Bihari or a Bengali

I was 9 when our class teacher asked all students to get in writing from their parents as to which caste they belong to as it was to be maintained in official record books of school. There were 4 categories written on backboard. I didn’t know what it meant. So I copied the same in my diary and asked my mother and she said we belonged to General.

I was 12 and went to buy chart paper in a nearby stationary shop. The guy who owned the store asked me, which caste do you belong to, I said general because that I what I knew. He smiled and said there are subdivisions to it, better ask your mother. I did so and I was informed that I am a kayastha.

I was 16 and I went to my music class. My music teacher is a Bengali lady. She asked me your sister is a Bengali. Her family speaks Bangla. How come you speak Hindi. Moreover, my father uses a title das which is a Bengali title. So was I a Bengali? I was puzzled again. I asked my mother again and she said we are Bengali Kayastha.

Confusing J . It is, for me too.

And then one fine day, years after, I googled my so called existence. Where do we come from, who are we? And google is supposedly said to have answers to almost all questions in this world. It has, this time also J

It says we are basically Kayastha from Uttar Pradesh who settled down in Bengal when the rulers were trying to expand their kingdom towards east. As we lived in Bengal for more than 250 years this state had a deep influence in our language, style of dressing customs and cultures. We adopted Bengali traditions to its fullest. Baktiyar Khilaji invaded Bengal and defeated the then King Laxman Sen. In order to save life and property we started migrating towards Bhagalpur in Bihar. Vikramshila University in Bhagalpur was always supported by Laxman Sen and it grew with his support. So finally people of his kingdom choose to migrate to Bhagalpur due to their long connection with Vikramshila University. And this is how we moved to Bihar. I was born in Bihar and my prior generations are from Bihar, so let it put this way, I am a Bihari with a Bengali origin :).

I did not do this research because my existence bothers me in any way. In fact, I have lived with people of all castes all through my life. Right from school and here I would like to mention that I have changed five schools in my schooling career and so I met a lot of people in my school life. None were from “my caste” and it hardly made a difference to me. And then came college, a bigger circle altogether. I met even more people and became close to people who were not only from different caste but from different religion altogether. And today the same continues in my workplace too. So as long as there is a connection this caste factor does not bother me in any respect.

But yes, I should have answers to questions being put up to me. And so I choose to know my existence. It never was and it never will, matter to me in anyway but knowing things related to me does help to increase my knowledge. It did in this case J