The almost 15-feet-high steel-sheet statue of Gautam Buddha, sculpted by a team of Holland’s Tiana Hegan, South Africa’s Youhan and Delhi’s Sanjeev and Shikha Sinha, was the main attraction during the three-day Bihar Diwas celebrations at Gandhi Maidan here.
Mingling with the crowd of approximately 25,000 people who are visiting the place daily are foreigners from Egypt, Libya, Qatar and Yemen — both tourists and artistes — who have come to the land of the Apostle of Peace in search of solace in these turbulent times.
And to add to the traditional flavour, there’s also the authentic litti-chokha and Udwant Nagar’s famous sweet dish, belgrami.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is not tired of saying that Bihar in its centenary year has come a full circle and is already on an upward journey to the top — just as it was in the ancient times when the region boasted of the oldest republic, Vaishali.
While artistes from other states and countries have been regaling the audience with their performances, besides the Buddha statue that took a month to be sculpted, stone carvings of Swiss artist Pepin and works of English artist Mark Stonestreet are also attracting a large number of people.
The highlight of the second day celebrations was a visit by Bill Gates who moved around the suburbs of the state capital with a mission — a healthy Bihar.