Keeping Dogra traditions alive in faraway London

QUOTE: “The culture is preserved and passed onto generations only if it is practised at homes and promoted widely among the community…. Children have fun learning about the way people in their homeland (Jammu region) celebrate Lohri and other festivals.”

– Manu Khajuria, founder, Voice of Dogra, London

Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 30

Far away from their homeland, the Dogras living in England have kept cultural ethos alive by teaching children, born and brought up in Europe about their cultural values and rituals to ensure they remain connected to their roots.

With just two weeks left for the festival of Lohri, marking the end of winter in the Jammu region and North India, the Dogras living in London organised a workshop for children to give them a glimpse about centuries-old traditions and ethnic identity, which define them.

Children were specially asked to make “chajjas”, a kite made from coloured paper, which is carried by young boys from house-to-house singing a traditional song about Lohri.

“The culture is preserved and passed onto generations only if it is practised at homes and promoted widely among the community. The workshop was a humble effort to revive the joy and community cohesion that the festival of Lohri brought in the Jammu region,” said Manu Khajuria, who lives in London and is the founder of the Voice of Dogra.

A crafts workshop was also organised in collaboration with the Sanskriti Centre for Cultural Excellence.

“Children had fun learning about the way people in their homeland (Jammu region) celebrate Lohri and other festivals. They were also given a historical background of the region and contribution of its people in nation building,” Khajuria added.

Since its foundation, the Voice of Dogras has been vocal against pro-Pakistan and separatist lobby in England and other countries of the Western Europe and has been effectively confronting the anti-India propaganda, by bring the focus towards the narrative of the Jammu region that has always felt overshadowed by the dominant Kashmiri narrative.

By organising several cultural programmes during the year, it has effectively bonded the Dogras, irrespective of the religious and caste differences.