Contrary to the popular proverb, public memory in Bihar is not really short. Not by a long chalk. People who do not keep this cultural habit in mind do so at their own peril. If any evidence was required, it was on offer at an election meeting in Tekari, 40 km from Gaya, last fortnight. Photographs of Abhay Kushwaha, the Janata Dal (United) candidate and a Koeri, shaking a leg with a pole dancer had just gone viral. They were on Whatsapp, reported extensively in local newspapers and covered prominently by regional news channels. But the crowd that had gathered at Tekari to listen to Nitish Kumar’s poll pitch seemed curiously unaffected.