. In fact I both agree and disagree with Mr Pandey with his views. I always say I am Bihari and I also emphasize the pride , to be called as BIHARI. It is ridiculous that now we have been labeled with Lalluism and NOT been compared with dignitaries of pasts like JP, Rajendra Prasad, Vashista Narayan Singh, Babu Kunwar Singh, Great Ashoka, Lord Buddha, Lord Mahavira, Kautilya and plenty more like Bihari Babu, Shekhar Suman, Manoj Bajpayee. There is no dearth of talents in Bihar. You can go any where in world and will see Biharis flourishing everywhere.

I wish to let people know by telling them about qualities of Bihari we have ,rather than keeping mum.

Let's hope that Nitish Kumar will prove himself as a good leader to steer Bihar out of the jaws of blemish and corruption and to project Bihar as most prosperous state in India. Dr K. Kanhaiya, U.K - Jan. 9, 2006

Let me tell you that I am never shy in telling that I am Bihari --- no matter where I go in parts of India or in the United States. I feel ashamed and even offended when some Biharis hide their identity. I have heard some of my friends tell me when they go to Delhi, they never say they are from Bihar. When I asked one what he says, he told me, “I say I am from Kolkota or other place, or I will never get a room in hotel.” I said, ‘I always say I am from Bihar, and I never have problems getting anything done in any part of the world.”

I am also offended by some of the comments regarding Bihari accents. Don't different regions have different accents? Why it is only Biharis whose accents seem to be targeted? While working in one place outside of India, some Bihari workers were speaking Bhojpuri. I do not speak Bhojpuri, but I understand the dialect. Even though I prefer speaking Urdu/Khari Hindi, I would never discourage anyone from speaking their native tongue. I find in most circumstances, I am able to understand what is being said, and I can easily respond. Of course, there are always individuals who are disrespectful of any means of expression they do not themselves use. They will never be respectful of regional differences, and will do their best to make some people feel inferior. When these things happen, I remind people that they should not feel ashamed to ever use their native language in the way they learned, accents and all. In the world, there are hundreds upon hundreds of languages. I am sure that while we think they are all known by this time, there are still many yet to be discovered, and many more that have become extinct. Language unites us as human beings and distinguishes us from each other as well. Regional differences in accents and dialects exist all over the world and in almost every language. I encourage all of us to improve our command of our own language. Grammar and vocabulary are simple things to pay attention to --- not because we are inferior, but because the use of words is integral to success. I have read that Americans are now being encouraged to learn Hindi as a way to better understand India, in light of the ties that exist between the two countries.

I am not ashamed to speak my mother tongue in the presence of my co-workers. If I am on the phone in a personal call, or in a conversation with another Indian on the job, I will freely speak Urdu/Hindi.

It seems to me that these people who are so proud of their command of the English language might have some lessons to learn themselves. Some of these people are bound by their own mother tongue in their own accent when speaking English. I suspect that their desire to “educate” Biharis stems from a basic dislike of Bihar. These are the kind of people who think that someone is inferior merely by place of birth. It does not matter to them that the facts support the Bihari trend toward excelling academically. They seem blind to Bihar’s success in fostering high achievers in IAS/IPS, and medical and engineering entrance exams.

Biharis: speak loud and proud! The world is listening! - S. M. Khurshid Anwar, New York, USA - Jan. 11, 2006

I am sorry Pankaj, Prashant, Anwar ji and all Bihari brothers/sisters if I offended you by talking about Bihari Accent. You know these were impromptu comments.

I myself have strong accent which were caught by several people and I don't think majority of them had any bad intention. At time I felt that people had hard time understanding me do my accent.

I very well remember that at one time a 5 year kid whose name was "Kushal" pointed to me that I am pronouncing it wrongly as "Kusal"

But any way I would like to apologise to all of you if inadvertently I offended you. - Ravi Pandey - Jan. 11, 2006

Discussion on this topic is now closed.