42 year old Khon artist, Ganesh Rabidas, born on December 10, 1973 hails from Uttar Dinajpur. Though Ganesh, and his father, before him, were born and brought up in his village in Kaliaganj in this district, his grandfather belonged to the Ravidas community from Uttar Pradesh. The family adopted West Bengal as their home and Bengali as their language more than 75 years ago. 

Ganesh began his association with Khon pala, the folk drama of Dinajpur, as a teenager studying in class IX. In fact, he would skip school to take part in these dramas, much to the annoyance of his father. His father himself was a singer of Kirtans and Bhajans and their home is filled with numerous musical instruments. As fate would have it, financial difficulties  forced Ganesh to give up studies in the last year of his school in 1993, and he was free to devote himself to folk drama.

He immediately joined up with a local group and went around performing in Khon palas with both Puranic and social themes. Carefully incorporated into these plays would be social messages that they were being encouraged to propagate by the  government. Of course, care would be taken to ensure that entertainment value was not compromised. Ganesh eventually started his own folk theatre group - Robi Shoshi Lok Natto in 1995. However, it was not until his group merged with a registered group, Deep Jyoti Rural Welfare Society, that his team of twelve theatre loving men was able to participate in government funded cultural programmes. 

Aside from Khon gaan which is his specialization, Ganesh also takes part in Kojagori gaan and Mukha Khel, other folk forms peculiar to Dinajpur. Ganesh says that his passion for folk drama can only be termed as an addiction - "nesha". It only feeds his soul. He is compelled to supplement his meagre income from performances by other means, and can devote no more than two or three days of the week to his drama. Ganesh cultivates the little land that he owns and being literate, assists people in and around his village to obtain documents like driving licenses and ration cards. He is held in high regard by the villagers, but the downside is that for this very reason, villagers are reluctant to hire him as a lowly daily wage earning labourer. 

With sowing completed in the monsoons, Ganesh is able to devote more time to his art from autumn (Sharot kaal) onwards when there is a lull in agricultural activity. This is the beginning of the festival season in West Bengal - religious, seasonal and harvest festivals - which, in the main, go on till the end of the Bengali year in mid April. Ritual performances apart, there are plenty of opportunities for folk artists and artisans in the form of cultural programmes, village fairs etc.   

Thanks to a recent government scheme, Ganesh now benefits from a monthly stipend of Rs 1000 given to approximately 4000 artists in the state. (The services of these artistes are used for advertising state government schemes through song, dance or instrumental music. They are also to be given additional fees for taking part in the publicity campaigns.)  

Ganesh has conceived the theme for several Khon folk dramas and is naturally very proud of the fact that his Khon pala production,  entitled Dobhagar Bibaron, was telecast on television (DD Bangla) in May this year (2015). 

Ganesh has a son and daughter, who are both musically inclined, but are possibly too young to decide if they wish to follow in their father`s footsteps.