An artist and his art know no boundaries. Once again we take the opportunity to re-introduce you to ‘Deependra Negi’ fondly called Deep Negi. A resident of Tehri Garhwal, Deep has for years been working in the Healthcare Department in Dubai, but with his roots deeply embedded in the hills of Garhwal, the young lad has never given up on any opportunity to do something for hill state.
Relentlessly promoting the art and culture of his home-state Uttarakhand in the field of education, music and other social fields has been Deep Negi’s forte.
Today we uncover Deep’s latest gift to his native land and how it is directly linked to Bollywood’s much-awaited movie starring Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor’s entitled BATTI GUL METER CHALU.
The movie has been shot extensively in the beautiful locales of the hill state, with the lead actors playing Uttarakhandi characters in the movie using local phrases and leitmotifs as well.
Grabbing the occasion, Deep composed a befitting song for the film, sitting in Dubai. Unfortunately with limited information resources, the lyricist was unable to showcase his work to the Director of BATTI GUL METER CHALU, Shree Narayan Singh.
Not one to be easily dejected, Deep went onto then record and lend his voice to his composition that has been launched on his YouTube channel for all to hear and share.
A little over five minutes, the foot-tapping song composed by Reethesh Roy, manages to beautifully capture the beauty of the hill-state with lyrics containing the title of the film, few regional terms and phrases which give it a local tinge.
Strong willed and talented Deep has managed to bridge all distances to promote his culture, language and hill-state. Let us now do our bit to support Deep’s selfless effort and make the song reach the right ears.
While we all know that Atal ji preferred the climes of Manali in Himanchal but he did make it to the hill-station of Mussoorie on several occasions. Some old timers remember those visits. For instance, 95-year-old Shri Ratan Lal ji one of Mussoorie’s octogenarians, remembers Atal ji’s visit in minute details: “I remember him from our RSS days when we did our OTC training in Nagpur. We became pracharaks together. Atalji visited us thrice and came to Nandvilla our family run hotel-cum-home. He preferred home-cooked food that my daughter-in-law Jaijaiwanti put together. My older son Manmohan Karanwal would drive him around the hill-town.
The last time that Atalji came to Mussoorie was in the month of July in 1994. “He held a meeting in Garhwal Terrace and wrote on their visitors book promising to return,” tells us senior journalist Bijendra Pundir. “He used to stay in Aikant Guest House or Modi Bhawan. He preferred walking around Mussoorie, sitting at local shops while visiting old friends.”
Of course, the credit of creating a separate hill-state, then known as Uttaranchal, goes to Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Not only was Uttarakhand created but the new born state was given a Special Industrial Package.
