Nearly every building on Boring Canal Road is masked behind a sea of billboards for those coaching centers, with “arithmetic specialists” promoting a dream that incorporates a capability price ticket out of Bihar and perhaps even India.
This election season in Patna, the writing is on the wall in the shape of banners and classified ads—now not of political parties but of personal training centers exhorting humans to “exchange the sector through training” and “ensure your victory.” Nearly every construction on Boring Canal Road is masked behind a sea of billboards for these coaching centers, with “arithmetic experts” promoting a dream that incorporates an ability ticket out of Bihar and maybe even India.
With college topics written in bold and getting in touch with several tutors, pamphlets are everywhere — from cycle rickshaws to phone poles. The posters even find their way to villages 20 km away, Panrepur and Neoraganj.
Six years ago, as a fifteen-year-old in Gopalganj, 150 km from Patna, one such poster induced Vivek Rai to leave his home for non-public college and education training. Now 21 and preparing for his civil offerings, Rai isn’t balloting this election because his exam is developing this week. “I want to be inside the Indian Police Service and visit Naxalite regions — Chhattisgarh, Bengal,” he says.
After a siesta, he sits at the hostel’s ground-floor canteen, simply off Boring Road, ingesting cola with Kaustubh Anand, 18, from Purina, and Sourav Kumar, 20, from Dhanbad, Jharkhand, both making preparations for regulation front examinations.
“The question again in the village is whether one needs to get a central authority activity. But now there aren’t any extra government jobs,” says Anand. While his vote went to the JD(U) in his domestic constituency (Purina voted in the 2nd section on April 18), he has one lingering situation. “One aspect I need to say is if the BJP comes returned, they need to be conscious of employment. People say there are nonetheless no jobs in Bihar.”
