A team of 12 people who are retired from the army are now reaching from various assembly functions in Dehradun to play Naumati in the festival.
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60-year-old KB Gurung, who lives in Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand, India, wielded weapons for a long time. He served in various positions in the Naga Regiment for 30 years. The same hands of the Gurungs, who have ancestral Baglung houses, are now accustomed to playing instruments such as karnal, bhakur, dholki and jhumka of Naumati baza.
Gurung's team arrives at weddings, fasts, various festivals and events in Dehradun with Naumati baja. Everyone is dressed in the same dress. "It is our culture, it is also our job to revive it," Gurung said, "We worked in the army when we were old, now we are starting to revive the culture." Like Gurung, most of the Naumati playing team are retired soldiers.
Retired from different regiments, they learned to play the instrument through different means and got into it. Some learned to play the cornal, some the dholki, some the bhakur. Gurung says that he learned by watching YouTube because he did not know. "We learned to play instruments by bringing materials from Nepal," said 66-year-old Ges Bahadur Gurung, who lives in Dehradun.
Ges Bahadur worked in Naga Regiment Ranikhet for a long time. After retiring 10 years ago at the age of 56, he started playing naumati baja. Gorkhalis living in Dehradun celebrate different types of festivals. During those festivals, everyone gathers and plays naumati. A fair is held in the Nalapani fort during Dasaintihar. This team also arrives at the fair with instruments.
The team of 12 Naumati players consists of retired soldiers. They have reached all over Dehradun. "We learned to play here, now we are teaching others here," said Captain Sher Bahadur Pun, "We only knew a little, our children did not know anything about Naumati baza, now they also know about these baza." But the next generation is not very interested in this. That's why retired soldiers are worried, 'Who will play naumati after us?' Their children are in different professions. Most of them have joined the army. They have no interest in bazaagaza. Sher Bahadur says that he is worried when no one wants to learn despite seeing him during various programs. "We have been learning Zenten and playing it, after this we can't even see it," he said.
