Radio is not just a machine, but a part of the body and soul for Ramesh Rimpy Punjabi, who started a community radio programme for the Punjabi community in Ireland. It was the dream of a Punjabi village boy to spread joy and happiness to the people around him, resulted in this historic venture, which is one of the most popular radio programmes in the country today.Ramesh Rimpy Punjabi was born to Jaswanth Raj and wife Raj in Gurdaspur in Punjab. Growing in a home where beautiful Punjabi and Hindi melodies were flowing out from the radio, Ramesh always had a passion towards that box from where the songs came. That enthusiasm grew huge as years passed by and Ramesh became an expatriate in Netherlands, trying out his fortune in career. When he could stand on his own feet, he approached the 99.4 FM in Amsterdam and agreed to do a programme for the Punjabi community in the area. His friends Ranjit and Nirmal helped him with that and thus Ramesh started the programme which had been telecasted for two hours from Monday to Friday. The programme got enormous support from the Punjabi community in Amsterdam and that gave more energy to Ramesh. Then he had to return to Punjab for some reasons and so his radio programme in Amsterdam came to an end.Ramesh spent 3 years in Punjab before moving to Ireland in 2015. Along with his career, he approached many radio stations in Dublin, requesting to give a slot for a Punjabi based programme like he did in Amsterdam. But the responses were not favourable and Ramesh continued with his job while keeping this dream deep inside the heart.It was during that disappointing days, suddenly a thought came into his mind- why couldn’t I try for community radio? Without wasting a minute, Ramesh started to send emails regarding his programme to various community radio stations in Ireland. With almost 2 years of waiting, at last he got a slot for the programme in Dublin South FM 93.9 in 2017 October. The contact came through his friend Ammy Raniga.The first programme itself was a huge success and Ramesh got many applauses from the community. From then on the programme was begun to be telecasted regularly and the fan base increased gradually. Now the programme is telecasted on Wednesdays 6 to 8 PM and Sundays 10 to 11 PM.It was Ramesh’s friend Iqbal’s suggestion to start live Facebook video of programmes. That was a milestone in Ramesh’s journey and the live videos made the programme even more popular. Ramesh started a website and social media page for the programme which is managed by his sister Neha Singh and Jeeja Manjit Singh.With the fame of the community radio, Ramesh started a print magazine namely ‘Virsa’ which is currently published in every quarter and has a circulation of 1,000 copies. Virsa mainly focuses on the articles and feature stories related to Punjab and its natives in Ireland. Apart from that, under the leadership of Ramesh, an exclusive organization called Punjabi Ireland Community was formed. The organization has conducted five music programmes so far in Ireland by inviting local and international Punjabi singers. The programmes also saw the children in the community dancing with colours and the entry was free for the public.Due to pandemic, the cultural programmes were forced to be postponed in last year. But Ramesh’s community radio programme is very active and they try to spread good news and joy among the community in hard times.Ramesh Rimpy Punjabi lives with his wife Santosh and the couple has two children- the ten year old boy Sukhvir and the 9 year old girl Avantika.
