HISTORIANS

HISTORIANS

VIJAY SINGH NEGI Vijay Singh Negi was born and brought up in Mussoorie where his growing days turned into an attachment with mountains, primarily with Garhwal. Vijay did B.Sc. from MPG College Mussoorie and then did masters in Aero-mechanical Engineering but destiny had something else stored for him. Things didn't work out on academic career seeking due to some reasons and Vijay turned from habitual photographer to a professional one. His passion for photography intensified during shooting in Gunhill and eventually Vijay began focusing inside Garhwal on an international level. Gradually, Vijay decided to preserve the beauty and culture of Garhwal through his visual insight. Soon Vijay began searching and researching on palaeography books and material as he has a thorough understanding of Sanskrit. He believes in reaching to a conclusion only through deep research and knowledge about the given enigma as words can decipher many meanings. Vijay is deeply obsessed with the Naag devta cult and the Mahabharata linkage with the mountains and particularly with lord Shiva as he believes that Shiva is the greatest philosopher and scientist on many of the aspects of the mountains. Vijay has in-depth knowledge of many valley civilizations. During his course of research and understanding, Vijay got immensely inspired from Professor Bhaktadarshan, the first Education minister of Uttar Pradesh and from Harbans Singh, the author of many volumes. Besides many breathtaking black &white photographs of Mussoorie and Garhwal, the treasure of Vijay as a historian of Garhwal and a chronicle on Mussoorie includes some rare coins of the Amoghpati era. Vijay is seen as the ultimate solution on any given dilemma. He intends to do so much for the preservation of the history and culture of Mussoorie and Garhwal but lacks funds to do the same.   JAI PRAKASH UTTARAKHANDI Jai Prakash Shah was honoured with the title 'Uttarakhandi', whiles the 1981 Uttarakhand Rally in Delhi, for his active involvement in the agitation for a separate state of Uttarakhand during when he was jailed and tortured several times. Uttarakhandi was born on 5th September 1953 in Sanrap village of Jaunpur block of Tehri Garhwal. He went to Convent of Jesus and Mary Waverly for primary education and later switched between Mussoorie and Dehradun for higher studies. Uttarakhandi got passionate about literature after writing the play 'Apradhi Kaun' in the year 1972. He got into serious journalism with 'Dainik vanguard' in the year 1976. Later he wrote hundreds of articles for dailies like Amar Ujala, Dainik Jagran, Navbharat Times, Blitz, Jansatta, Ravivar and Badrivishal. Ever since 1983, Uttarakhandi went into deep research work and came up with his first book 'Mussoorie Dastavaz-1815-1995'. Soon he did a compilation of ten short stories based on words of mouth in and around Mussoorie which was published in Yugvani magazine. He received an award for his research story 'Fattudas' in the year 1984. Pertaining to the history of Mussoorie and Dehradun, 118 of his research work has been published so far. Uttarakhandi then did a thorough research through 1985-1986