Maa Boli festival held to promote Punjabi culture

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 4

Traditional arts and songs of love, spirituality and ‘Punjabiat’ resonated through the halls of Spring Dale School as the Punarjyot Foundation, run by the school management, held the 12th edition of Maa Boli festival to instill love and pride for Punjabi culture and language among the masses. The celebration was dedicated to the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. Bhangra and giddha performances by the students to the accompaniment of the pulsating beats of the traditional ‘dhol’, set the tone for the event, which witnessed some spirited competitions in quiz, poetry recitation, and calligraphy.

As the event was dedicated to the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev, competitions were also held in ‘shabad gayan’. Fifteen teams from schools in the district participated in the event.

Sri Guru Nanak Dev Global Academy Chananke bagged the first prize in poetry recitation and quiz competitions, while Bhawan’s SL Public School won first place in calligraphy. Khalsa Academy, Mehta, and Delhi Public School, Manawala, jointly bagged the first prize in ‘shabad gayan’ competition. Delhi Public School, Manawala, and Senior Study II, jointly bagged the first position in poetry writing.

Dr Kirat Sandhu Cheema, director, Punarjyot, said the Maa Boli mela was not just a platform to celebrate the richness of Punjabi language and culture, but also an endeavour to explore the avenues of promotion of Punjabi language especially with the onset of digital technology, internet and other media, all of which are taking a toll on the regional languages.

“In view of the increasing proclivity for digitisation, efforts are required to give a digital touch to our Punjabi language to keep it alive in the hearts of techno-savvy people which will definitely safeguard and promote our mother tongue,” she said. She condemned the degeneration of Punjabi through pop-culture, particularly those using derogatory words, which celebrate wasteful machoism and vulgarity through music albums so popular among the youth.

Dr Cheema expressed her sense of pride at the effort of the school to continue their endeavour of promoting Punjabi culture which was initiated by her parents. Rajiv Kumar Sharma, Principal, Spring Dale Senior School, said, “ The school always stands for the good cause and efforts will always be made to support such initiatives.”