Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Amritsar January 1 It took septuagenarian Gurmeet Kaur Bhullar from Patti nearly three years to come up with a book on folk songs of Punjab. Titled Chiriyan da chamba it is her first book which she had been dreaming about for almost a decade. Retired as a PTI teacher in 2004 from Government Senior Secondary School for Girls Patti where she headed extracurricular activities she terms this book as a dream come true. “I had begun forgetting several folk songs that I had picked during my childhood. Considering the richness of the songs I always felt the need of collecting them as much as I could and turn the collection into a book. I ensured that I include all those songs too which got missed in several other books on folk songs. When I finally saw the final draft followed by the book it was certainly a dream come true moment for me” said Bhullar (74). There were also many who approached her often to know more about these songs which was another factor that motivated her. She also thanks her grandchildren Ravleen Hundal (21) Jaideep Pannu (12) and Ridhiman Pannu (11) whose illustrations have been used in the book to depict various scenes from the rural social life. Interestingly Hundals illustration is also used for the cover. “With grandchildren around it wasnt always easy to find time to write the book which is why I extensively used hours my morning hours to write the book shared Bhullar adding that she also has plans to start penning down another book which will be on childrens traditional tales.” To keep youngsters connected to their roots she opined that educational institutions beginning with schools will have to play an active role.

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