STILLNESS OF THE DISCERNING IN BIHAR

BIHAR has never been short of noise. Certainly not when it mattered.

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Its politics has marched through history with a daring swagger-JP's call that shook New Delhi, Mandal's churn that redrafted power, the long years of Lalu raj that jolted the old order. Even the subtler Nitish era made bold strokes on the canvas, turning India's polity yet again with the caste census narrative and grand alliance politics.

Yet this election arrives on soft feet. On November 5, the campaign for the first stretch of 121 constituencies is winding down, and the battle for the remaining 122-those border districts where sentiment often travels across rivers and frontiers will begin soon. And through it all, there hangs a curious quiet.

Whether in Nitish Kumar's native Bakhtiyarpur, or hamlets like Gauspur and Chitapur fringing Patna, whether in Dalit 'tolas' where caste is still geo-tagged or along the mobile 100-km sweep to Gaya on NH-22, out in villages like Barachati and Tekari near where a legend named Dashrath Manjhi once moved mountains, the stillness is audible. Even in places like Mokama where bullets flew the other day, or Barh, which saw fisticuffs after this writer left, the action is all on one slim band where politics does its business. The people seem unmoved. Almost cold.