Just beat it..

At 27, Naama Choonawala has come a long way from the college days of parking herself behind drum kits at Mumbai's music store Furtados, where she'd spend hours perfecting beats. All because her interest was deemed "too noisy" at home. The secret thrill of buying her first drum kit without her parent's knowledge or assembling it in bits and parts at a friend's place before each rehearsal paid off rather well; Choonawala now drums with Indie-folk band Stella by Starlight, and Reggae-Dancehall outfit Riddim Funktion, besides freelancing and schooling kids in beats.

It was a public performance debut at St. Xaviers' College festival-Malhar, with up to seven hours of rigorous practice thrown in at different stages, that saw Choonawala graduate to gigs at Blue Frog, NCPA, Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Ziro in Assam and Shillong's Beer Fest. But hard work wasn't the only curve ball. As a female drummer, Choonawala has not so much borne the brunt of dismissal as of gender-based fetishization. "The whole idea of a girl drumming is hyped and considered exotic," complains Choonawala. She's not wrong. A Google search with the key words drummer+girl throws up, among other things, articles on 'cute', 'beautiful' drummer girls, along with tips to date one.

For a dedicated musician, "it's frustrating, because such notions take away from one's art". And it is safe to say that Choonawala's art has her full attention, as she talks spiritedly about "practicing the same thing over and over again so as to develop muscle memory". Ask her what she likes best about being a part of the two bands and she revels in the feat of straddling genres. "Reggae is a lot of fun! Stella's music, on the other hand, may not be rhythme-driven, but it requires the drummer to hold down the song," Choonawala points out.

When Mithy Tatak's cousin urged her to explore an instrument in high school, he had no idea she'd zero in on drums. But it was the instrument that appealed to Tatak "most naturally", and for the musician from Arunachal Pradesh, now 26, there was no looking back. The Indie-punk drummer who describes her style as "upbeat noise-punk" is a part of all-girls band The Vinyl Records. Tatak laughs about how, for the longest time, her family had no inkling of her passion. "I joined a music school but my parents, in another part of the country, had no idea," she says. Startled as she was, Tatak's mother responded with pride as she watched her daughter unleash her skills live at the Ziro Festival of Music in 2013.

But the rush came with the occasional dampener of being critiqued and patronised as a girl drummer. "I've been asked to drum like a man in order to be better. Double-base and metal drumming, styles I am currently uninterested in, have been suggested, just because they'd look cool," shrugs Tatak. "Arm strength and power can be developed, but drumming is about technique," insists Tatak, before humouring her detractors. "What is drumming like a man anyway?"

Gender was never a consideration in Pragati Soni's musical household when she was growing up. With father Suresh Soni engaged as a rhythme arranger for Bollywood greats like Laxmikant Pyarelal, her relationship with beats was organic. "I started unconventionally, gathering my experience at Navratri functions over energetic garba beats," recalls Soni, who is in her late-30s. College in the 90s opened her up to Bollywood, Pop, Classic and Alternative Rock. "Michael Jackson's music was a huge inspiration," reveals Soni, sharing her weakness for songs like Billy Jean, Man in the Mirror, Black or White, where even the most basic beats sound so beautiful!"

Over the years, Soni worked odd jobs, punching overtime to keep alive a band formed in the office gym, with colleagues. Yet, Soni's career has been fraught with isolated opportunities. "I've contributed to the sound of the Om Shanti Om's song Dhoom Taana, and worked in an Ela Arun album, but the offers have been few and far in between. Perhaps it's because not everyone takes women percussionists seriously," she reasons. "I'm still learning," she says, crediting her father in sealing her faith in music, and her mother, in herself.