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Regional potpourri
Commitment coupled with concern
Dr Ram Kumar Bhardwaj and Dr Anita Bhardwaj of Hisar, seen here with former President S.D. Sharma, are engaged in promoting Haryanavi culture. |
Propagating Haryanavi culture and folklore is the main aim of Dr Ram Kumar Bhardwaj and Dr Anita Bhardwaj, a Hisar-based couple. The sincere and sustained efforts that they have put in speak volumes about their devotion and dedication to the cause.While Dr Ram Kumar Bhardwaj is a former Professor and Head of the Department of Languages and Haryanavi Culture, Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, his wife, Dr Anita Bhardwaj, is an Associate Professor in the same department. They were recently honoured by the Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Parishad for their contribution in the field. Apart from writing several books on various aspects of Haryanavi culture, they have experimented with different forms of folk drama in the state, including Ram Lila, Raas Lila and the Saang, by presenting these in an innovative way. Their contributions range from conceptualising a Haryanavi musical dance-drama to educate the farmers about adopting scientific techniques for cotton cultivation to penning trilingual agricultural and veterinary glossaries in English, Hindi and Haryanavi for facilitating better communication between farm scientists and farmers. The couple’s efforts have been rewarded at various forums. Two of their books — “Folk Poet and Folk Dramatist Ali Bakhsh” and “Haryana Ka Lok Natya: Naya Roop Naya Rang” — have won the Best Books prize from the Haryana Sahitya Akademi. They presented a copy of one of their books to then President Shankar Dayal Sharma. Another book written by the couple, “Ali Bakhsh Rachit Nihal De: Ek Vivechan”, has been prescribed in the MA (Hindi) syllabus of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. The Haryana Sahitya Akademi also published their book “Haryana Ke Sant Kavi Nitanand”. The couple feels that the rich cultural heritage of Haryana has not been depicted properly or appreciated at the national level. On the other hand, the various folk art forms in vogue mostly present the state’s culture in a bad light due to their crudeness and vulgarity. The couple has thus pledged to popularise Haryanavi culture among the educated in a refined way. Raised hopeWork on the 10-km long highway at Panipat, which includes a 3.4-km-long elevated stretch, has been in progress for several months since its foundation stone was laid by the Prime Minister early this year. But what is most heartening is the speed at which the work is progressing round the clock on this Rs 325- crore project. Even at nightfall, motorists passing by can see men and machines busy at work on the stretch, barricaded with signboards that read NHAI (National Highways Authority of India). The drone of drilling and digging continues to rise above the din of traffic well past sunset. Expected to be completed within three years, the six-lane highway for thoroughfare, with an elevated structure over the congested crossing of Gohana road, Sanauli road, and Assand road, going up to the Skylark tourist complex where the Haryana Mini Secretariat is likely to come up, is meant to ease the flow of traffic in the area. While this raised road will steer the highway towards decongestion, the shopping, marts and plush high-rise apartments coming up along the Delhi-Panipat stretch are further set to complete the makeover — of giving this Haryanavi neighbourhood a cosmopolitan face.
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You’ve got to hand it to him
Noor Mohammad of Ratoli village in Yamunanagar uses both his hands to write.
— Photo by Rajesh Syal |
He has to use both his hands to write because he was born with only three fingers in all, one in the left hand and two joined fingers in the right one. But fewer fingers have been no impediment for 21-year-old Noor Mohammad, the third among seven siblings and a resident of Ratoli village in Sadhoura block of Yamunanagar district. He has managed to write his way through school to college and is a BA-III student today. Instead, more than his hands it is money that is his main hurdle. He belongs to a very poor family and cannot easily afford books and other study material. A son of Sadodin, an illiterate daily wage labourer, Noor says, “I can write just like a person with 10 fingers. What I actually lack is enough money for my studies.” He has a simple dream and that is to become a school teacher. “I am moving towards my goal”, says Noor. When he was a child, his parents encouraged him to take up studies. Sadodin taught him how to hold a pen and he soon started writing. He was admitted to a government school in Ratoli village. After primary school, he was shifted to a school in nearby Mirzapur village. He cleared his matriculation with a second division. In Class XII, he improved his performance and cleared the exam with a first division. His father again encouraged him to take up higher studies. So, he took admission in DAV College at Sadhoura. Today, he is very close to his dream. “After graduation next year, I will go in for B.Ed or a JBT course”, says Noor with determination.
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Contributed by Sunit Dhawan,Chetna Keer Banerjee and Nishikant Dwivedi
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