Waking up all night to usher in the New Year’s first sun rays isn’t a uniquely western concept after all. In Kashmir, it is traditional to do so as was seen in the Navreh celebrations.
Roots in Kashmir, a Kashmiri Pandit youth initiative, in association with Kashmiri Seva Samaj had organized the celebration of the Kashmiri New Year or Navreh for the second year in a row. The celebrations began at 2.30 pm on Sunday afternoon and ended on Monday morning with an aarti at Sharika Devi’s temple up on Hari Parbat, Faridabd.
This year’s Navreh, which literally means ‘new spark’, saw the famous singer Kailash Mehra enthralls the audience with her melodious voice as she sang songs steeped in Kashmiri history and culture like Shamas Fakir, Ahmed Batwari, Krishnajoo Razdan, bringing in the memories of the old days in Kashmir. However, before that the audience was addressed by Shri P N Raina, who had specially come from Jammu for the celebrations and Shri J N Kaul, founder of SOS India, who had also been instrumental in building the temple, a replica of the original hill-top temple of Kashmir, in Faridabad.
Both of them reminded the Pandits to revive their unique culture through events such as this and appreciated the efforts of the younger generations.
More than the cultural programmes was the spirit of togetherness that was seen shared among the people there as families sat on the lawns modelled on the famous Badam Vari or almond garden of Kashmir, as they lay down their sheets and shared home-made Kashmiri food they also shared old memories of the past when they used to celebrate new year in their homeland. The most common refrain among seen each other was ‘where have you been all this time’.
While the numbers dwindled out into the night, the zest was still there as Kashmiri singers sung songs of all moods, often ending in people letting their hair down and dancing to the tunes. It was quite a sight to see people of all ages attempting a ‘roff’ the traditional arm in arm dance of Kashmir to songs like the original folk version of the Bollywood number Bhumbro Bhumbro.
The all night long celebration ended with an aarti early in the morning to bring in a pious start to the New Year.
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