Forty-three year old
Bijoy Krishno Ruidas lives in the village of Raibandh in Purulia. Well known throughout the region for his drum making skills, he manages to keep busy through the year making and repairing instruments like the khol, tabla, dhol, dugi (Santal tamak), nal, the Santal tumdak or madol and the Jhumurali madol. Bijoy is assisted by his wife, Rekha Rui Das.
Bijoy has been making folk drums since the last thirty years, having received his basic training from his father and grandfather who were also engaged in the same profession. This is his chief occupation, though belonging to the cobbler community, the odd passerby has stopped by asking for a shoe to be repaired.
Bijoy sources the clay bodies for the drums from far flung places across the state, from Bankura, Bardhaman, Nadia, Medinipur and Kolkata even. His wife helps in preparing the tuning paste known as "gab" for the drum heads. For the deep bass sound of the left hand side, the larger drum head, she grinds stone chips on a stone slab and muller (shil-nora). She then separates the finer particles from the larger bits with a sieve. The powder is then mixed with limestone powder and boiled rice and made into a thick dryish paste. This is applied on the left head of the instrument. On the right head, a mixture of ground iron ore or iron shavings and rice is applied. This results in a higher pitch.
His customers are primarily Bengalis from neighbouring regions including Jharkhand and he is in demand the entire year. However, during the ‘Sohrai’ festival, it is the Santals who clamour for his tumdaks and tamaks. Throughout the year, he makes about 30 pairs of drums and gets to repair about double the number. Selling these at very nominal prices, Bijoy and Rekha manage to eke out a reasonable living.