Geet-Gawai: Note of Bhojpuri pride in Modi welcome to Mauritius

Prayagraj: The Geet-Gawai welcome song which greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his two-day visit to Mauritius on Tuesday, is inscribed on the representative list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. A unique singing style of Bhojpuri-speaking communities of Indian descent in Mauritius, Geet Gawai is gaining international attention, thanks to tireless efforts of Sarita Boodhoo, 82, wife of former deputy PM of Mauritius, Harish Boodhoo. Sarita was awarded Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award by govt of India at Bhubaneswar by President Draupadi Murmu in Jan.
"I was requested by Anurag Shrivastava, High Commissioner of India, to be part of a welcome group at the entrance of the Trianon Convention Centre, to welcome PM Modi to a civic reception. He said, ‘Saritaji aap ne Bhojpuri ke liye bahut kam kiya hai, Geet Gawai ko UNESCO mein bheja'and appreciated my art," said Sarita, who has also penned a book on Geet-Gawai, an authentic work on this style of singing.
She said it took several decades for her to preserve Indian languages in Mauritius, including Hindi and Bhojpuri. She set up the Mauritius Bhojpuri Institute in Mauritius way back in 1982 and has campaigned continuously since then for more visibility and respectability for Bhojpuri language. She was appointed chairperson of the Bhojpuri Speaking Union, set up by an Act of Parliament under ministry of arts and culture in 2012.
"I worked for four years on the dossier, following which, on Dec 1, 2016, Geet-Gawai was inscribed at UNESCO as World Heritage of Humanity," she added.
Sarita has been part of several delegations from Mauritius and has attended Kumbh and Maha Kumbh earlier too, including last time when she was in the Prime Ministerial Delegation (PBD) in Jan 2019 after the PBD in Varanasi where PM was chief guest.
In mid-Feb, Sarita visited the recently concluded Maha Kumbh without any official protocol as she wanted to feel the pulse of the mela. Speaking to TOI on the phone, she narrated the long journey of Geet-Gawai and mentioned her interaction with Modi.
Sharing her experience during Maha Kumbh, Boodhoo, who is well-versed in many languages including French, said, "I am a cardiac patient and was advised by doctor not to visit Kumbh, but I had made up my mind, so I lied to my family that I was going to Delhi for book fair. I landed in Delhi and came by train to Prayagraj without any official protocol. I travelled on bikes, e-rickshaws, shared places with common devotees in their tents, surrounded by millions of men, women, children and ascetics. A river of souls merging into the river of time. It was no mere ritual; it was a force, a metaphysical certainty, an undeniable truth," she added while explaining Maha Kumbh to TOI.
= = = =
Box
VIP who visited Maha Kumbh like commonfolk
In Maha Kumbh, Sarita Boodhoo faced all the inconvenience a common devotee faces, including the task of catching her train back to Delhi. As she confronted bravely traffic jams, no-vehicle zones and the unprecedented crowd on the platform, a TOI scribe assisted her. They ensured her pickup from a locality far from Prayagraj Junction, dropped her at the station and helped her board the train, following which she returned to her country safely.