A teacher brings glory to the Mewati language

Bharatpur, Rajasthan

Nanak Chand Sharma Navin, a government school teacher has been garnering fame and glory. Not only is he a published author, poet and musician, but he has, through his music, shone the spotlight on his school students too.

Nanak Chand, who has been teaching since 1986, is a poet, and has been composing songs and poems in Mewati language. His aim is to promote harmony amongst the common folk through his melodies and verses.

“I have been reading and writing verse since I was in the ninth standard. It is a god given gift,” Nanak Chand who turns 60 soon, told Gaon Connection. He grew up in Kaithwara village in Pahari tehsil of Bharatpur district. He completed his M.A and B.Ed in Bharatpur, too.

“My father Gopal Prasad Sharma was a teacher too and very fond of music and it is from him that I learnt to love it so much,” he added.

Nanak Chand is presently the principal of the State Higher Secondary School in Pipalkheda in Bharatpur district. Through his poetry and song he is trying to bring about positive change in society and increase public awareness about contemporary issues.

Nanak Chand’s father had started the tradition of performing the Ramlila in the village and the teacher-cum-poet is now doing the same. Nanak Chand is well versed in playing the dholak, drums, harmonium and flute, he said.

Mewat region that covers both Rajasthan and Haryana, and where Nanak Chand is a teacher, comes with a unsavoury reputation of corruption, cheating, online frauds and so on.

But, while it may take a while to set right such a negative image of the area, Nanak Chand is trying to dispel the unsavoury reputation with songs and poems that he has composed in Mewati language.

Last year, at the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Olympic Games organised by the government of Rajasthan, Nanak Chand’s songs were sung by Kshama Yadav and Rakhi Yadav, students of classes 12 and 11 respectively from his school. Rajasthan’s information and public relations department also promoted these songs.

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Nanak Chand has also written and published five books including a collection of poetry in Hindi, a book on 1,000 dohas in Mewati language, and a collection of ghazals.

The principal has worked hard to find and shine the spotlight on the talent in his own school. In 2018, when he was a teacher at the Higher Secondary School at Piprauli, two of his students, Shabana and Muskan had sung his song in Mewati language and it had become hugely popular. This song, Booth Pe Mein Akeli Chali Jaoongi… was composed by him for the Election Commission of India’s voter education initiative, SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation program).

The video of this song was shown to Sandesh Nayak, the then district collector, by Ashok Kumar Singh, who was then additional district project co-ordinator of Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, and the in charge of the SVEEP programme in Bharatpur

The collector shared the song on his Facebook account and it went viral on social media. The song was telecasted several times on national television.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nanak Chand composed a song on it. Called, Bataa De Mai Sanchi Sanchi, Bairi Corona Su Kaise Pade Paar, the Pipalkheda school students Kshama and Rakhi and Piprauli school students Shabana and Muskan sang it together, and it became very popular.

“We are proud that the song in our Mewati language became so popular, and that we received so much appreciation for it,” Kshama, one of the students, told Gaon Connection.

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On January 26, 2019, the Bharatpur district administration honoured him and his students Shabana and Muskan in recognition of his services. Then again, earlier this year on January 26, 2023, he and his students Kshama and Rakhi were honoured by the district administration.

“Nanak Chand Navin and his students have done immense work in bringing about awareness about schemes and initiatives of the government and the education department, and from the department’s side we will do all we can to encourage their contribution,” Prem Singh Kuntal, Deputy Director of Bharatpur’s education department, told Gaon Connection.

Meanwhile, the parents of the four students are immensely proud of the achievement of their daughter. “Our prestige has gone up ever since our daughters have done so well,” Kshama Yadav’s father, Mordwaj Yadav of Pipalkheda village, told Gaon Connection.

It is a matter of pride to the parents whenever their children do well and it is no different this time, added Ranjit Singh, the father of Rakhi Yadav.