A slice of Uttarakhand culture in Bangalore

Misty mountains have always been luring busy Bangaloreans eager for a breather. And Uttarakhand has been a favourite with them. The travellers get to soak in nature in all its glory, but not enough taste of the local culture. ‘Spirit of the Mountains’, an hour-long song and dance performance by artists from rural Kumaon, aims to fill that void by introducing to Bangalore “the pristine life of Uttarakhand’s remote mountain villages and its cultural abundance”.

Dancers and musicians will be performing some of Uttarakhand’s popular folk songs “which speak of the beauty of the mountains, the joy of different seasons, about harvests and festivals, love, worship and nature’s blessings,” says Premila Nazareth, representing Aarohi, the development organisation behind this show. “The performance blends stunning rural Himalayan scenery with contemporised folk dances, and an account of the unique challenges of grassroots development in the area.”

Aarohi, based in Satoli village in Nainital, was set up in 1992 to create development opportunities for rural Himalayan communities through quality healthcare and education, and by promoting enterprise, traditional culture and sustainable natural resources. The same year, the organisation set up a school for the village children, Aarohi Bal Sansar.

“It was built entirely on donations from friends and supporters, it now educates 163 children, and its facilities are used by 1,000 other children from 30 neighbouring rural government schools,” Nazareth says. Several prominent Bangaloreans have been supporting this initiative. A Bangalore-based cycling club taught the children of the school how to cycle, and has so far run two annual cycling tournaments there.

It is the students of this school who will be dancing to their traditional tunes in the Spirits of the Mountains show this weekend. For almost all of them, this is their first trip outside the remote Satoli village. They performed first in Delhi and are now in Bangalore. “These talented young people are from humble villages, whose main income sources are agriculture, horticulture or daily wage labour,” Nazareth says.

Venues and timings

‘Spirit of the Mountains’ show is an annual fundraiser for the school. You can catch it on:

• Saturday, January 21, 5 pm at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
• Sunday, January 22, 6 pm at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath
• Monday, January 23, 5 pm at Azim Premji University