VASCO
What began as a mere discussion among five friends finally materialised into a 150 plus all-women performing the Goan Dhol Pathak, which stole the show at the Shigmotsav parade in Vasco late Tuesday evening.
Many who witnessed their performance lauded the effort as a success story of women empowerment with the participation of women of all ages and all religions. The five friends have now thanked the various sponsors for their support.
Speaking to reporters, Rakhee Mesta said she and four other friends, Sangeeta Naik, Sujata Dias, Fariyana Shaik and Ujwala Paleykar were discussing about women’s contribution in the cultural dimension on Women's Day.
"We noticed that during Shigmo festival, all traditional Lazim and Dhol Pathak activities are performed by women who are not permanent residents of Goa. We decided to take up this challenge and initiate our own Goan Dhol Pathak for Shigmo. We shared our idea of participating in Shigmo festival to perform Dhol Taasha Pathak and invited women of Vasco through our social group 'Rakhi's fitness first'. We were so delighted to see the immense response by women across all the age groups," said Mesta.
Sujata Dias said within 2 days of their appeal, they were approached by 40 women and the next day, 60 other women showed interest in participation.
"We were so thrilled by such an amazing response that we decided to arrange everything like Dhol, Taasha, Lazim and flag for our Dhol Pathak performance," said Dias.
Sangeeta Naik said they contacted the Sanguem temple committee members, who were generous in helping them with a Dhol for their performance.
"The next challenge was the Dhol was not in proper condition, Besides, Dhol was big and heavy, since it is usually played by males. We repaired the Dhol and we then needed premises for practice as there were many members.”
“We approached MPT and impressed with our initiative, the MPT gave us their hall for practice at a very concessional amount. The Director of Sports helped us as well by providing 105 numbers of jaanz for our performance in the Shigmo festival," said Naik.
Fariyana Shaikh said they even contributed personal funds at the initial stages and they appreciated timely help from sponsors to make this dream a reality.
Ujwala Paleykar said the journey of a small group of 5 friends to 150+ women from 6 to 65 years was amazing and heart-warming.
“I am sure people will notice our efforts and inspire us to take this journey to the next level,” said Paleykar.
