~ In the initial phase of selecting this theme for my research, my hypothesis was that only Mahar and Mang communities of Maharashtra are involved in Tamasha. With more research and field work, I realized that even Kolhatis are involved in this profession. My zeal to know more about the community led me to an outstanding work by Kishore Shantabai Kale, who himself was from the Kolhati community and the son of a female Tamasha artiste. Despite facing humiliation and anguish from family members, peers and teachers at college level, Kale succeeded and become a doctor. He wrote his autobiography called, Kolhyatyache Por which was highly acclaimed. In Kolhatyache Por, he describes the lives of his mother and aunts who were Kolhati women involved in Tamasha – from childhood till old age. He also portrays the struggle of the Kolhati womens children in making a space for themselves in this world. Unfortunately, Kale met with an accident and lost his life in 2007. Kales efforts had initiated an effort to know the lives of Kolhati women in a better way. But it is a dismal fact that after his death very few attempts were made by researchers, feminist groups, policy-makers and others who share the responsibility of making this communitys life more visible, to connect to this community. This write-up is just an effort to start some discussion around these communities. ~ thanks, Rupali Bansode
Posted on: Sun, 11 May 2014 12:53:52 +0000
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