Kudos to Punjabi Kudis !

These graceful Giddha performers at SCZCC’s Folk Dance Festival are in fact pursuing Post Graduation in various streams right from Linguistics to Computer Science...

WITH their colourful and beautiful appearance, these 11 girls from Ludhiana are making the SCZCC’s Folk Dance Festival a little more happening this year. Photographers’ favourite; these girls in their mid-twenties, present traditional ‘Giddha’ dance of Punjab creatively displaying the feminine grace, elegance and elasticity.

“We are here in Nagpur for the first time. Its wonderful city with cultured and learned audience,” said Lovepreet Kaur. She told that all the 11 girls are pursuing post graduation studies in various fields from Ludhiana’s best-known Satish Chandra Dhavan (SCD) Government College. Many of them are studying Computers, Management, History and English literature.

All of them speak fluent English and otherwise feel comfortable in jeans and T-shirts. But, at the time of the performance, they all glow in traditional ‘Salwar Kameez’ or ‘Khagra’ in bright and rich colours, Chudis, bindiyas, and all make-up.

Being modern in attitude, these girls are very much connected to traditional dance forms of their land, thanks to the awareness by their educational institutions.
“The Giddha is in our blood and we enjoy performing it as our co-curricular activity,” said Mandeep Kaur. There are college-level, university-level and state-level competitions for the Bhangda, Giddha and other group dances in Punjab. Groups selected from these tough competitions get opportunities to perform nation-wide. As part of the same project, the group is in Nagpur to perform Giddha.

“It’s in fact a learning experience for all of us sharing the stage with performers from various states of India. The stalls in the exhibition and traditional huts here are mesmerising,” said Pardeep Kaur, taking a pause from an elite photo session by SCZCC’s Director Ravinder Kumar Singal, an amateur photographer.

The girls are getting overwhelming response in Nagpur. The audience join them as soon as all of them start clapping and singing small couplets in Punjabi. “Basically humorous, these Boliyan (two-line couplets) cover themes such as the excesses committed by husbands and mothers-in-law,” said Jyoti Rama Jyot, one of the mentors of the girls.


All the girls are enjoying every moment of their stay in Nagpur. They are already a centre of
attraction of the Folk Dance Festival and they are happy to get the celebrity status.
“People appreciate our dance, songs, looks and drapery. Everything is encouraging for us. After all we are Punjabis. We create such sensation wherever we go,” expressed Sondeep Kaur.
'Punjabian Di Shaan Vakhri', exclaim all her friends in one voice as they get ready for another sensational Giddha performance.

Cutting of the same article published in The Hitavada on October 12. 2011