Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday took to Twitter congratulating a Kerala girl who sang a famous folk song of Himachal Pradesh, which has now gone viral. Thiruvananthapuram resident Devika, a class nine student, sang 'Chamba kitni ki door’, a folk song. Sharing a news report on the girl, Narendra Modi praised her by tweeting in Malayalam.
"I feel proud of this child, Devika. Her melodious rendering strengthens the essence of 'One India, great India!,” the Prime Minister said in his tweet in Malayalam, sharing the report telecast by Manorama News.
ദേവിക എന്ന കുട്ടിയെ ഓർത്ത് അഭിമാനം ! അവളുടെ ശ്രുതിമധുരമായ ആലാപനം 'ഏക ഭാരതം ശ്രേഷ്ഠഭാരതത്തിന്റെ' അന്തസത്ത ശക്തിപ്പെടുത്തുന്നു ! https://t.co/hUsD9jIhcQ
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 10, 2020
In the video the girl clad in her school uniform can be seen singing the song about Chamba, a town in Himachal Pradesh. The very famous Himachali folk song is about one’s strong desire to visit Chamba, a town in Himachal Pradesh.
Devika, a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya at Pattom in Thiruvananthapuram, had sung the song under the 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat' programme. Though her song went viral she says she never expected the Prime Minister of the country to come out congratulating her.
"It is unbelievable. I am very happy. When I sang the song I never expected that I would be congratulated by the Prime Minister sir himself", Devika told a TV news channel responding to Modi's tweet. The student expressed her gratitude to the Prime Minister for enjoying her song.
Prime Minister Modi’s tweet came a day after Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur shared the video of Devika singing 'Chamba kitni ki door' on his Facebook wall and said she had "won the hearts of the entire state". In a Facebook post on Friday, Thakur had said Kerala's daughter, Devika, in her melodious voice, has enhanced the glory of his state by singing the famous Himachali song. Thakur also invited Devika to visit Himachal.
केरल की बेटी देविका ने अपनी सुरीली आवाज में प्रसिद्ध हिमाचली गीत "चम्बा कितनी की दूर.." गाकर हिमाचल की शान बढ़ाई है, इसके लिए बेटी आपको बहुत बधाई।
— Jairam Thakur (@jairamthakurbjp) October 9, 2020
बेटी देविका आप हिमाचल अवश्य आएं व यहां की संस्कृति को करीब से जाने।
देवभूमि हिमाचल की ओर से आपके उज्ज्वल भविष्य के लिए शुभकामनाएं। pic.twitter.com/x4prWcThaF
Kerala Minister for Culture A K Balan also telephoned Devika to congratulate her.
The song in Chambiyali language, speaks about a person asking to mother how far Chamba is from the way to Shimla because the person's lover is in Chamba. The lines continue to say, “I don't want to stay in Shimla, don't want to stay in Kasauli but want to go to Chamba.” In the song the person then goes to say that she has loved (or fallen in love) with someone far away so I don't get to see the person far away.
Watch video of Devika's song: