Way to go and way to grow!!

It makes every Uttarakhandi happy and proud to get to know that Uttarakhand has been selected as the first tourist destination of India which would be developed in the new Five-Year Plan. 


Apparently, the centre would provide nearly Rs 200-250 crore for the development of each tourist destination to compete with the tourism market. This money will be used to develop and promote niche products like caravan tourism, wellness tourism, spiritual tourism and religious tourism to boost tourism.


It surely is a reason to cherish for the time being at least!! Whether or not we have actually hit the jackpot only time will tell. For now we are only keeping our fingers crossed that the money comes in right hands and plans are executed on ground not just papers!!

Which age are we living in?

In todays time and age when everyone is talking about women's liberation, equality of genders and men and women working together; we wonder which era are people from village Sarai in Haridwar, Uttarakhand living in?

Working women of Haridwar village face panchayat's wrath

This is a shocking instance and all the more shameful coming from Panchayat of a state where women led 'Chipko-Andolan'. This is an evidence to the fact that "WE STILL HAVE MILES TO GO BEFORE WE SLEEP".

'We' in this context refers to every citizen of Uttarakhand who dreams of a prosperous, corruption-free and developed state because till the time we give this 50% population of the state its right to freedom we better fulfill our dream in dreams.

डूबते को तिनके का सहारा

कल ही हम सोच रहे थे की कहीं उत्तराखंड का लोक संगीत आने वाले समय में विलुप्त न हो जाए और आज ये शुभ समाचार पढने को मिला...

सोहनलाल चले सिनसिनाटी

जहां इस बात का अफ़सोस है की उत्तराखंड की नयी पीड़ी अपनी संस्कृति अपने लोक गीत, लोक संगीत, लोक नृत्यों से बेरुखी होती जा रही है, वहीं ये देख जानकार ख़ुशी होती है की प्रदेश मूल के लोगों को हमारा संगीत भाता है| केवल भाता ही नहीं वे इसे बढावा भी दे रहे हैं और हमारे कलाकारों को प्रोत्साहन भी| जी हाँ, जैसे डूबते को तिनके का सहारा ही काफी होता है; बाहर देश से ही सही ये सहारा हमारे लिए प्रेरणास्रोत है|

जय भारत ! जय उत्तराखंड!! जय उत्तराखंडी संगीत प्रेमी.

लोक गायकों के साथ क्या लुप्त हो जायेगा लोक संगीत भी?

किसी ने खूब कहा है ," दूध देने वाली गाय सभी को पसंद होती है, जो गाय दूध नहीं देती वो बोझ बन जाती है" | कुछ ऐसा ही उत्तराखंड की इस लोक गायक दम्पति के साथ भी हुआ है| श्री संत राम और श्रीमती आनंदी देवी के गले में माँ सरस्वती का वास तो है पर आखों में प्रकाश नहीं| ना ही कोई लाठी लेकर चलाने वाला है ना कोई रोटी बनाकर देने वाला|

ये और इन जैसे न जाने कितने ही लोक गायक आज अपने लिए दो जून की रोटी भी नहीं जुटा पा रहे हैं| क्या हमें इस बात का आभास है की इनके साथ हम क्या खोने जा रहे हैं?

INDIA! INDIA!!

वो जनपथ पर जो बैठा है..वो 'अन्ना' नहीं है..आंधी है...

न ही नेता, न अभिनेता..वो आज़ाद हिंद का गाँधी है...

अंग्रेज़ तो भारत छोड़ चुके...उन्होंने शुरू किया नए दौर का इंकलाब है...

एस इंकलाब में भारत का जन-जन उनके साथ है..

अबकी जो रगों में खौला है... वो खून नहीं चिंगारी है...

इस चिंगारी का एक-एक कतरा..सौ नेताओ पर भारी है..

'भ्रस्टाचार' बस बहुत हुआ...अब देश सुधार की बारी है...

आखिर प्रजातंत्र की जीत हुई..अब भ्रष्ट नेताओ से कुर्सी छुडवाने की तैयारी है...

SHAHEED DIWAS!

March 23, 1931: Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar were hanged for murder during the Indian struggle for independence. The day is celebrated as Shaheed Diwas or Martyr's Day.What they did for the nation, was it so insignificant that we take the liberty to forget and remember them and this day of and on?

Today, we the citizens of Independent India salute them and thousands like them who became martyrs then so we could see independent today. Thanks to you and to all defense personnel serving the country day and night. 


Vande Mataram!!

Happy Holi

फूल्देयी

फूल्देयी छम्मादेयी फूल्देयी छम्मा..
देणी द्वार भरी भकार....
त्यर देहि म्यर देहि बारम्बार...
नमस्कार नमस्कार...

आप सभी को फूल्देयी की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएं ....


Phooldeyi is Uttarakhandi New Year. On this day,  kids with flowers in hands go to all nearby houses (in Uttarakhand villages basically; nobody does it in cities!) and sing these lines; they get jaggery/sweets in return. The lines basically mean that may the year be auspicious for you and you always have enough food for yourself and your guests in this year. May their always be friendship between you and us so that we keep greeting (say 'Namaskar' to) each other.

Either we don't learn or life is unfair!!

Earthquake & Psunami hits Japan...We all will talk..discuss..pray for Japanese today..may be tomorrow and may be another few days...Then we'll forget everything & move on..just as we forgot the rainstorms & cloudburst that hit Uttarakhand in Sep'10... :( GOD BE WITH THEM WHO NEED YOU!!





ऊँचा डाना बटी... 
बाटा बाटा बटी...
ढूंगा ढूंगा मटा...
सौवा बोटा बटी...
आज उणे छै आवाज़...
म्यर पहाड़..म्यर पहाड़... 

True fun has no boundaries...

Uttarakhand "Folk Genomics"!!

In June, 2008 an NRI folk music lover from the state of Uttarakhand came up with a dream of creating the most comprehensive database of Uttarakhand’s music ever. He dreamt of a platform where each genre of authentic folk from the ‘Devbhumi’ would be just a click away from folk lovers; a platform where lyrics of our most admired Uttarakhandi songs would be on screen within seconds; a platform where youth of today could exhibit his/her creative compositions & get acknowledged and above all a platform which makes our future generations feel proud of their rich cultural heritage and motivate them to contribute to their folk in ways they like best. His was a big dream and he named his dream “Uttarakhand Folk Genomics”. Like human ‘Genome’ this Folk Genome was planned to be the entirety of Uttarakhand’s Folk. The idea was to capture the 'musical attributes' (melody/ harmony/ rhythm/ instrumentation/ arrangement/ lyrics/ singing) or 'genes' of folk signifying unique magical identity of each song in this genome. It had to have all about what each individual song sounds like.

To turn this dream into reality; team Bedupako.ComTM was formed to capture the essence of Uttarakhand folk at its grass root level. Bedupako.ComTM is a small initiative towards a big vision. Team Bedupako.ComTM aims and attempts to bring people of Indian Origin from the State of Uttarakhand/Uttarakhand folk-lovers all across the globe closer and together via the medium of its music. The team has listened to songs ranging from traditional to modern and popular to obscure of various folk artists from the state of Uttarakhand. These songs were heard several times to identify and record musical qualities of each song one attribute (genre, occasion, singer and lyrics) at a time to create a comprehensive database. The journey has been quite adventurous; at times little crazy too!! However, now that we have a small yet extraordinary collection of our folk genome, we might as well be your guide as you explore it :)

As we endeavor to include the great new music coming out of individual studios, houses, villages, communities, forests and schools of Uttarakhand; we hope you not only enjoy our efforts but also help and support us making it better each day.