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Film-maker JP Dutta felicitated by VoW

By
Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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Gen Cardozo felicitating JP Dutta Pic Courtesy: Themoodylens

Dateline New Delhi: Ending Producer, Director and Film-maker JP Dutta’s birthday week on a high note, the Valley of Words, International Literature and Art festival felicitated Shri JP Dutta for his sterling contribution to the world of cinema.

At their Military History and Strategy vertical held at the USI, New Delhi, JP Dutta in the presence of his family, was presented with a marigold pin and appreciation certificate by none other than the mentor of Valley of Words, General Ian Cardozo himself.

The ‘Marigold flower or gendaa, holds a special reverence in the armed forces as a Flower of Remembrance.  General Ian Cardozo, composed a poem on this floral tribute on 28th March, 2016 which reads…

 ‘So, pause a moment all who care

and offer up in silent prayer

this sacred flower for a soldier’s death

to remember that last most precious breath.’

In his valedictory speech at the function, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat said, “JP Dutta saheb is an icon in the way he has been projecting wars through media and the films he has made.”

Pic Courtesy: Themoodylens

For decades JP Dutta has beautifully woven the Fauj onto the celluloid screen. His cinematic blockbusters like Paltan, Border and many others have inspired a whole generation of Indians to appreciate and celebrate the contribution of our valiant sentinels.

 

 

Talking about Shri Dutta ji’s contribution, Festival Director, Dr. Sanjeev Chopra said, “JP Dutta has infused patriotic spirit in Indian youth and brought the sacrifices of soldiers in the 1971 war to the forefront of our cultural imagination.”

Humbled by the gesture, JP Dutta who turned 72 last Sunday said, “Emotions bring history and I transformed emotions into a small tribute to the Indian Army through Border.” He further added, “The Indian Army has not only the arms and ammunition but also character as it’s strength.”

The pan-India Lit fest will now move onto Vadodara, Kolkata and Hyderabad before its three day finale in Dehradun towards the end of November.

To know more visit us at: http://valleyofwords.org

2021: Valley of Words goes pan-India

By
Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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0
VoW, 2021

Dateline Dehradun: The fifth edition of the Valley of Words, International Literature and Art Festival, 2021 a.k.a VoW as it is popularly known is all set to flag off their pan-India presence with their first vertical Military History and Strategy dedicated to the 1971 War, to be held in New Delhi from 9-10th of October.

Telling us more about the Festival, Dr. Sanjeev Chopra, Director of VoW, states, “Over a period of two months, the pan-India festival will move to II and III tier cities such Vadodara, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Dehradun. This year the focus of the Military History and Strategy vertical is the War of 1971, that has re-shaped the sub-continent and will be held at the United Services Institution of India, New Delhi.”

This cerebral outpour will continue over the next two months over five cities and will include authors/panelists/moderators/guests attending virtual and physical session from across India and abroad. The Lit fest, like last year, will be both physical and virtual due the pandemic, ensuring that the written word is spread beyond geographical boundaries.

Tailor-made for readers of every age group this literary extravaganza incorporates many, if not all genre of creativity from literature in English, Hindi, regional languages, sessions curated for people from the defence forces, translators, poets, research scholars, policy makers, regional writers, young adults, children, debate enthusiasts, photographers, book launches, science and technology, art and culture all brought under one banner: Valley of Words.

Dr. Sanjeev Chopra further adds, “The last leg of the Lit Fest will be held in Dehradun. It will be a three day event towards the end of November. The festival has its roots in the Doon valley which has been our karam and janmbhoomi, and as always we hope to end it on a high note.”

During the festival, many firsts from the world of cinema, the defence forces and environmentalists will be felicitated for their extraordinary contribution to their respective fields.

The Valley of Words a.k.a VoW has gained popularity with each passing year as it celebrates creative expression across all genres, and beyond with a galaxy of eminent scholars joining in, year after year.

To know stay updated about the upcoming festival, visit:http://valleyofwords.org

The Himalaya Cafe, Scotland has a Mussoorie connect

By
Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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0

Dateline Mussoorie: In the beginning the Scots came to Mussoorie. Two hundred years down-the-road, Mussoorie has moved to the Scottish Highlands.

Making headlines with His Holiness the Dalai Lama supporting a GoFundMe in Scotland has a Mussoorie connect. Reka Gawa, the proud owner of Himalaya Cafe was all of thirteen years old when she left her home in Mussoorie to settle in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Answering my Whatsapp messages she kept to her promise. She writes: “I have vivid memories of Mussoorie and my home there. We would then walk all over the place from the Mall, talking to locals, sipping on sweet Mussoorie chai to enjoy the magical sunsets of Landour. It is all etched in my mind forever.”

Reka spent her childhood in Radha Bhawan and finished her schooling here before moving to Denmark for her further studies. She reminiscences, “I would often visit Edinburg as I had a friend there. The place slowly grew on me and I fell in love with it. It reminded me so much of my home in Mussoorie. And I sprouted roots here.”

As luck would have it, Reka started working in the hospitality department of the Scottish Parliament. It was exactly where, in 2004 that she was destined to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who was on an official visit to Scotland. And that meeting was to change her life forever.  He advised her to join in the effort to ‘promote Tibetan culture.’

Being a skilled cook, she thought the best way to take the message of HH Dalai Lama forward would be to open a café. In 2017, Himalaya Tibetan Café came into existence. 14 years later, the café brings a little piece of Tibet, with its vibrant colours, incense, Tibetan artefacts and it own meditation room filled with books lending it a flavour of home.

Today the Himalaya Tibetan Café is an oasis in itself. Situated in the heart of Edinburg, its doors are open to one and all. The Café specializes in Asian and Tibetan cuisine, with vegetarian friendly, vegan options and also gluten free meals on its menu, not forgetting the good-old Mussoorie chai.

The café’s ‘pass it forward’ scheme to give food away to the homeless has won many hearts.

Recently Gawa ran a GoFundMe fundraiser to buy her rented Café. She found support by none other than His Holiness Dalai Lama himself, and within weeks, exceeded the target.

At the outset of the fund raiser appeal, Reka Gawa stated: ‘The Café is run on the Buddhist principle of compassion. After all, it was the words of His Holiness which inspired me to open a café in the first place.”

And compassion it is that has moved mountains!

Friends marching forward on a mission

By
Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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Tibetan writer Tenzin Tsundue along Tenzin Leckphel

Dateline Dehradun: Noted Tibetan activist and writer Tenzin Tsundue along with his friend Tenzin Leckphel, film maker from Dharamshala are out on a joint-mission. Over the next three months the duo are making their way  from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh as part of “Walking the Himalayas,” initiative, spreading the message of Free Tibet.

On their 37th day of this long march, the duo made a pit-stop at the Press Club in Dehradun, where they screened “Escape of The Dalai Lama from Tibet’  produced by Mumbai based Rangrez Films for Epic TV channel, an opportunity that the duo take to garner support for free Tibet.

The eighty minute Hindi film is screened using a projector, soundbox and a white bedsheet for a screen at villages, market places, schools and civil societies  that they have passed by over the last few weeks. This was the film’s fiftieth screening.

Tenzin Tsundue and Tenzin Leckphel addressing the people in Dehradun

Since the 17th of August, Tenzin Tsundue along with his friend Tenzin Leckphel, have  travelled the length and the breadth of the mountains come rain or sunshine, using local transport like shared jeeps or buses, if not walking through different States. So far they have covered Leh, Nubra, Kargil, Zanskar, Jangthang Nyoma in Ladakh; Lahual, Spiti and Kinnaur in Himachal. In Uttarakhand they plan to travel from Dehradun onto Pauri-Garhwal, Nainital, Almora, Dharchula, Pithoragarh before heading to Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Gangtok; Itanagar, Bomdila, Dhirang, Tawang and border areas of  Arunachal Pradesh.

Given an opportunity,  Tsundue conducts  ‘Creative Writing Workshop’ or a ‘Poetry Reading Session’ for young minds wherever it is possible to engage them in their travel schedule.

The Dehradun Chapter of hosting the two artists was organized by Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Dekyiling, one of the eighty chapters of Tibetan Youth Congress.

Trailer of the film:

https://youtu.be/c-rhL57KNZk

Landour: Market Versus Social responsibility

By
Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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0

Dateline Mussoorie: The residents of Landour are concerned about the decision of the Cantonment Board to auction the old Dandi-shed which has housed a branch of the State Bank of India, at Char Dukan for the past thirty years.

Hard-wired into the DNA of those to whom Landour is home is the existence of the State Bank of India located here. It has been a part and parcel of their lives for over three decades. All economic activities of the area are centred around the bank including the accounts of those living in the nearby villages or working in the Institute of Technology Management and the Cantonment Board itself.

Over the years, the bank has invested a considerable amount of public money on converting this abandoned Dandi-shed into the shape it is in today. Relocation of such a structure will mean waste of public money in these difficult times. Down the years, the bank has done yeoman service to the Cantonment residents. This includes women, children and old men from the nearby villages of Jaunpur. It has done so by giving them access to government schemes, not to be forgotten are the facilities extended to residents and tourists who come visiting .

This ill-conceived move will adversely affect the lives of those who live in the abutting villages of Mawana, Kolti, Kanda and Ladoor. Sabal Singh of Mawaana speaks for all the villagers when he points out: “Instead of moving the bank further towards the town, why don’t they bring the bank closer to the villages? We are ready to sit in protest and fight this move tooth and nail!”

CEO, Landour, Abhishekh Rathore assures us. “We propose to move the bank to the Cantonment Board premises which is only 50 meters from where the original bank stands. The ATM will remain as it is, at Char dukan.”

Char dukan was once known for its four shops, a Bank, a Telephone Booth and a Post Office, the last two have vanished without a trace. The Bank seems all set to go that way too. Once again, market forces seems to be winning over social responsibility. At least for the time being.

DehraBoom Cypher puts fans in a trance

By
Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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0
DehraBoom Cypher

Dateline Dehradun: 24 hours later. Fifty thousand hits and counting. Supported by artists such as Raghav Juyal. DehraBoom Cypher (BLM Bonus), a seventeen minute forty second Hip Hop song is making waves online being touted as one of India’s biggest inspiring Hip Hop tracks to go down in the history of Indian Hip Hop.

‘DehraBoom Cypher’ is one of Uttarakhand’s Homegrown Hip Hop track and arguably one of the biggest and finest cypher track in the Indian Hip Hop scene, put together by thirty talented artists, spread across the hill-state.  Names include Team Evolution, India’s Dakait, Aniket Raturi, 2FISTD, N-DRAZ, Kalamkaar’s Karma, MTV Hustle fame Void, Pithoragarh’s Kobi Dai and Akash Raturi from Rishikesh and so on and so forth. The beats are produced by Semmi, Abhijay Sharma and Aniket Raturi.

A mini album in itself, DehraBoom Cypher is a living testament of coming together of rap artists who celebrate their passion for music. It sends out a message of unity, oneness and how art knows no bounds, is  winning laurels and appreciation from all quarters as it has made the world a stage, virtually.

The brain child of Dakait, Aniket Raturi, 2FISTD and N-DRAZ who worked together on Black Label Mixtape tracks with collaborations from artists across India always dreamed of featuring artists from their home-state finally making ‘DehraBoom Cypher’ a reality.

Taking a little over a year, getting the singers together virtually because of the pandemic, the team shared five hiphop beats with artists to choose from, compose and record their verses, which were then put together into this 17:40 minute exhibition of talent, multiple rhyme schemes, brilliantly put bars and unique voices that put the audience into a trance.

DehraBoom: is a Hip-Hop Community promoting the art of freestyle in India and abroad. The community is a collage of Hip Hop artists, newcomers, enthusiasts.

Black Label Mixtape: Is a collaborative collection of 24 premium Hip Hop/Rap tracks, featuring artists from India and beyond, released in III parts.

TUNE IN:

https://www.evoforlife.com/dehraboomcypher

Hero MotoCorp hands over advanced life support ambulances

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newspost
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0
CM flagging of Hero MotoCorp Ambulances

Dehradun: In keeping with its commitment towards supporting COVID-19 relief efforts, Hero MotoCorp Ltd – handed over thirteen life-support ambulances to the Government of Uttarakhand.

As part of the Company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) platform “Hero WeCare”, the initiative aims to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure across the hill-state.

Flagging off these ambulances, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Shri Pushkar Singh Dhami said, “The pandemic has accentuated the need for healthcare and we are grateful to Hero MotoCorp for their significant contribution in supporting and strengthening the medical infrastructure in the state. These efforts are helping to provide immediate relief to the frontline workers and the communities most impacted by Covid-19. We appeal to other corporates around the country to come together and extend their support to the governments to handle this unprecedented crisis.”

Mr. Bharatendu Kabi, Head – Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) & Corporate Communication, Hero MotoCorp said, “An unwavering commitment towards the safety and wellbeing of the society has always been an integral part of our philosophy at Hero MotoCorp,’ adding, ‘The ambulances provided by Hero MotoCorp in Uttarakhand will not only help communities during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic; these will also go a long way in providing the much-needed infrastructual support at the time of any future health-related emergencies.”

In the past Hero MotoCorp donated eight specially designed First Responder Vehicles (FRVs)· In Haridwar, the company partnered with Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama to strengthen their healthcare system with 122 bed COVID-19 hospital. The company also provided its motorcycles and scooters for commuting by health care workers and medical staff. Along with that the company has undertaken a project to administer ten thousand vaccine doses in a phased manner in Haridwar district. Hero MotoCorp is partnering with the local health department to facilitate vaccination for specially-abled people in Haridwar district as well.

Its Raining Vadas!

By
Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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0
Savoy Poster

Dateline Mussoorie: It’s raining Vadas!! Literally! At The Savoy Hotel, Mussoorie.

Four talented chefs with their retinue of thirty have been working round the clock churning out Vadas (savoury) to make it into ‘The Limca Book of Records for over five hundred varieties of vadas.’

With more than five hundred varieties of Vadas, the team is worked with indigenous ingredients from Uttarakhand to add local flavour and texture to the savoury accompanied with condiments, along with authentic vadas found pan India.

Talking to us Smriti Hari, the brain behind this tantalising idea tells us, “This is a dream come true for all of us present here. With the support of The Savoy Hotel and Chef Rajeev Badola, Chef Virender Singh Rana and my daughter Khyati Hari (Junior Masterchef fame) we hope to create a new Limca Book Record.” She further adds, “We wanted to use indigenous ingredients such as jakhia, black sesame seeds, local mustard oil, madava, kandali, gaitha, jhangora, timru, red unpolished rice, poppy seeds etc to showcase our rich culinary heritage along with the regular vadas that we commonly get.”

The Royal Ballroom with the vada spread

Mouth-watering cheese burst vada to poha vada, makhana vada to rice vadas, from ringing paneer to sabudana vada all spread out to entice the eye along with our taste-buds.

The youngest chef 19-year-old Khyati tells us, “It was  once-in-lifetime experience being guided by such talented chefs including my mother. We thought up the idea, laid our stores in advance and then fructified our dreams.”

Chef Rajeev Badola of The Savoy Hotel adds, “We have grown up on these flavours and our focus was to make 51 local varieties that remind us of home and hearth.”

Chef Virender Singh Rana for the past five years has been no stranger to creating new records. From samosas to regional biryani, kathi rolls, raitas to the longest coconut barfi, his forte and core interest has been Indian cuisine. “Vadas are a popular snack. You will find all varieties including 51 regional ones from the hill-state. We plan to publish a book with recipes of 350 of these in the near future.”

With the results rolling in by the end of the month, look out for the space for more.

Uttarakhand connect to the “KAZIND-21” joint military exercise

By
Harish Thapliyal/Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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0

Dateline Uttarkashi: Kazakhstan joint military exercise “KAZIND-21” started today at Training Node Aisha Bibi, Kazakhstan. The 5th Edition of annual bi-lateral joint exercise of both the armies will continue until 10th of September, 2021.

While the fourth edition of the exercise was held in September of 2019 in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand, this year around, the officers and jawans of 9 Bihar Regiment which are  presently deployed at Hursil Indo-China border will be taking part in the training at Training Node Aisha Bibi, Kazakhstan.

Leading from the front officers, Col. Rajendra Prasad, Lt. Col. Kartik M, Major Amit Kumar, Captain Kovind and Captain Mukund along with jawans from 9 Bihar Regiment will be taking part in the week long joint military exercise.

What makes this one more especial is the fact that the contingent comprises of 120 troops from Kazakhstan and ninety soldiers from the Indian Army. Both the contingents will share their expertise and skills in the field of counter terror operations. The exercise will culminate in a 48 hours joint validation exercise scheduled on 8th & 9th of September, 2021.

The validation exercise will be a litmus bed for the soldiers of both the country armies as they would be undergoing challenges of actual operations in such scenarios. The exercise will also provide impetus to the ever growing military and diplomatic ties between India and Kazakhstan. The joint exercise goes on to reflect the strong resolve of both these nations to counter terrorism and stand shoulder to shoulder to combat the same.

Tapping Rudraprayag’s dharas or water springs

By
Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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0

Dateline Rudraprayag: If you happen to travel to Rudraprayag via the Sirohbagar Rishikesh- Mana Highway or the Tilwara – Mayali Road do look out for the dharas or natural water springs that are making quite a statement, now.

With an eye for perfection and something aesthetic the District Forest Officer Vaibhav Singh has tapped into traditional Dhara or Naali or roadside water springs and turned them into beautifully crafted work of art.

Work in progress on a water spring

DFO Vaibhav Singh explains, “We started this project in Rudraprayag with the vision that it will be replicated in other districts as well. Our springs had become an eye-sore with either pvc pipes or plastic bottles being used as a spout. They were littered with plastic waste. But these natural springs add to the scenic beauty of our state and we felt the need to creatively beautify them.”

The overwhelming response by local residents and tourists to the pilot project gave it a much-needed boost. The Forest department is now in the fray to beautify over thirty more natural water-springs that dot the hill-district.

With out-of-the-box thinking and a small budget, these water-springs have been given a facelift which is insync with their surrounding. Constructed by a local artist these two water-springs are 1.5 meters in height and 2.5 meters in length with a stone-face of a leopard pouring water out of its mouth.

DFO Vaibhav further elaborates, “there is a message behind this rustic creativity. The animal-face spout reminds us that these forests are home to a wide variety of flora, fauna and a natural source of pure water which should not be taken for granted or wasted.”

The forest department is now exploring the option of contacting more artists who can help to bring alive these dharas and naalas which though considered sacred water outlets by the hill folks yet remain neglected!

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