Will “The Maithil” Co-Operate ?

Vidyapati, the poet who was Shiva’s Employer

Ever since I was a child, I have heard my folks, the extended family and just about every one who came home, or discussed society at my grandfather’s “dalaan” (porch) that “maithils” are one of the most unreliable, ungrateful, competitive, destructive and do-nothing-let-nothing-be-done people one can find. The hatred of one’s own “diyaad” (extended family with whom you had a give/take) was visceral and the conversations about the diyaad’s betrayal were brutal. Yet, even as a child, I would often find the same folks and elders themselves display the behaviours which they condemned and so abhorring-ly described in their 3rd party conversations. This conflict prevented me from actively taking an interest in “maithil” culture and being engaged in “maithil” diaspora (in Delhi where I studied or college or at work). I was happy to live by myself. The fear of being “betrayed” was huge.

When I started working, I had to focus all my energies on taking care of my family. I had lost my father while still at college and had to grow up quickly to settle the family finances, ensure my younger brother, sisters were well settled and we could stand on our own feet. Luckily, both my brother and me did well academically, went to IIT KGP and became successful professionals. I ended up in the tech space in India and my brother went on to do MBA in US and became a wall street investment banker. For nearly 25 years, I didn’t have the room to lift my head and think about my roots and the “maithil” culture — I was busy securing my own family first.

In first week of May 2019, I took a trip to Madhubani, the heart of Mithila, after nearly 25 years. While I could see the town of Madhubani creep into my maternal village blurring the boundaries between village and city and signs of associated development of trade and commerce (eRickshaws, autos, more bikes, digital and mobile presence, dirtier marketplaces and over-crowded public spaces), I also sensed a decaying of the rural culture and assets that had dictated life perhaps less than 40–50 years ago.

The pokhars (ponds) that stored the flood / rain water and kept water-table high were dry, dirty, taken over by water hyacinth and clearly not being actively maintained. The gachhis (mango groves) that were planted hundreds of years ago had been singularly ignored by the population with very few fresh plantations, very little evidence of any scientific management and absolutely no evidence of any community driven collective growth / development (co-operative movements) that we have heard of from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, W. Bengal.

When I asked my maternal uncle (a retired engineer from the steel industry, he was spending some of his time at the village) the reason for this lack of co-operative development at the village, the non-collaborative attitude of the “maithils” was brought up as a top reason in addition to talent migration for jobs to outside areas. The migration of talent for jobs outside the area had removed the best minds and in many cases the entire families from the district. Their annual holidays and short visits were simply not enough for them to lead any committed development/collaborative initiatives. The folks who stayed back, were simply not prepared to invest in any disruption to their existing lifestyles and the govt forces were too busy lining up their pockets and solidifying vote-banks thru division on voters on caste lines.

The other elephant in the room was the ghost of the narratives from my childhood — of the “maithil” being selfish and self-centered and living for personal glory. “If you try to help the maithil evolve, improve and become something, they will turn on you and establish that either you are inferior, unrespectful and connive to hurt you and your and institutions out of jealousy, small-mindedness and genetic conditioning” — was the wisdom and advise shared by a few of his contemporaries, men in their late 60s/70s who had all had careers outside the district/state. The folks at my mamaji’s “dalaan” nodded their heads in unison — no one could help maithils as they were too smart to be helped by others.

I was asking a simple question — since 1970s, with lack of industry and job opportunities and with high value on education, most maithil talent had migrated out of Madhubani area to Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai and more recently Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and even overseas. Most of these families had land, homes in the village that were unused, poorly managed and inviting decay but I did not see any evidence of co-operative movement, village level activism to collectively improve and manage assets and turn them into development case studies. Surely the educated, well-off, new generation of Maithils could make an impact and turn around the decay?

Surely, the modern educated maithil would be amenable to create a local co-operative movement to manage the pokhars, gachis, lands and turn the natural assets to productive economic assets while creating much needed employment locally in Madhubani and accelerating the much needed development of the area. Individuals may be weak and unable to move the needle but surely a movement led by the professional, educated, globalized young folks could stand up against age old prejudices, jealousies, small-mindedness and fight a good just fight.

Surely, in this age of instant incessant communication, it would be possible to create a steering group of folks who would be prepared to take a few blows for a higher cause — revival of the ecological balance, the culture of pokhars & gachhis and create a new economic growth engine rather than let assets handed down by ancestors decay into unproductive waste.

What do you think? Do you think I am wrong in believing this deserves a shot? Do you think I will end up dejected as the powerful “status quoist” forces will conspire to defeat my “well intentioned ideas”? Do you think the old adage of “road to hell is paved with good intentions” is a warning to heed and I should stay away and be happy with what I got?

Need some wisdom from the crowd folks. If you want to contribute towards this initiative, let me know thru the comments section and I will get back to you. I will get this done, one way or the other.

Thank you! To Co-Operatives.