4th July'10...was an ordinary US Independence Day Holiday until the news of Indian Cricket Team Captain, M.S. Dhoni's wedding started floating amongst Uttarakhandis in the US..
Putting end to all speculations about his probable link up with celebrities from Bollywood and fashion world, M.S.Dhoni was quietly tying the nuptial knot with his Uttarakhandi girl friend for two years Sakshi Singh Rawat near Dehradun in Uttarakhand, India. The news was all over Indian Television as all news channels tried
to be "SABSE TEZ" in reporting the latest on Dhoni's wedding... they owe thanks to several viewers like us who remained glued to the television to see Dhoni in his wedding attire just once :)
While Dhoni & his family tried to keep it a hush-hush low profile affair...the event got all the more hype due to the same... Even as journ
alists in India kept trying hard to find people on groom's guest list and the outfits they wore to the occasion; the celebration of this Uttarakhandi's wedding had started in full swing in the US. The count of guests in this celebration though less (only 10); was very competitive to the approximate count of guests (~ 40) celebrating Dhoni's wedding to Sakshi in Dehradun. And, though I missed Dhoni's wedding in India, fortunately I could attend this get together in the US... :)
Although, Dhoni forgot to invite any of these Uttarakhandis (who were so very proud & appreciative of him) to his wedding , they were going ga-ga over him... they discussed Sakshi & Dhoni at length for four continuous hours from 7 PM till 11 PM and couldn't stop praising Dhoni for choosing a Pahari girl and marrying her in full pahari tradition...
Dhoni may never know about this cele
bration; but this small but sincere praise of Dhoni by Uttarakhandis in the US and I'm sure in the homeland definitely rekindles a hope for Uttarakhand...A hope that some of us Uttarakhandis may be unable to speak Kumaoni/Garhwali/Jaunsar or hesitate to accept ourselves at Uttarakhandis in public but we still love our culture & tradition, that some of us Uttarakhandis may pull each others legs in discussions on yahoo groups or otherwise; but we still feel proud of our native & roots and celebrate when we see Uttarakhand/Uttarakhandis shining.
Dhoni's wedding indirectly brought Uttarakhand and pahari culture to lime light; so much so that the tradition which has been slowly los
ing it's flavor & depth due to people' shift
from the hills to plains for bread & butter was ruling Indian Television for more than 24 hours ... There can always be debates on whether Dhoni married an Uttarakhandi consciously or by fluke! However, for now I would just like thank Dhoni for giving us a reason to celebrate & cheer for the newly wed couple...
Three cheers to Dhoni & Sakshi...Hip hip hurray..hip hip hurray..hip hip hurray!!
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Long live 'Dev Bhumi' Uttarakhand!!
2 comments:
Hey, just stumbled upon your blog when I was googling for "Uttarakhandi", as I wanted to find out if that is the correct usage... great to note that you guyz just need an occasion to celebrate... keep it up and God Bless. Rama.
P.S. By the way I am from Kerala and got more fascinated with Uttarakhand after vacationing in Bhowali. We call Kerala "God's Own Country" and you call your place, "Dev Bhumi" Very appropriate. I am more drawn towards UK as I work in an environment NGO, CSE, and we are trying to work out some thing jointly with PAHAR...
Gr8 to know that Rama and thanks very much for your very kind words. We are members of PAHAR ourselves..I hope you are talking about the organization called PAHAR working in Uttarakhand. We also have a Delhi based organization called Creative Uttarakhand -Myor Pahad. Will like to discuss more about your work if you could email at bindiabhagat@gmail.com.Thanks again :)
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