Echoes of soil: A Fight to Keep Garhwali Alive

For nearly three decades, Shailendra Kumar Tiwari, an assistant teacher, has championed Garhwali language and culture, urging youth to embrace their roots, reports Narendra Sethi

- Narendra Sethi

IT is often said that a community's language and culture are the most faithful mirrors of its richness and vitality. In the life of Shailendra Kumar Tiwari, an assistant teacher at Government Inter College, Tyuna Bagadwaldhar in Tehri, this truth finds its strongest expression. For nearly three decades, he has carried on a determined campaign to remind his people that the road to progress lies not in abandoning one's roots but in embracing them with pride.

Tiwari completed his M.A. in English and could have sought opportunities in Dehradun or even Delhi, but he chose to return to his mountains. Born on August 5, 1974, to retired teacher B.R. Shastri and Yashoda Devi, his bond with Garhwal was formed early. The lure of cities never appealed to him.