Chapter 359 Bihar
"Isa, your skirt is beautiful. Take it off and let me see it."
"Ah, isn't it worn on the body?"
“Two beautiful things should be appreciated separately and slowly.”
Ron is a man of action, he does what he says.
If a little lamb like Isa falls into his hands, all her wool will be plucked out.
Of course, he is an Indian with a bottom line and maintains the demeanor of a Brahmin.
The executive suite of the Empire Hotel has a swimming pool and a SPA. He and Isa enjoyed the massage service of the waitress before they started to spend time together.
Isa was very nervous, her breath tightened when she inhaled and expanded when she exhaled.
Oh, I have to say, Issa is really beautiful.
Especially when she is not wearing clothes, her figure is very similar to that of Western women, with curves in all the right places.
Her face is also very three-dimensional, with a rare cleavage on her chin, which gives her a unique charm.
Very good, very good, Ron worked till late in the night.
The next morning, he did not let Isa's stomach go empty.
The two did not leave the Empire Hotel until the afternoon, and then went shopping in a swaggering manner.
The main purpose was to accompany Isa and please her. After all, it was her first time experiencing this kind of thing, and Ron was very gentlemanly.
It was getting dark, and he prepared to send Isa back reluctantly.
It was only then that Ishan appeared in the rickety Ambassador car.
His eyes were dull and his face was haggard, as if he had suffered a serious illness.
On the contrary, Sunita was in high spirits and looked very satisfied.
"What happened to you?" Ron asked in surprise.
"Master..." Yi Shang felt very aggrieved.
"Forget it, I'll give you two days off so you can go back and recuperate."
Sunita, who was standing not far away, had her eyes lit up. The opportunity had come again.
Ignoring the horrified Ishan, Ron said goodbye to Isa.
"Honey, call me when you get back."
"Ron, are you free tomorrow too?" Isa asked hesitantly.
"Yes, I'm in New Delhi these days, but I might go to Bihar next week."
"Then let's contact each other by phone." Isa got into the car happily.
"Okay." Ron waved his hand.
This girl has now gotten more active after experiencing the taste of sweetness.
In the next few days, Ron kept his promise and spent most of his time with Isa.
She would sneak out every day when Velma was away and if her aunt asked, she would say she was shopping with her classmates.
In fact, the two of them wandered into the hotel. It was broad daylight, but it did not affect their happy fun.
However, the busy farming season only lasted a few days, so in January 1997, he packed up and flew to Bihar.
Satya has contacted the Chief Minister of Bihar, also a Yadav, and they are ready to negotiate on local mineral development in Bihar.
Ron won't be returning to Tamil Nadu or Mumbai for the time being, so he'll take the time to go to Bihar for a field trip. This is a big investment, so it's a good idea to be cautious.
When people mention Bihar, they will automatically think of Uttar Pradesh. These two are definitely brothers in distress in North India.
They have too many similarities. First of all, they are both notoriously poor states with high poverty rates, which are among the highest in India.
The illiteracy rate is also high, with more than half of the population unable to write their own names. At the very least, some cannot even recognize all Arabic numerals.
The two states are also geographically close to each other, both belonging to the Gangetic Plain, warm tropical monsoon climate, and highly dependent on agriculture.
Even the crops growing in the fields are similar: sugarcane, mangoes, wheat, rice, hemp…
Not to mention the population, the scale is very large, and it is a must-fight place for votes for each party in the national election.
It can be said that Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have extremely high similarities in terms of geography, climate, population, language, caste, politics, economy, agriculture...
It is not an exaggeration to say that they are the twin brothers of North India, they are really so similar.
However, Bihar's overall conditions are slightly worse than Uttar Pradesh, and its reputation outside is not good either.
"Biharis are all bastards!" This regional discrimination is widely circulated throughout India.
When people talk about Biharis, the first thing that comes to mind is thieves.
Most of the herders in the Malpudan slum in central Mumbai are Biharis, who provide a steady supply of low-level consumables to the gangs.
If you put a homemade pistol in their hands and promise them a reward of 200 rupees, they will dare to kill people.
Even director Shiv, who helped Ron shoot "Hymn to Durga Puja", admitted that Biharis are more prone to crime.
That is his hometown and because of this identity, he faces discrimination in Bollywood.
Ron first went to Patna, the capital of Bihar, a city that is somewhat similar to Lucknow.
Both are located in the west-central part of the states, have a population of about three million, and are mainly engaged in service industries and agricultural processing.
Patna has a longer history. It was the capital of Ashoka of the Maurya Empire and a religious holy city.
But in Ron's view, Patna still stands in stark contrast to other cities in India.
Not to mention metropolises like Mumbai, even Lucknow pales in comparison.
In Lucknow you can find several five-star hotels with complete facilities and relatively smooth roads.
As for Patna, when Ron got here, his cell phone had no signal!
Although India has just started developing mobile communications, major cities still have signal coverage.
Patna is the state capital after all, but there is no trace of mobile communications at all.
After his cell phone became completely useless, he could only use the phone in the hotel.
This is the nicest hotel in Patna but the noise from the internal telephone line system is louder than the street outside and you can't hear what the receptionist is saying.
"Hello, hello, is this a long distance call?"
"No, I'm calling from room 404."
"Hello, hello, have you made a reservation?"
"I've checked into the hotel. Please transfer my long-distance call to the hotel." Ron explained patiently.
In Patna hotels, you cannot make long-distance calls directly; you have to go through the receptionist first.
He waited for a few seconds, and then the line beeped, indicating it was busy. He listened again, and the other party had already hung up.
"This is such a shitty place, I can't even make a phone call." Ron threw the phone away angrily.
"Master, do we need to change hotels?" Anil asked.
"Forget it, this is already the best hotel. Changing it will only make it worse."
After a simple night's rest, Ron immediately took Satya and prepared to visit Minister Yadav.
He didn't want to stay in this damn place any longer. Isn't the fair and tender Isha in New Delhi attractive?
However, things did not go smoothly, as Yadav had something urgent to do today.
So at Satya's suggestion, the two of them simply wandered around Patna and took the opportunity to explore the customs and culture of Bihar.
If Ron wants to mine the minerals here, it is only natural for him to understand the local market.
They rented a private car and drove through the streets and alleys of the city.
Patna's roads are bumpy and there is not a single functioning traffic light on the roadside.
Ron glanced at the roadside. It was called Trouble Road, named after a British colonial official.
After so many years, they haven't even changed the names of the streets from the colonial era. This shows the inertia of their rule.
When passing a shop, Satya asked the driver to stop.
There were a few people gathered here, and there seemed to be a quarrel.
"What's going on?" Ron asked.
"This kind of store is called a low-price store. It is dedicated to providing basic material support for the poor. It is a social welfare policy implemented by New Delhi." Satya pointed to a shabby little shop on the street.
He squeezed to the front of the crowd and listened for a while, then asked a woman holding a yellow card some questions, then turned to introduce Ron.
Satya said that the thing the woman had in her hand was called a "Below Poverty Line" card (BPL), which is a kind of certificate issued by the government to poor people.
The card allowed her to get subsidized grain, kerosene, and sugar, things her family was already eligible for.
However, in a country like India with systemic corruption, it is not easy to get this card.
"I had to bribe them, and if I didn't, they wouldn't even give me the correct application form," the woman said. "Then when I bribed them, they gave me an English form, which I don't understand. So I had to pay someone sitting outside the office to fill it out for me."
After paying a huge price, she finally got the card, so she could go to the current discount store to collect the benefits.
But the budget stores here are almost never open, and when they are, they only sell moldy old flour and grain.
The woman grabbed a handful and showed them that it was crawling with bugs.
These grains are only suitable for use as feed and are not suitable for human consumption at all.
But the woman still valued it more than anything else. Moldy grain is still grain. If she didn't take it, her pot at home wouldn't even have a chance to cook it.
"Mr. Sur, you know, the food that the government initially gave to the affordable stores was all good food," said Satya.
"Were they replaced?" Ron asked.
Satya nodded. “People who apply for poverty cards are not necessarily actually poor.”
Ron was lost in thought, feeling a sense of déjà vu.
Those who receive subsistence allowances, subsidies, or extra points on exams are not necessarily the real recipients of assistance.
They could also be people who drive luxury cars, live in the Dabie Mountains, and eat Arctic mullet.
“As many as 40% of those who have poverty cards are not poor themselves; they get them by paying bribes,” explains Satya.
"What about the discount store? The food is so bad, it should be cheap. Why is it almost never open?"
“Because there’s no food.”
"there is none left?"
"Yes, they were all 'stolen'."
The government's relief grain began to be stripped layer by layer as soon as it passed through the hands of the first official.
By the time you get to the discount store down below, you'd be lucky if you could get a quarter.
"Did you know, Mr. Sur, that in Bihar, 80% of the food aid was stolen? But in Uttar Pradesh, when the Samajwadi Party was last in power, more than 50% of the food aid was distributed to the villages."
Ron looked up at Satya and suddenly understood.
The other party was telling him that the Socialist Party might not have done well enough, but it had done something.
Compared to the poor and barbaric Bihar, Uttar Pradesh is a civilized state!
(End of this chapter)
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