B'luru women drum their way into male bastion

Three women from Bengaluru were the first to perform Chenda Mela, a traditional Kerala percussion recitation in the city. Traditionally a male preserve, Chenda involves beating a 15-kg drum hanging from the neck. It is usually performed at temple festivals and is one of the highlights of the famous Thrissur Pooram festivities, which is known for its grand elephant parade. Hema Malini Pramod, Beena K and Vibitha Nair enthralled the crowd at the Ayyappa Temple in Malleswaram recently with their arangettam, where they performed the Deva Vadya Kala.

“I am a Malayalee and originally from Thrissur, famous for Pooram, and always wanted to perform Chenda as a child,” says Hema, an accomplished Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam and Kathak dancer, who runs the Sri Rudra Kalamandalam, a dance school in Srirampuram.

“We now got a chance to learn Chenda from Guru Kalamandalam Aneesh, who has trained at Kalamandalam for five years,” says Hema, who adds that she was also inspired by a few women who had taken up the art in Kerala. The accomplishment was not easy. “We needed extra strength to perform this art form. We were first trained to hold a heavy rock to build up the stamina to be able to support the drum and also beat it vigorously,” says Hema, who trained with her mates for six months, before achieving proficiency.

Beena, who is also a qualified lawyer, is a trained Bharata-natyam dancer while Vibitha, a montessori teacher, is also a trained dancer in Kathak and Bharatanatyam. Hema, Beena and Vibitha all have other records under their belt.

They hold the Guinness Record for the largest Kaikottikali performance, when they were among the 5,211 women who did the Thiruvathira at Irinjalakuda in Kerala on February 2, 2015. They have also entered the Limca Book of Records and the Asia Book of Records for performing Pinnal Thiruvathira, another variant of Kaikottikali, involving strings, in Kochi on April 12, 2015.

Hema is thrilled at their Chenda Mela achievement and says they look forward to performing different variants of the art form at temples or any events in the city or anywhere in India and abroad.