The celebrations of Bihar Divas have ended at Gandhi Maidan but not on YouTube.
The video uploaded by the tourism department on YouTube on March 22 starts with a scene showing a female teacher teaching on the topic of famous mathematician Aryabhatta to primary school students at a government school in Nalanda district.
After the class, one of the students breaks his piggy bank and gathered the handful of coins, using which he bought a few balls, iron chain and a few other small equipment. He then uses all such things to make a working model of the solar system, which is used by his teacher to give live-demonstration on the same to other students. The 3.47-minute video has received 36,761 views over the past three days.
"This video is a sincere tribute to the great mathematician, scientist and astronomer Aryabhatta and others, who have been the torchbearer of knowledge to rest of the world. It propagates the notion that our state is a land of knowledge. It shows how children in even remotest of the rural areas in Bihar are highly inquisitive and keen on learning through innovation," said Mohammad Sohail, managing director, Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC).
Chief minister Nitish Kumar has also shared the video on his official Facebook page. "I hail this video produced by Bihar Tourism, which promotes the rich education and culture of Bihar. The tradition of education and knowledge in the state is centuries old, and it is the responsibility of every generation to preserve and promote it," Nitish wrote in his post while sharing the video.
The tourism department came up with two more similar videos over the past few months. The first video was based on Chhath festival and it was released in October last year. The second video featuring Gandhi circuit - places associated with Mahatma Gandhi in Bihar - was released on the eve of the centenary celebrations of Bapuji's return to India from South Africa on January 8. Bapu had landed at the Apollo Bunder in Mumbai on January 9, 1915, and eventually led the non-violent freedom struggle thereafter.
"These videos are being made under the digital campaign initiative of the tourism department. We would keep coming with more videos on other tourism circuits in the future as well," said Sohail.
Many non-resident Biharis are sharing these videos on social networking sites. "The video by Bihar Tourism on the rich educational heritage including emphasis on Aryabhatta is simply mesmeri sing," said Pranav Kumar, a native of Patna, now living in Pune.
FESTIVE SCORE
HIGH POINTS
♦ Laser shows: Held on all three days between 6.30pm and 7pm was a huge draw for visitors
♦ Bolly beats: Performances by Sona Mohapatra, Bhoomi Trivedi and Hariharan enthralled audience
♦ Food flavour: The 100-and-odd stalls offering delicacies from Bihar, Bengal, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra were visited by almost everyone at Gandhi Maidan
♦ Picture passion: Visitors, mostly youths got clicked in front of stalls showcasing tribal and other art forms
... and the LOWS
♦ Restricted entry: Only 200-300 people, mostly politicians and bureaucrats, were allowed entry inside seating area in front of main stage. Others watched performance on big screens
♦ Pass trouble: There was no clear information regarding availability of passes for performances held on main stage
♦ Hooligan horror: Rowdies damaged barricade behind seating area in front of main stage during performance of Bhoomi Trivedi on Monday
♦ Parking pangs: Though visitor parking lots were earmarked, many people parked vehicles all around the ground
Compiled by Piyush Kumar Tripathi
