A campaign christened as ‘The Kahani Project’ has been initiated to connect the people from various origins with the culture of Jaunsar. The firm sponsoring the project said that it is meant to preserve the heritage of a small and remote area in the country which is a rich repository of art and folk tales.

Dwelling on the initiative, Minal Srivastava, the vice- president, marketing, in Shalimar Paints, said, “This initiative has been started by us to connect the people from various origins so as to enable them to learn and explore the beauty of the villages. Tauli  Bhud comprises people from Jaunsar tribe of Uttarakhand who speak mainly Jaunsari dialect. It has no tradition of writing down its rich tradition of folk tales and the like.   As a result of mass migration and lack of a script, people of the village fear that language, tradition, and values would be  extinct with  time unless efforts are made to preserve them.”

 ‘The Kahaani Project’ initiated  in collaboration with some artists from foreign countries like France and Philippines is the result  of an attempt to prevent the rich traditions associated with the region from getting swamped into  extinction.  “The artists lived with the people of the village and interacted with them for some days. They further painted the essence of some of the tales on the walls of the houses in the villagers,” Minal said. .

Minal further said, “We are receiving a very good response from the people. An artist from France stated that this experience inspired her so greatly that she would use the stories and also would draw murals in her country too. There are numerous untold stories in the village which needs to be explored.  We will further try to take this campaign to the remote villages of our country.”