I am a master in India

Chapter 359 Bihar

"Isa, your dress is beautiful. Take it off and let me see."

"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 he will do.

When a lamb like Isha falls into his hands, he fleeces her completely.

Of course, he's a principled Indian who maintains the demeanor of a Brahmin.

The Imperial Hotel's executive suite had a swimming pool and a spa. He and Isa enjoyed a massage from the waitresses before finally spending some time alone together.

Isa was very nervous; her breath tightened when she inhaled and expanded when she exhaled.

Oh my, I have to say, Isabella is really beautiful.

Especially when she's 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 cleft chin, which gives her a unique charm.

Excellent, very good. Ron was busy until late at night.

The next morning, he didn't let Isha's stomach go empty either.

The two didn't leave the Imperial Hotel until the afternoon, and then swaggered off to go shopping.

His main task was to keep Isa company and please her, since it was her first time experiencing something like this, and Ron was a very gentlemanly man.

As evening approached, he prepared to take the reluctant Isha back home.

Only then did Ishan appear in his rickety ambassador car.

His eyes were lifeless, and he looked emaciated, as if he had been seriously ill.

On the contrary, Sunita looked radiant and very satisfied.

"What did you do?" Ron asked, somewhat surprised.

“Master…” Yi Shang felt extremely aggrieved.

"Alright, I'll give you two days off. Go back and take good care of yourself."

Sunita, who was standing not far away, had a bright idea in her eyes. Another opportunity had come.

Ignoring the shocked Ishan, Ron and Isa said goodbye.

“Honey, call me when you get back.”

"Ron, are you free tomorrow too?" Isa asked hesitantly.

"Yes, I've been in New Delhi these past few days, but I might go to Bihar next week."

“Then we’ll keep in touch by phone.” Isa got into the car happily.

"Okay." Ron waved.

This girl has now developed a taste for it and has become even more proactive.

For the next few days, Ron kept his promise and spent most of his time with Isa.

Taking advantage of Verma's absence, she would sneak out every day. If her aunt asked, she would say she was going shopping with her classmates.

In fact, the two of them wandered around and ended up in the hotel. It was broad daylight, so it didn't stop them from having fun.

However, the busy farming season only lasts a few days. In January 1997, he packed up again and flew to Bihar.

Satya has contacted the Chief Minister of Bihar, who is also a Yadav, and they are ready to discuss the development of mineral resources in the region.

Ron won't be returning to Tamil or Mumbai for the time being; he'll take the opportunity to conduct an on-site inspection of Bihar. This is a major investment, so being cautious is never a bad thing.

When people mention Bihar, they automatically think of Uttar Pradesh; these two are definitely brothers in misfortune from North India.

They have too many similarities. First of all, they are all notoriously poor states with persistently high poverty rates, ranking among the highest in all of India.

The illiteracy rate is also high; more than half the population cannot write their own names. At the very least, they cannot even recognize all Arabic numerals.

These two states are geographically adjacent, both located in the Ganges Plain with a temperate monsoon climate and a high dependence on agriculture.

Even the crops growing in the fields are pretty much the same: sugarcane, mangoes, wheat, rice, hemp...

Needless to say, the population is enormous, making them crucial battlegrounds for all parties in national elections.

It can be said that Uttar Pradesh and Bihar share a high degree of similarity in geography, climate, population, language, caste, politics, economy, agriculture, and so on.

Calling them North Indian twins wouldn't be an exaggeration; they're just too similar.

However, Bihar's overall conditions are worse than Uttar Pradesh, and it doesn't have a good reputation outside.

"Bihari are all scoundrels!" This discriminatory regional statement is widely circulated throughout India.

When people think of Bihar people, the first thing that comes to mind is thieves.

The herders in the Malpudan slum in central Mumbai are mostly Bihari, who continuously supply the gangs with supplies.

If you hand them a homemade pistol and promise them a reward of 200 rupees, they'll dare to kill.

Even Schiff, the director who helped Ron film "Intolerance," admitted that the people of Bhal were more likely to commit crimes.

That was his hometown, and because of this identity, he suffered discrimination in Bollywood.

Ron first went to Patna, the capital of Bihar, a city somewhat reminiscent of Lucknow.

They are all located in the central-western part of their respective states, have a population of around three million, and are primarily based on the service industry and agricultural processing.

Patna, on the other hand, has a longer history. It was the capital of Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty and a religious holy city.

However, in Ron's view, Patna still stands in stark contrast to other cities in India.

Leaving aside metropolises like Mumbai, it pales in comparison to Lucknow. In Lucknow, you can find several five-star hotels with comprehensive facilities, and the roads are relatively smooth.

As for Bartna, once he got here, Ron's phone lost all signal!
Although India is still in the early stages of developing mobile communications, major cities still have signal coverage.

Patna is, after all, the capital of a state, yet there's absolutely no sign of mobile communication.

With his cell phone completely useless, he could only use the hotel phone.

This is the best 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 at all.

"Hello, hello, is this a long-distance call?"

"No, I called from room 404."

"Hello, hello, have you made a reservation?"

“I’ve already checked into the hotel. Now, please transfer me to long-distance service,” Ron explained patiently.

In Patna hotels, you can't make long-distance calls directly; you have to go through the receptionist first.

He waited a few seconds, then the phone simply went busy. Listening more closely, he realized the other end had already hung up.

"This shitty place, I can't even make a phone call." Ron angrily threw the phone down.

"Master, should we change hotels?" Anil asked.

"Forget it, this is already the best hotel. Changing to another one will only make it worse."

After a quick night's rest, Ron immediately took Satya and prepared to visit Minister Yadav.

He didn't want to stay in this godforsaken place any longer. Wasn't the fair-skinned and tender Isabella in New Delhi more appealing?
However, things didn't go smoothly; Yadav had something come up today.

So, at Satya's suggestion, the two decided to wander around Patna and take the opportunity to explore the local customs and culture of Bihar.

It's only natural that Ron would want to mine the local minerals and understand the local market.

They rented a car and drove through the city's streets and alleys.

The roads in Patna are uneven, and there are no working traffic lights along the roadside.

Ron glanced at the roadside; it was called Trouble Road, named after a British colonial official.

So many years have passed, and they haven't even renamed the streets from the colonial era, which shows the inertia of their rule.

When passing a shop, Satya asked the driver to stop.

Several people were gathered there, and there seemed to be arguing going on.

“What happened?” Ron asked.

“These kinds of shops are called budget stores, which are designed to provide basic necessities for the poor. It’s a social welfare policy implemented in New Delhi,” Satya said, pointing to a dilapidated little shop on the side of the street.

He squeezed to the front of the crowd, listened for a while, asked some questions to a woman holding a yellow card, and then turned to Ron to introduce himself.

Satya said the thing the woman was holding was called a "below-the-poverty line" card (BPL), which is a kind of certificate issued by the government to people living in poverty.

With this card, she could receive subsidized grain, kerosene, and sugar—things her own family would normally be entitled to.

However, in a country like India with systemic corruption, obtaining this card is not easy.

“I had to bribe them, otherwise they wouldn’t even give me the correct application form,” the woman said. “Then after 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 out the application for me.”

After paying a huge price, she finally got the card, so she can now come to this discount store to collect benefits.

However, the discount stores here are almost never open; when they are open, they only sell moldy old flour and grains.

The woman grabbed a handful to show them; it was crawling with insects.

These grains are only suitable for use as animal feed and are completely unsuitable for human consumption.

But the woman still valued it more than anything else; moldy grain was still grain. If she didn't take it, her pots wouldn't even have a chance to cook such things.

“Mr. Suer, you know, the government initially provided the discount stores with good quality food,” Satya said.

"They were switched?" Ron asked.

Satya nodded. "People who apply for poverty cards aren't necessarily actually poor."

Ron seemed to be deep in thought, as if he had seen something familiar before.

Those who receive minimum living allowances, subsidies, or extra points on exams are not necessarily the real beneficiaries of assistance.

They might also be people who drive luxury cars, live in large villas, and eat Arctic fish.

“Up to 40% of those who have poverty cards are not poor themselves; they obtained these cards through bribery,” Satya explained.

"The discount stores are almost never open, given how bad the food is."

"Because there is no food left."

"there is none left?"

"Yes, they were all 'stolen'."

The government's relief food began to be stripped of its value as soon as it passed through the hands of the first official.

If you go to the discount stores below, you're lucky if you can get a quarter of that.

“Did you know, Mr. Sur, that in Bihar, 80% of the relief food is stolen? But in Uttar Pradesh, when the Socialist Party was in power last time, more than 50% of the food was distributed to the villages.”

Ron looked up at Satya, and suddenly he understood.

The other party was telling him that the Socialist Party might not have done a good job, but at least it had done some decent work.

Compared to the poor and barbaric state of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh is a civilized state!

(End of this chapter)