FYI meets two generations of women tabla makers at Lalbaug, who have carved a niche for themselves in a male-dominated profession

Women who drum away stereotypes

FYI meets two generations of women tabla makers at Lalbaug, who have carved a niche for themselves in a male-dominated profession

In the middle of Lalbaug lies an unmarked, open-shuttered storeroom where a group of women sit polishing and tapping tablas and dholkis.

Their work elicits reactions of amusement from passing commuters, who stop to gawk and click pictures, and others who confuse the scene for being a tabla class in progress.
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The second-generation of women tabla makers are used to the attention.

Destiny calling

"My daughter Deepa grew up watching me make tablas. She has followed in my footsteps, and now brings her daughter here too," says Pramila Ashok Jadhav of Damodardas Govardhandas Tablamakers (DGT).

Watching Deepa's five-year-old daughter Aditi roam around playfully tapping tablas, one gets the sense of a third generation of female tabla players in the making.

Pramila's foray into the male-dominated profession was quite by accident.

Initially employed in the residence of the Chauhans, the proprietors of DGT, Pramila could no longer carry out her domestic work because of a medical condition.
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That was when the Chauhans decided to teach her the art of tabla-making.

Step By Step

The 70-year-old shop, whose celeb clientele includes well-known Indian playback singer Suresh Wadkar and Marathi music industry stalwarts Bhawani Shankar, Mahadev Pawar and Prabhakar More, employs nine women tabla makers aside from their 11 male staffers.

The men carve the percussion instruments from sheesham, neem or mango wood. They then create a
sancha by stretching leather onto a circular wooden board applied to both ends of the tabla.

At this point, the women take over and braid a leather strap from top to bottom, which is followed by applying siyahi (black ink) to the centre of the tabla.

"The ink is sourced from Bhavnagar in Gujarat. We mix it with rawa soaked in water for 15 minutes, and then knead the mixture for an hour. After this we add disinfectant powder," explains Pramila.

The sticky mixture is left overnight after which it acquires a greenish hue.

It is mixed with iron powder the following morning and applied to the instrument, which is polished with a smooth shaligram (pebble). The excess siyahi is removed with a steel spatula.

The process takes around three hours, and will determine the difference between a good and bad tabla, depending on how well it is done.

Labour of love

"We have entrusted the less labour intensive part of the job to the women.

After so many decades in the trade, they have become absolute pros and can do their work with their eyes closed," says the nephew of Suresh Chauhan, Nitin Mistry.

On most days, the women work from 10 am to 8 pm, but work hours are stretched during the wedding season and on festivals including Diwali.

The work takes a physical toll on the women's bodies. "We have to sit in the same position all day, and often feel pain in the entire upper body region," says Swati Inerkar, one of the tabla makers.

For now though, these women are ready to brave any discomfort to pursue an art they have come to love.