Asato Ma Sat Gamaya
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11 years is a long time, but the memories of school are still fresh. Every day started with the assembly. It was part obligatory, part duty, to attend. Through the years, the liking for it grew down exponentially. Whatever, it had a fun element which I miss now; the discipline, the order, saavdhaan and veeshraam, the pledge, the prayer…I miss them all.
Half the time during a year, assembly would be washed away by the rains. Then, the PA systems took control and brought order in chaos to the classrooms where the sounds of Asato Ma Sat Ga Maya wafted through the rooms filled with wet umbrellas.
I never realized the purpose of singing these songs, the prayer, the patriotic songs, the National Anthem etc. Leave the purpose, most of us did not understand the meanings of these songs.(The national anthem’s English translation was there in the school diary, but who would read that. 
)
Why was taking the pledge or singing the National Anthem mandatory, that too daily? Come to think of it, most of the school assembly was aimed at building one’s love for the nation. Why else was I taught patriotic songs in many languages? No, I am not complaining. I still can sing the Assamese song Ye Matire,moro mote… 
It doesn’t end here.
The melodious Tamil song Odi Vilayaad Paapa, Pillallara Paappallara, the Telugu song with extended hums in between lines….the Kannada song Cheluvina Muddina Makkale, with mmmmm Cheluvina, ooooo Muddinna after every line…aah! writing this I am taken to a different era. No day was complete without the daily dose of news that was read out in the assembly; those days where every morning a new thought for the day was fed into our brains…book reviews and what not!
The Marathi song Aata Udhao Saare Rann, with its conspicuous na sound in Rann… I must have memorized the Sindhi song Muhijo Vatan years before I knew where Sindh was (Okay,I knew about Sindhu Nadi Sabhyata).The Gujarati song, Aakasha Ganga Surya Chandra Taara Sandhya Ushaaa koi na Nathee had to be sung in a tune that could be replicated easily by a tape moving at 0.5X, while the Sanskrit song was Om, Sanghajatwan Samwadatwam…..was very prayer like.
Old KV Logo
The set of Hindi songs from the classic Saare Jahan Se Acha to Hum Honge Kaamyaab(and it’s English version, We shall overcome) and Yeh Waqt Ki awaaz hai milke chalo to the very very slow Hind Desh Ke Niwasi Sabhi Jan ek hai…were not as interesting as the non-Hindi songs, to me at least.
The school anthem, Bharat ka swarnim gaurav Kendriya Vidyalaya layega was another song that crawled through the assembly,once a week.
The main prayer song was Daya Kar daan Vidya, which I realized was in Hindi much later. No wonder I created newer words and unwanted pauses in the already badly tuned song. You won’t believe, Paramatma, word in the song was always Para…maa..tmaa for me.
There was the Malayalam song Janmakarini Bharatam which was sung rarely. What about Kashmiri, Bengali and Punjabi?…I don’t even remember if we were taught them in our Music classes.
I can go on and on, I can even start singing.No, I spare you
Update: Pages from a KV school diary(with these songs) can be found at [ZIP FILE containing the images] http://bit.ly/kvsongs
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Tags: aakasha ganga surya chandra taara, aata udhao saare raan, assembly, cheluvina muddina makkale, daya kaar daan vidya kya, desipundit, hind desh ke niwasi, janmakaarini bharatham, kendriya vidyalaya, kv, muhijo vatan, nostalgia, odi vilayaad paapa, pillallaara paappallara, prayer, saare jahaan se achcha, school, ye matire, yeh waqt ki awaaz hai
Naveen( K.V.Ktym) on 
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64 comments
Nostalgic.. I’m sure every KVian would identify with it. Still remember the assembly sessions, standing in the hot sun in the quadrangle, people fainting while assembly was on, the chaos that ensued after saying jai hind at the end of national anthem, the marching song …
The prayer song, trust me it took years to comprehend the lyrics.. ha-maaariaaa-thamaaa mein shoooo-dathadena… whoever tuned it that way…
later on in college we had something similar through the PA system.. but none like the KVian assembly!
PS: why being so modest? We all know about your singing talent!
Oh Nikhil!! As I was reading your post I was singing almost all the songs you mention here with the tune!!
Oh yes–I remember them all! (esp–ye mati re moro mote–i didnt know it was Assamese 
)
Lovely lovely post.
Cheers
Preeti
And BTW–did you have watch duty concept when you went for morning assemblies? Or was that only in the KV i studied?
Brought back memories, I remember all these songs with tunes. Precious post.
Great read first thing in the morning
I used to love singing “Aaaaaaaaakash gannnnnnga soooooorya chandra taaaaaaaaaaara.. sandhyaaaaaaaaaaaaa ushaaaaaaaaaaaaa” coz it had my name in the lyrics 
thanks, for bringing in the nostalgia!
I am still singing those songs in my mind!!! Looks like u have covered all of them.. 10/10
And I had completely forgotten the “ye waqt ki awaz hai milke chalo” song
Remember few more songs sung.. “ye waqt na tehra hai.. ye waqt na teherega” ..dunno if it was only in the KV i studied. And yes, coming to think of it, Asatoma satgamaya, I agree, had hopelessly sad tune! And our princi added few more slokas in the end to make it even boring!
Nostalgic indeed dude….really… just in case u missed this one out ..there was this almost classical song.. ” jaya jaya he bhagavati sur bharati….” goes something like this if i remember it right.. was really a tough song..nd our music teacher was bent on making us sing only this during the music period…
nd also do u you recollect the “thud..thud ” sound of students fainting nd falling down due to the scorching sun??tht was a regular incident at our KV…heard recently tht they made a roof for the assembly ground…
@ preeti: we used to hve the watch duty in our school where some students just stand and watch if we r participating in the assembly properly…
Wow! You really did take all us KVites for a walk down memory lane! As I was reading the post, i was singing the songs in my head just like the others before me
I remember that little book we got in music class which had all the songs listed. I don’t think we actually learned all of them and certainly didn’t sing all in the assembly. I was part of the assembly choir on stage and inevitably got pulled to do a ’special item’ on Fridays when no one else had anything new to present! Not sure if you guys had ‘Sahana Vavatu’ as part of the song line up at assembly…we did and man….was that a sad tune or what!
Hey thats a very interesting assembly. Never knew KV was such a cool place
Seedlings of National Integration, eh?
Cheers!
There are many things I have begun to understand after ‘decades’ of passing out of school. Nobody bothered to ‘explain’ what our prayer meant, did they?
I hated history in school. Too many dates to remember and the way it was taught was torturous. But when I see few shows on the History Channel I am in love with history.
We were basically made to ‘remember’ things and not ‘understand’ things.
Wooooah! Never knew they were so national-integrationy in the KV’s. Nice post, btw.
hmm, we used to sing many of these in Bhavans too!! but from the comments, i see there are far too many KVites for me to allege something
Like Manu said I thought these songs were Bhavans exclusive, turns out I was wrong. But it got me thinking too why do they teach the same songs in all CBSE schools. Now don’t tell me there is a syllabus for music classes too.
PS: Me too remember all these songs, we used sing err sorry scream our lungs out in music classes =D
Hi nikhi,
This piece seems to have transported back to my school days and the daily morning assemblies
Though i have never been a student of KV.. i have heard that long back it was prestigious to be a student of KV as the education there used to be awesome n all the top govt officials’ kids used to study there.. as opposed to today’s scenario when a KV student is not seen with awe, rather it’s the other way round (i mean it’s not the way i think but can u deny the fact – ask any person around whether they are willing to send their kids to KVs now..99% wil say no , if they can afford a pvt school education) Also see the condition of KV schools n the teachers there, though there’s also another side to it, when during board exams KV students have an above 90% pass percentage.. So many contrasts exist.. But it’s ironic how KV lost its sheen in all these years..
Anyway a nice post here n i’ll try to visit ur blog time and again..
Cheers!
Shruti
I dint study in a KV..So I dont have any idea of those regional language songs..seems like a good idea to get children acquainted with almost all languages in India so that they don’t develop any kind of negative attitude to people of other states..
Assembly was one of the things I hated the most in school…but thinking of it now, I realise that whatever little discipline I have in me now were cultivated unknowingly in those assemblies
Awesome stuff buddy!!! Each and every song you have mentioned rings crystal clear in my ears…though haven’t been in a KV ever, somehow my school (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan) had almost the EXACT repertoire of songs, a very similar ‘Bhavans Song/Anthem’ sung once a week (on every Wednesday to be precise) and an uncannily similar ‘assembly’ routine, accompanied by a round of ‘checks’ by ‘Prefects’ of whether shoes are polished or not, whether ‘haircut’ is okay and hair oiled, and ‘Tie knot’ is okay or not…Feels great to revisit those times in my mind…thank you for that!!
[...] posted here: Asato Ma Sat Gamaya AKPC_IDS += "14265,";Popularity: unranked [?] Comments [0]Digg [...]
you know as i started to read this post, i was going to ask you whether you are a KV product. and yes. Yes, there was the flashback to that morning assembly, where everyone was fidgeting and the teachers droned. And after reading this post, nostalgia happened – for those days, where one looked forward to new things each day.
well…this post has a double effect on me.I remember all these songs as a student(some of them “daya karna..”)would be a family prayer at home.
and as a teacher we are supposed to keep a strict watch and catch offenders(those who open their eyes..are shuffling their feet etc etc)during the prayer.
as i often argue wid mgmt..there will come a time in each students’ life when they will realize and accept the importance of these prayers.
awesome dude ….
nostalgic memories
Wow. So many. Never had that pleasure @ Chinmaya.
Hey it really took me back into those mesmerizing moments of melodies…I have always loved being in the group singing on the stage…Thank you so much for triggering those memories once again…
Superb Nikhil. Two decades is a long time, but your every word brought a broad smile to my face. Those shy stolen glances at the girls minitor, that sharing of benches with the Aartis and the Vinitas and the Rachnas… aah! Thrilling!
Daya kar daan was the staple prayer indeed. We always used to utter ‘hamaari aatme ko shoo-shata dena’. It was only quite late that we realised that it was shuddhata.
Do you remember the Marathi song ‘Chandraa gagan madhur taraka sajan…’ ? It was sung to the music of ‘Aa jaa sanam madhur chandni mey hum’. And there was a Manipuri or a Naga song sounding something like ‘Khokha pandamm maaro oorey shawyer ki…tillo rillo rillo orey shawer ki!’ Lol
Great post
I started reading this post and smiled thinking oh! this has to be a KV-ian. The logo confirmed it.
Good old days. All those songs you mentioned and I also remember ‘Aakasha Ganga surya chandra..’ in Gujarati. Those Saavdhaan-Vishram days under the hot sun. Pledge, thought and news of the day, National anthem. PT on Saturdays.
Also, nail and hair checking out of the blue and those with dirty nails and boys with long hair out of the line and sent home. Ha..ha..ha..
Many fainted on Saturday in the hot sun.
Nikhil, this was another nostalgia after my rain post.
[...] Asato Ma Sat Gamaya [...]
nostalgic post
Nostalgic for sure.. Did not realize that the logo had changed.. The new one [http://www.kvsangathan.nic.in/KVS1.bmp] is more colorful
i do remember saavdhaan vishraam so well!
Wonder how I missed this. I’m not a KV-ite, but yes, you did bring back good times. Didn’t know you guys learnt songs in all those regional languages – fascinating! Nice one!
g
Savdhan and Vishram were both same to me during the assembly meetings and in class room.
The only song that i loved to sing along during the prayer song was “hum Kho man ki shakthi dhena…”
For all other songs in any language, I made sure that I had all the shirt buttons of all the those were standing on the stage and behin to beat the bore…
Like Mahesh said I did not agree to “Made for ‘made to remember’ songs” right from my school days
OMG this could have been me writing…..I studied in a KV all my life and have awesome memories!
We did sing some regional songs too. Like ‘ekla chalo ekla chalo re’ (Bengali), oriya, sometimes telugu even, but I agree, it was mostly Hindi, not even english. But we were in Hyderabad, and Hindi was quite pervasive so we didnt mind I guess.
Bharat ka swarnim gaurav still brings a tear to my eyes
The school diary used to have all these songs na? I used to read it and sing along whenever I was bored. Janmakariki Bharatam has a beautiful rhythm and meaning.
hey u made me recall my school days…i m nt KVian bt i m CMSian bt assembly was almost same…assembly was fr 45 min…n dat included school songs, prayer, thought, divine thought, story, virtue, transparency, pledge, speech from principal….it was long bt those were the days..thanks..
Hey Nikhil, hi…first time to your site…came to know about this through Preeti, she had put your interview link as her status message and thats how i found your blog.. I absolutely dont have the time to go through all of your post now..but i promise to be back, hopefully very soon..
Cheers
Shantharam Shenoy K
boy! we had assemblies everyday, indoors!! prayers followed by news reading for a chosen but nervous wreck and an even greater wreck in tears who has to make an extempore speech…before a group of uniform clad 500 or so pupils and some 50 teachers
forgot to add – nalla puthiya minnunna randhal (hurricane lamp) – have never seen one of that hue…
what – it has a bulb!!
send me the links for those songs
@jj
Thanks.Please spread the word about my singing talent
@Ps
Thanks Ps.I do not remember this one though.
@Bincy
Thanks for visiting and the comment.Thanks again.
@Soorya
Someone agrees with my comment on Asato Ma.
Thanks for the comment.:)
@Manu
Thanks aliya!
Oh ya, how can I forget this one.
I myself would have fallen twice
@Ramya
Thanks for dropping by and for the comment.
Great to know you liked.
@Sg
Yes,welcome to KV ,sire!
yes yes,totally
@BG Mahesh
Good to see you here
Thanks for the comment.
I used to like Social Sciences, now I love them.
Very much agree with your comment on history.
@/urgu
Thanks for the comment.
@manuscrypts
Bhavans tried to copy KVs to a large extent
@Balu
Check reply above
@Shruti
Thanks for visiting.
Ouch! Harsh words…….ya, may be the standard has deteriorated.
@Praveen
Thanks dey! What would have happened to you w’out those assemblies! I shudder to think!
@Mrunmay
Thanks dude for the comment.
Ya,Bhavans schools had many thinks common with KVs including SUPW.
@Cyn
Aaah! I told you the day you wrote you SUPW post that I can relate to every bit of KV related stuff.
Thanks!
@gazal
Good to hear such a pov.
@Manish Jha
for the comment.
Thanks!
@Arby K
Thanks,ya KVs had these things
@RoflIndian
Thanks for the comment.
God,you know more than me!
@Solilo
Thengue
Ya,those days…
@rahul
Thanks!
@Sajith M
Thanks aliya! Ya,saw the new logo, looks bad!
@shaifali
Okay, Saavdhaan!!
@g
You are not regular here! ;(
Thanks.
@Agni
I am not suprised.
@shilpa
Thanks for the visit.Thanks a lot for the comment.
Have managed to get a school diary.Will try uploading.
@nazia khan
Thanks for dropping by and for the comment.
@Shanatharam
Thanks
@maddy
Thanks. That must be a fraud raanthal.Will try getting a real one.May be that could be your next post,let me throw some light.
@raj
Will try uploading them,give me some time.
Nikhil…It has been nice reading this one…I still remember all those songs and they are close to my heart…I was in KV Bhandara(it was in Bhopal Region)…
As long as there is tests (exams), there will be public prayers in Schools.
*** WARNING : Read this comment at your own risk! ****
Well, a very nice post! I was always confused about this songs, actually our whole class was a confused lot and these songs increased our confusion.
There was one Bengali song ‘Ekla Cholo Re’ (Walk Alone ????), I always wondered why 300 + students sing this song together.
And I thought Aata Utwoo Saare Raan was some kind of inspirational Song which inspired kids to eat Rotis which as a kid we were quite bored of.
Nikhil,
You sure brought back my old memories. I’m not from KV but there used to be one program in Akashavani, Hyderabad kendra. This used to be telecast on Sunday after noon’s (just before National News) and was hosted by one named “Chitharanajan”. He used to teach one song a month and we leanrt all those that you mentioned and many more. In fact, we used to have a song for every major Indian language. We wrote all the songs and religiously learnt all the songs. I used to be a hit at the school functions because, I sang these songs, whenever I got a chance. Somehow, I lost that book – tried with several sources (except with AIR, of course) but could not really get to see the lyrics and tunes for some odd ones (though I remember those that you mentioned here).
It’ll be really great, if we can get the lyrics, tunes (some thing like MP3 versions) somewhere of all these patriotic songs. I’m sure, my daughter studying in these “phoren” schools, missing all these. This is probably something (or the only thing) that I can pass on as my childhood treasure to my kids!
- KK
hi nikhil, while searching for the song ‘ jai jai he bhagawati sur bharati…….’, i came across your blog. once i had tought this song to my students but in transfers, i have lost its lyrics, mainly second stanza, if you remember, will you send one to me? its urgent. by the way, my kids are kviets, and i was contractual teacher for 4 -5 years in different kv schools.
Hi Nikhil! Am new here.
I just stumbled upon the lyrics of some of the songs sung in school assemblies, when I was scrolling down. I thought you were from my school… am from Ernakulam and used in study in one of the popular private schools there. And all the songs you’ve listed out were sung in my school too. Felt good going through those now.
But I also used to have a secret dread of these assemblies cos my mind was always on an incomplete, badly done or non existent homework. hehe!
@Raghunandan Bhargava
Thanks for visiting and good to see your comment.
@Agni
You bleddy back bencher!Shat app!
@Pramathesh Borkotoky
Welcome to this blog and thanks for the comment.
@Krishna
Thanks for the comment.
Any KV school diary should have all these songs listed, not at all difficult, imo.
@madhuri
Thanks for the comment.That one I had as a photo and so could mail you.Please check your inbox.
@Usha
Thanks for visiting and for the comment.I am sure,that is Bhavans and some of the people who commented earlier are Bhavans guys.
I studied in KV Pangode,Trivandrum (I am sure that has been mentioned here and there on this blog/post)
LOL, that is an interesting thing[on the HW connection]
hi nikhil, thanks for prompt reply. when i was in northeast, the song was not there in kv diary and i assumed that in pune school also it will not be there. when i got your mail with song attachment, i verified with my daughter’s diary, it was there.
anyway, thanks a lot once again. you proved the culture of KV.
Hi, with these post i became younger by 19 years.I passed out in 1990 batch, Avadi, Madras( In those days nit Chennai) I am sure u all remember those marches, drills on saturdays, laddus on 26th Jan anf 15th August with patriotic songs on loudpspeakers .Line for late comers with punishment of 1 round of track! Good Old memories!!
Can anyone forward me the song- Bharat KA swarnim Gaurav..Pleeeeease
You might have seen a coment similar to this for the nth time.
. But I bow to you mate, your blog on KV songs is just the best! Its like I was almost folding my hands and looking over at the assembly stage waiting for the music teacher (with a shaky front tooth and a harmonium) to guide us through the song. 
Cheers!!
Nama
Hi Nikhil…thanks for bringing back good old KV memories. Was in KV until my 12th Std
. Enjoyed reading your post. I also landed up here looking for “jaya jaya hai bhagwati”. Do you have the lyrics? We were taught a bengali song “ae desh ae desh oomor ae desh”. Don’t know if it was the official KV Bengali song though. Don’t remember the Punjabi and Kashmiri song.
Can i please have the lyrics of all those patriotic songs mentioned here?
@madhuri
The pleasure is mine
@deepali
Yes!I have mailed you.
@Bharath
Thanks
@Nandita
Mailed you.
@aruna
All the songs? mmm…If any one of them,then it is easier for me to mail across the scanned version.
Get hold of a KV school diary,has all the songs.Let me know if you are unable to.
Dude you seem to have the lyrics of these songs…could you pls mail them to me as well?
@Raj @Krishna @aruna @Mrunmay and others
Download the zip file with images of a KV school diary.
http://bit.ly/kvsongs
Many thanks!!
Hi Nikhil
this is a real nice write up. feels nostalgic reading it. i guess a lot of us never liked these when we really were out there in the hot sun in the morning! but now, i really miss all that!
The blog brought complete nostalgia to me… took me back to my school days….Even being a malayee the malayalam song lyrics was too difficult to understand…
could i get any free mp3 file of kv songs specialy daya kar daan
Hey.. am also a KVite.. those days (when I was in school) I used to bug my parents a lot for having me study in a KV while my sister studied in a private school. But today wen I sit and restrospect am glad am a KVite. I am part of a legacy.
Read in one of the comments that KVs have lost their sheen. Says who?
My KV in Ahmedabad is by far one of the best schools in the city with excellent infrastructure that includes computer labs (yes in the plural) skating rink, swimming pool and a gym… KVs have come of age i guess…
The songs that you emntioned took me to a different era altogether. We used to have these songs minus the ones in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu or Bengali (guess we were in west that is why) We had a new school song being introduced.. Dunno if it was an ingeneuous composition of our music teacher.. the song went — Chandav van sa mohak pyara.. chandan van sa raaj dulaara.. poore bhaarat ka pratik hai, Kendriya Vidyalaya pyara…
Wow.. the power of music is great, took me right back to the back of that assembly line where I always try to hide from teachers cuz I was late!!
Can anyone tell me the beginning of this song……..
Naadri thi thom thana na nadri thi thom…
Ankhom mein anurag liye…ah..ah..ah.. liye nayan par akila gaghan…ah…ah..ah..
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