Rohtak’s ‘Sudama girls’ make a splash

Many visitors at the Surajkund Crafts Fair took home a sweet memory this year: a rendition of a Haryanavi bhajan Bata mere yaar Sudama re by five girls of a government school. The ‘Sudama girls’ are immensely popular on YouTube with over 8.5 lakh viewers.

The Haryanavi bhajan is a melodious group song on the reunion of Lord Krishna with his childhood friend Sudama as described in mythology. The singers are from Dr Sarup Singh Government Model Sanskriti School, Sanghi village in Rohtak. “The song has got about 1 crore views on various social media channels,” says Sanghi school music teacher Somesh Jangra, who has remodeled the song with the help of modern musical equipment.

The five girls are students of Classes IX to XI in the school and come from ordinary rural family backgrounds. The lead singer Vidhi comes from Ghilor village, Isha is from Rukhi; Manisha, Muskan and Sheetal from Jassia and Rinku from Sanghi village in Rohtak district. Sudden limelight for them has led to many invites to perform in different parts of the country -- even abroad. They are being congratulated by big shots in the music world and their interviews are being telecast by TV channels.

“My mother heard this bhajan at a religious ceremony. I sang it before our music teacher, who gave it some new rhythm. As a group song, it was first sung at the school assembly. Then it was presented at several occasions in different parts of the state. When it was put on the social media, it became very popular and we were flooded with offers and invites,” says Vidhi.

Thanks to the phenomenal popularity of the song, Sanghi, known as the ancestral village of former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, has got a new moniker: the village of the Sudama girls’ school.

Apart from the extensively popular song, Dr Sarup Singh Government Model Sanskriti Senior Secondary School has many other outstanding achievements to its credit. “Our school has stood top in Haryana in terms of qualitative as well as quantitative results from 2010 to 2016,” says Jaipal Dahiya, the school principal. 

Besides, the school was the only government-run institution which figured among 100 best schools across the country in a survey conducted by Engineering Watch, an NGO. The school authorities were honoured for the feat by the Union HRD Minister at a ceremony in 2013.

Students of the school have bagged top positions in the legal literacy competitions twice and have excelled in sports at state as well as national levels. They also emerged state champions in the Kala-Utsav in 2015 and 2016.

The co-ed school is spread oover 4.5 acres and has 1,652 students on its rolls. Students from over two dozen villages come to the school. Some students from residential localities situated on the outskirts of Rohtak town also study at the school. 

“We believe each child who comes to us does have some talent, which we need to hone. We have got a committed team of staff, who have made this possible,” says the Principal.