Sinchita Parbat

large_01-IMG_3857-SM-Dhol-on-Wheels.jpg

medium_01-IMG_3857-SM-Dhol-on-Wheels.jpg

small_01-IMG_3857-SM-Dhol-on-Wheels.jpg

thumbnail_01-IMG_3857-SM-Dhol-on-Wheels.jpg

01-IMG_3857-SM-Dhol-on-Wheels.jpg

Srilal Sahani is a musician. Locally also known as Lakhapatibabu, he lives with his family in Bolpur, West Bengal. He has the unique talent of riding a bicycle with his hands behind him playing two instruments – a
 
 dhol
 
 and cymbals.
 
 For 27 years, Srilal has made two trips every day on his cycle – one in the morning to sell fish in the local market, and another in the evening around the streets of Santiniketan, covering six kilometres while playing his music.

02-IMG_3858-SM-Dhol_on_Wheels.jpg

The film featured
here includes camerawork by former students of Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan: Sramana Sengupta, a 2016 PARI
intern, who now leads the digital marketing team at Quest Media and
Entertainment, Kolkata; and Subha Bhattacharya, who works as a volunteer at Radio JU, a UNICEF project at Jadavpur University.
 
 
 
 Riya Dey contributed to the field work and did the translation of the
subtitles, and
 
 
 made a version of this film for a
 
 
 documentary project while studying at Visva-Bharati. She now works with a non-governmental organisation, the Alipore Unmish Society, Kolkata.

Dhol on wheels

சைக்கிளில் செல்லும் டோலக்

ଚକଗୁଡିକ ଉପରେ ଢୋଲ

চাইকেলতে ঢোল-তাল বজাই আনন্দ বিলাই ফুৰা মানুহজন

চাকায় বাঁধা ঢোল

پہیوں پر ڈھول

Bolpur

At present, we can only accept donations in Indian rupees by Indian citizens. All donations made to the CounterMedia Trust are eligible for exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Here is a copy of our exemption certificate.


India is bigger than New Delhi. And people need to know more about the rest of this vast nation.


Younger, media-saturated generations are growing up knowing little about their country, but a lot about the elites of a few metros and towns. For a narrowly-owned, commercially-driven media, the dumbing down of a nation is part of standard operating procedure. The last available data of the Centre for Media Studies (CMS, Delhi) show us that reports from New Delhi account for 66 per cent of news on the front pages of major dailies. The CMS data also found that just about 0.24 per cent of front page news came out of rural India. The TV channels are not much better.PARI exists to change that.We are a non-profit organisation. We publish under creative commons, and do not charge readers a subscription fee or put-up advertisements. Nothing is behind a paywall and we are completely free-to-access by anyone. We guard our independence and receive no direct grants from governments and corporations, nor any funding that could dictate our content. So, we are dependent on volunteer labour, donations from individuals, foundations and institutions that see value in independent and free media.PARI is changing the way Indian journalism reports and documents the rural.India is more than the elite of a few metros and towns. We report on rural lives and livelihoods, languages, communities, migrants and more. We need your help to pull off this most ambitious of Indian journalistic endeavours. The scale of this effort costs money. Donate generously - and spread the word about PARI.&nbsp;

Donate FAQs


আমাদের সম্বন্ধে জানুন

পারি’র দুনিয়ায় স্বাগত

আমাদের যাবতীয় লেখাপত্তর নিখরচায় ব্যবহার করা যায়, আর আগামীদিনেও এই নিয়মই বজায় থাকবে। আমাদের কাজকর্ম ভালো লাগলে আপনি স্বেচ্ছাশ্রম দিয়ে অথবা অর্থ সাহায্য করে এই কাজে সহায়ক হতে পারেন।

Want to republish this article? Please write to <a href="mailto:zahra@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zahra@ruralindiaonline.org</a> with a cc to <a href="mailto:namita@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">namita@ruralindiaonline.org</a>

Dhol on wheels

Srilal Sahani is a fish-seller by day and an extraordinary musician by evening – he rides hands-off on a bicycle while playing a dhol and cymbals behind him – in Santiniketan, West Bengal

Related stories

A rain-scented walk in Sivagangai

Living on ravaged land

Biswas and the bamboos on his bike

Recycling energy, Godda style

Bhadels of Goa

Pookadai: still throbbing with morning life

Koli Kadlas

Malnourishment high among children of migrants: study

Wheels of the rural Indian West

Living Under a Red Cloud in Bellary

Vedla – earrings of the Maher community

Dreaming of water, drowning in debt

Kali: the dancer and his dreams

Farmer's diet worse than a convict's

In Yavatmal, life goes on

Suicides are about the living, not the dead

Death of a carpenter

Hoisa Shigmo!

Women farmers: weaving a life in Anantapur

Defiant in Dhinkia

Spice and all that's nice

Kerala's Green Army

The ‘jugaad’ not-a-mobile

Health as someone else's wealth

Calibrating in a Kudumbashree assembly unit