NewZNew (S A S Nagar) : Gaiety and Traditional fervour marked the Teej Celebrations organised by the Rural Development & Panchayats Department, Punjab. It was a day of fun and frolic, as ladies clad in colourful dresses enjoyed them at the Vikas Bhawan, Mohali.
Dressed in colourful and traditional attires, guests including the wives of local Officers as well as the women employees of various government departments had a good time during the two hours long festivities. On this occasion they performed folk dances of Punjab. The women enjoyed the main attraction of the festival- the swings decorated with flowers. The place reverberated with the beat of drums. The participants presented songs from a series of their choicest collections. Special attraction of the day was “Teej Queen” competition. Kamalpreet Kaur was selected as the Teej Queen and was crowned by folk singer Dolly Gularia. Bibi Surjit Kaur Maluka wife of S. Sikander Singh Maluka was special guest and also enjoyed this Teej Mela.
Mr. Sikander Singh Maluka, Rural Development & Panchyats Minister Punjab, sharing his feelings said that earlier people, particularly those in rural areas used to celebrate Teej in a big way. But with the passage of time, the festivities have lost their glory and are confined to a few common places like educational institutions in the urban areas and symbolic celebrations for the entertainment of children in villages. He added that Teej celebrations nowadays are vapid due to many reasons, mainly the growing individualism in the society, degradation of social values, change in the professional temperament of people and missing of big trees of peepal and neem on the banks of village ponds and the outskirts of the village which used to serve the purposes for putting swings earlier.
He added that during the month of Shravan, a decade or two ago, women used to go in the groups for swinging in gardens after completing their domestic chores and used to sing folk songs. Talking about the decline in the trend of Teej celebration, he attributed it to the rapid growth of entertainment means through electronic media. “Earlier, major occasions of entertainment used to be the festivals”, he said and added, “Today’s young girls hardly remember shravan folk songs and it shows a decline in our folk culture.”
The minister said that that our young generation is following the western culture today and forgetting their rich cultural heritage. He said that by organising this type of an event an attempt has been made by the department to put in its bit to save the rich cultural heritage of Punjab and portray one of its fast fading aspects to the new generation so that they may be acquainted with our cultural heritage.
Besides the female government employees, the members of prominent Non Government Organisations, social workers, the wives of local Officers, Principal secretary Mr. Roshan Sunkaria, IAS, Joint Secretary-cum-commissioner Mr. Gurdev Singh Ghumman IAS, Director Sukhjit Singh Bains IAS, Joint Secretary Mr. J.P. Singla & Editor Sade Pind Magazine Jagtar Singh Sidhu also participated in the celebrations.
