Lucknow Durga Puja: In a first, women “Dhakis” drumming up gusto

Mitro Sangho Puja Samiti of Model House has roped in three women drummers from WB to add colour to the celebrations

In a first, three professional women “Dhakis” (drummers) will play “Dhak” (a traditional drum) during the ongoing Durga Puja festival in Lucknow. Mitro Sangho Puja Samiti of Model House has roped in three women drummers from North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal to play the “Dhak” at its puja pandal which is a replica of upcoming Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Women Dhakis play Dhak as they dance to its tune with two other male Dhakis at a puja pandal in Lucknow on Saturday. (Deepak Gupta/HT photo)

Draped in yellow sari with red border, these women “Dhakis” played “Dhak” as they danced to its tune with two other male “Dhakis” at a puja pandal in Lucknow on Saturday.

On being asked as to how they came in this field, one of them Sharma Mandal, 39, said, “Some 10 years ago when our guru Gokul Chandra Dass went to the US, he saw women playing various musical instruments there. When he came back, he formed a team of women and trained them. Gradually when women started earning money from it, they made it into a profession,” said Sharma who introduced her daughter Suparna Mandal, 20, to this profession.

“We have played Dhak during Durga Puja in West Bengal, Assam and Odisha. This is the first time that we have come to Lucknow,” said the mother-daughter duo. They were joined by another woman Tama Haldar, 30.

Sharma and Suparna have been playing “Dhak” together for good six years now. They have performed in a TV reality show too. “It is fun to play Dhak alongside your daughter. It would not have been possible without the blessings of Goddess Durga,” said Sharma Mandal.

Her daughter, Suparna, an undergraduate, has been playing “Dhak” when she was in class 10. Another woman “Dhaki” Tama Haldar said, “We have been earning our livelihood by playing Dhak throughout the year. When festivals are over, we earn our bread and butter by playing Dhak in musical band.”

“Never in the past has the state capital witnessed women playing ‘Dhak’ in Durga Puja which is gradually picking up in Bengal in recent years. We decided to showcase how the women power has made inroads in festivity,” said Vinod Tiwari, the convenor of Mitro Sangho Puja Samiti.