Bringing the pride of Punjabi to Chandigarh

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh 

Hope you are excited about the International Mother Language Day that is just around the corner. It will also be the 6th anniversary of the Undivided Punjab Edition of our Folktales book which was launched in Chandigarh and Lahore in Feb 2018. 

It has always bothered us how the Punjabi language is marginalized and underrepresented in the area of Puadh that has been taken over by the urban and nationalized culture of Chandigarh and its many extensions.  The native population and their language have been neglected, silenced, suppressed, or disregarded since Chandigarh was developed as a Union Territory. 

Fortunately, we have a new team member who joined us at the beginning of this year and has pledged to instill the love of Punjabi in the government schools around the Chandigarh area. His first engagement was at the Mataur GPS in Sahibzda Ajit Singh Nagar. 

Satnam Singh grew up in the area and has seen how things have changed in front of his eyes. The Puadh he loved as a child has been taken over by development, the sweet mother tongue Puadhi (the easternmost dialect of Punjabi) replaced by Hindi and English. So when he found out about our mission he was instantly sold. 

He loved engaging the children of the school who thirsted for great books in the Punjabi language. They were happy to have a Punjabi Sikh reconnect them with the basics of the Punjab, the Punjabi language and educate them on the importance of preserving their mother tongue and the native dialects. He donated three books to the school's library so kids could borrow them to learn more.

He plans to visit more schools in the upcoming days and extend his workshop to include more storytelling. As always, I have to thank you for allowing me to continue to work for our motherland Punjab, and our mother language Punjabi. 

With love,

Gurmeet Kaur 
info@folktalesofpunjab.com