these feisty women drummers from kannur who were recently in town for a cultural performance get talking on making a mark in the ancient art of melam a maledominated drumming art form when you see men beating drums deliriously during bonalu or any other festival did you ever think that these percussion instruments are meant to be played only be men well then throw away that thought and meet keralas first women drummers group who have not only made the brave move of entering a maledominated profession but have also rightfully proved that age or gender is no bar for any interest that one wants to pursue these feisty ladies who are between 40 and 50yearsold have hogged the limelight across cities for their unique acts way back in 2006 this group of 13 determined women k shanta rp kalyani shanta surendran m radha m vimala sreeja shobana padmini vasantha kamalakshmi seeba omana and savitri from a small village vayalapra kannur in kerala got together and decided to learn this art form for eking out a living they didnt have too many options they could work as labourers in agricultural fields join the governments self help groups or start their own venture they decided to start their own undertaking performing on melams drums thats how keralas first women drummers group sthree shakthi was formed this group performs shingari melam a mix of drumming and dancing we use temple bells and heavy molam drums to perform dying dance forms like edamthalam devatalam chenda asuratalam and elatalam says radha we took a crash course on the basics of melam from our husbands and practised it everyday within the next five months we picked up the art and gradually began performing at marriages and temple ceremonies says shanta the ladies admit that it wasnt easy when they started working a lot of fingers were raised by their fellow villagers but they bravely faced all the insults thrown at them and stuck by each other nobody saw the sacrifices we made or the effort we put in it instead we were called names some even thought we were enjoying frequent vacations but as time passed and the money started flowing in everything fell into place says radha adding that now even the husbands are very supportive the teams oldest member 58yearold kalyani nods in agreement and adds initially it was difficult managing the household chores children and working but like they say there is nothing a woman cant do apart from being a pro in drumming we all also became a pro at multitasking and once they started there was no looking back in fact their one step inspired many from the neighbouring villages after our group many women from the nearby villages started learning the art form and today they perform locally she beams the ladies agree that the urge to stand on ones own feet is growing fast and women should flow