India is so big, that while the ordinary person knows she is on Indian earth, it's hard for her to visualize that the piece of earth she is on is actually part of the bigger Indian earth...so, when I heard this person say that someone she knows is in Bihar, which is faaaaaaaaaaaaaar away in Hindustan, it hit me right between the eyes--- gosh, India is really a big country...(and mind you, Bihar is only 650 kms from Kol!)
I've always liked the notion of India being an idea...thousands of differences, one single whole....and the only way the mind can grasp it would be to think of the country as a concept.
Obviously what happens in one part of this big land concerns everyone, right across her length and breadth, no matter what the differences...or the distance...else why is it that one little girl trampled in the fear stampede yesterday in Varanasi, thanks to some fool person trying to cause terror, should so affect the heart in faraway Kol?