One of the reasons I like the Ganpati Festival is because it is that time of year when we get to hear some beautiful Marathi devotional songs and enjoy the energetic, frenetic beat of the drum or the dhol. The recent video of women and even a girl as young as 11, playing the dhol certainly gladdened my heart. And this is not the only non traditional occupation Indian women are getting into , I found! Yes of course Indian women are now flying fighter jets; but they are doing a lot more besides:
It isn’t just the vigorous, thumping dhol beats that the viewer enjoys here. It is also the sheer energy of it all and the visible, palpable enjoyment of the female dhol players. They just seem to be having a great, great time! The heavy drum and the possibility of being molested in the big crowds are no deterrents.
She is the first woman to pass out of the National Fire Service College (NFSC) of Nagpur. It was a male institution till 2002 when Harshini Kanhekar decided to change all that. It was a tough course and she was told that she would become the Kiran Bedi of fire services. Shivani Kulkarni, the first female pilot of the Indian Air Force from Vidarbha is her inspiration; the reason behind her deciding to go where no woman had gone before.
Women have broken into what is another male bastion in India – mixology. Shatbhi Basu is famous for being India's first female bartender. Ami Behram Shroff is a performance artist. Not only does she mix drinks, she juggles and entertains and is a big hit at parties; particularly bachelorette parties. Jenika Sapam became a bartender by chance whereas Ngalaton (Amy) Chithung is from Manipur; which, ironically is a prohibition state.
Rajani Pandit is India’s first private investigator. Rather like the PIs of books and films, she is known to assume various disguises and personalities to do her job: she has played a blind person, and assumed various personas to become unrecognisable even to those who have met her.
Surekha Yadav became India’s first woman train driver back in 1988. Later Mumtaz Kazi became the first Asian woman to drive a diesel engine train. Last year, she received the 'Nari Shakti Puraskar' from the President of India on International Women's Day.
Women standup comics have been a part of the Indian comedy scene for a while now (men in drag for much longer of course). One woman really caught everyone's attention when she took to comedy. While most Indian women comics are from privileged, English speaking backgrounds, Deepika Mhatre works as domestic help and salesperson on Mumbai's crowded local trains when she is not on stage regaling her audience with some home truths.
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