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Kavita Chhibber has been a journalist and astrologer for many years. To know more about Kavita and her work, please visit www.KavitaChhibber.com.  
Breaking the Male Bastion
KAVITA CHHIBBER profiles three young girls who have walked the path that women seldom tread.
Not so long ago, Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain was made to listen to a tape of a young tabla player’s rendition. When asked if he could guess anything about the artist-Zakir said-“he is about 18 years, plays very well and must not give up.” The “he” was actually a young girl, Rimpa Shiv and her age..all of 9 years at that time. The maestro finally saw her perform live when she was 11 and went over and kissed her hands, giving her many tips from diet to playing better. I made a special trip to Michigan to get a glimpse of this young tabla prodigy who at 16, is wowing audiences word wide. 
Rimpa Shiv with Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. Photo: Ajit Acharya
Rimpa was touring with flute maestro Hariprasad Chaurasia for CRY. I saw a petite, slim and fragile girl who looked much younger than her age and was adorable with her wide infectious grin and sweet child like innocence. She remains very untouched by the hoopla about her prodigious talent. In fact as I watched her over a couple of days spent with the troupe, she seemed more excited about her new digital camera, spending most of her free time clicking pictures non stop than talking about herself or her talent. When she wasn’t at it, she would hand over her camera to whoever happened to be standing by, and pose in the cutest way, smiling the cheesy smile little kids reserve for those Kodak moments. Even during her recital she kept posing innocently, wiggling her eyebrows at us to take pictures she could carry home with her, much to our amusement. She has a simplicity and vulnerability about her that made you feel instantly protective about her.

Rimpa says she would watch her father tabla player Swapan Shiv give lessons to his male disciples. Since girls are hardly ever initiated in to learning the tabla, Rimpa’s father didn’t think about it either. Rimpa however was mesmerized by the sounds of the drums and started dabbling with it from the age of three. “ From the time I was little, I would just watch and hear what he was teaching his students and could reproduce that.” It was when she was about nine that her father noticed Rimpa had mastered certain aspects of the instrument which people usually get to only around 16-17 years of age and realized he had real talent on his hands. “ It was then that he said to me okay I think we need to get serious,” says Rimpa. Since then Rimpa has performed worldwide and been honored with many awards including the Arun Land Rej Memorial Fund for her performance in Norway in 1996. In 1997 she went to participate in the World Child Festival at the Netherlands. In 1998 a documentary film titled ‘Rimpa Siva: Princess of Tabla’ was made in France chronicling her musical journey. 

The concert that evening featured Hariprasad Chaurasia, pakhawaj king Bhawani Shankar, Rimpa and a talented young female flautist Debopriya Chatterji Ranadive.

The frail teenager with the small, slender hands turned into a dynamo the moment those fingers hit the tabla. It was an ethereal experience, watching her hands fly with such power, precision and speed, it took everyone’s breath away. At the end of that performance when the audience cheered wildly and shamelessly for her, Hari ji said in mock complaint amid laughter-“Okay enough..you all need to cheer for us mere mortals too!” At the end of it all, she had to actually be told to bow and acknowledge the cheers, so immersed was she in her music, and so unconcerned with the acclaim…all I wanted to do after I saw that performance was to go and rub those tiny hands that had pounded the tabla with such speed and strength for so long. When I went over and hugged Rimpa and said that to her she giggled and said, "I’m so happy you liked the way I played” and off she went to take some more pictures! 
While Rimpa is only the second female tabla player of reckoning out of India in recent years, apart from Anuradha Pal, Debopriya Chatterji Ranadive and her sister are the only two female flute players from North India. Both sisters were accomplished dancers and vocalists but their father’s fascination for the flute turned into a passion for the sisters once they were introduced to it. Debopriya initially learnt from Pandit Bholenath Prasana for sometime before Hariprasad Chaurasia took her under his wing and Debopriya hasn’t looked back since. 
Debopriya Chatterji. Photo by Ajit Acharya.
A beautiful young woman in her twenties she says people did initially talk and thought her folks had taken leave of their senses to introduce their young and pretty daughters to an instrument considered a male domain. Why not stick to the safe haven of singing and dancing that the girls were already good at, and which most women took to. But her father was adamant and persisted with their education in mastering the flute. “ Whenever I would take the stage with guruji (Hariprasad Chaurasia) it was interesting to see the raised eyebrows. Most people presumed I would sit at the back and play the tanpura-until I picked up the flute and accompanied him. I think once people realized I’m talented and could play they started calming down. For both my teachers who are male, my being a woman was never an issue. Initially I would be met by skeptical looks from the audience-lets see what she can do. Then those looks would turn to surprised admiration,” recalled Debopriya with a laugh. She added that it’s only in India that she faced this kind of reaction-abroad people are quite used to seeing women flute players.”
While these two young women have broken the male bastion in the performing arts, another emerging star Sania Mirza the young eighteen year old sports sensation from Hyderabad walked away with a lot of glory in the tennis world. I sat up at 3 a.m. to watch Sania play her match with Serena Williams at the Australian open. Even though she was clearly the superior player, Serena was stunned by some superb passing shots in the second set, by Sania, who looked as cool as a cucumber even though she had admitted to her coach she was very nervous. 
Sania Mirza

After the match Williams said the young girl had a very bright future in tennis and Martina Navratilova was all praise as well. For her parents who dreamed of seeing their child at Wimbledon some day and struggled financially to support that dream, till they found a sponsor when Sania was 13, the success is all because of their faith. In spite of being devout Muslims they chose to break those barriers that would prevent their daughter from fulfilling her potential. Someone commented to her father that the shorts Sania wears on the courts are unIslamic! His response was that he believed his religion was a religion of forgiveness and tolerance. A female player from India and that too a Muslim girl is a strange sight on the international tennis circuit, so much so that pretty much every sports broadcaster at the Open was at sea about Sania’s credentials. Some of the networks scrambled to find an Indian journalist to enlighten them, others fumbled through their comments saying inane things like-Sania is from Hyderabad which was formerly known as Madras but is now called Mumbai!” Today Mirza has broken the 100 barrier and after winning her first WTA title(the first Indian woman ever to do so) in Hyderabad recently her ranking stands at 99. 

As Indian women go past the stereotypes of docile ever suffering homemakers, it makes me believe that the hands that for many centuries have gently rocked the cradle will surely and steadily rule the world in years to come!

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in these columns are solely those of the writers and do not necessarily represent those of the editor/publisher.

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