through his playwright fathers scripts artist amol patil discusses the parallel lives of bmc sanitation workers as folk performers a favourite story among the locals of lanja a taluka in ratnagiri district of maharashtra is that of two tasha players a father and a son who would stand facetoface playing the terracotta drum with goatskin head while a hundred rupee note sat between them whoever managed to pull the note towards them with their beat took home the cash and the doting father always let the son win grins amol patil the 26yearold artist has chosen to use a vibrating mud pond to replicate the story from his village at social theatre a multimedia show that runs at colabas clark house until december 15 like the tasha player who for years served as a sanitation worker with the brihanmumbai municipal corporation bmc patils father kisan also worked with the civic body as dispatcher after his father gunaji passed away gunaji juggled sanitation work with being a powada shahir a composersinger trained in the ballad style dating back to the 17th century it runs through generations says patil about lanjas residents famous for their folk art training migrating to mumbai as bmc employees since the 1890s when the first group of neo buddhists made their way here lured by a home and decent pay a sanitation workers salary currently stands between rs 13000 and rs 18000 most have followed it was just after the plague had hit bombay they were brought in to clean the rubbish says patil dispassionately but through the show and a documentary he is filming on the community the rachana sansad graduate hopes to explore their other life that of traditional folk performers my father he says pointing to one of the panels at the gallery depicting a scene from kisans play postcards was also a playwright who scripted absurdist experimental dramas that discussed how immigration ravaged the personal lives of those who left behind their family to work at mumbais cotton millscultural faceoff sambhaji bhagat lokshahir and activist of the progressive cultural movement says the link between caste migration and folk art is historical theatre was built for the brahmins kshatriyas and vaishnavs there was no place for women and shudras so they became the performers using powada tamasha nautanki and other folk arts to discuss their plight when like kisan they migrated to mumbai they carried their art with them kisan in fact is remembered as the star performer at the bmcs annual cultural competition launched in 1953 by the bmc labour welfare society since then every december each of the 24 bmc wards from colaba to dahisar mulund to mankhurd compete for a coveted prize judged by theatre veterans like sulabha deshpande and mohan agashe post diwali every nook of our building compound will be packed with rehearsing groups when the stipend provided for the shows isnt enough we shell out money says jitesh pawar a sanitation worker who