Indian Idol winner to get grand welcome in hometown
Champawat: This small town in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand is gearing up to extend a grand welcome to Indian Idol winner Pawandeep Rajan when he returns to his hometown on August 26 for the first time after winning the music reality show.
"Welcome gates will be erected all along the route right from Banbasa town to Tanakpur and Champawat where Pawandeep will be given a grand reception," Champawat MLA Kailash Gehtori said after chairing a meeting here on Wednesday to discuss the arrangements.
Members of Lion's Club, Champawat Vyapar Mandal and Ramlila committee attended the meeting, he said.
"We are all elated at the success of Pawan (as he is fondly called by locals). It is for the first time that a talent from the district has made it big at the national level. We are keen to give him a rousing reception," says Neeraj Singh, a member of the Ram Lila committee.
Pawandeep Rajan (23), who hails from Champawat, won the 12th edition of Indian Idol on August 15.
"It is a dream come true for his folk musician father Suresh Rajan who began teaching Pawan the fundamentals of music at the tender age of 3," said Pankaj Upreti, a music teacher at Champawat PG college.
His consistent hard work and the musical legacy inherited from his father took Pawan to the top, he said.
Music lovers of Uttarakhand as well as viewers of the programme across the country were with him from day one and remained with him till the end, the music teacher said.
An appeal from Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami wishing him success also seems to have worked in favour of him, Upreti said.
Gushing over Pawandeep's achievement, Lakshman Singh Bisht, a professor of Hindi at Kumaon University, said Pawandeep had nothing but his talent and simplicity when he left Champawat but he returns a winner.
