THIS IS A HISTORY, A MULTI-GENERATIONAL CHRONICLE OF ONE FAMILY OF WELL-KNOWN TAWAIFS WITH ROOTS IN BANARAS AND BHABUA. THROUGH THEIR STORIES AND SELF-HISTORIES, SABA DEWAN EXPLORES THE NUANCES THAT CONVENTIONAL NARRATIVES HAVE ERASED, PAPERED OVER OR WILFULLY REWRITTEN. IN A NOT-SO-DISTANT PAST, TAWAIFS PLAYED A CRUCIAL ROLE IN THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL LIFE OF NORTHERN INDIA. THEY WERE SKILLED SINGERS AND DANCERS, AND ALSO COMPANIONS AND LOVERS TO MEN FROM THE LOCAL ELITE. IT IS FROM THE ART PRACTICE OF TAWAIFS THAT KATHAK EVOLVED AND THE PURAB ANG THUMRI SINGING OF BANARAS WAS BORN. AT A TIME WHEN WOMEN WERE DENIED ACCESS TO THE LETTERS, TAWAIFS HAD A GROUNDING IN LITERATURE AND POLITICS, AND THEIR KOTHAS WERE CENTRES OF CULTURAL REFINEMENT. YET, AS AFFLUENT AND POWERFUL AS THEY WERE, TAWAIFS WERE MARKED BY THE STIGMA OF BEING WOMEN IN THE PUBLIC GAZE, ACCESSIBLE TO ALL. IN THE COLONIAL AND NATIONALIST DISCOURSE OF THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES, THIS STIGMA DEEPENED INTO CRIMINALISATION AND THE VIOLENT DISMANTLING OF A COMMUNITY. TAWAIFNAMA IS THE STORY OF THAT PROCESS OF CHANGE, A NUANCED AND POWERFUL MICROHISTORY SET AGAINST THE SWEEP OF INDIAN HISTORY.
म्हटलं तर त्या मनस्वी कलाकार. साधनेचा सोस बाळगून कलेवर हुकूमत गाजवणाऱ्या रागरागिणी. पण काळओघात त्यांचं अवमूल्यन होत गेलं. एका समृद्ध परंपरेला नैतिकानैतिकतेच्या संकोची चौकटीत बसवलं गेलं. आणि अभिजात संगीत आणि नृत्यातल्या या सम्राज्ञी काळाच्या उदरात नामशेष होत गेल्या. हा प्रदीर्घ आणि जीवाला चटका लावणारा प्रवास सबा दिवाण लिखित ‘तवायफनामा’ पुस्तकातून वाचकांच्या भेटीस येतो. ज्यात बनारस आणि भभुआतल्या तवायफ कुटुंबाचा तब्बल शतकाहून अधिक काळाचा पट समोर येतो. १८५७च्या उठावात प्राणांची बाजी लावणाऱ्या धरमनबीबीपासून सदाबहार, गुलशन, उमराव, तीमा ते अलीकडच्या काळातील हिंदू-मुस्लिम तिढ्यात हकनाक वेदना सहन करणाऱ्या तवायफांच्या जगण्याचा आलेख पहायला मिळतो. शमादानच्या मंद उजेडासारख्याच यांच्या कथा अस्वस्थ करत राहतात आणि यातल्या पानागणिक ठुमरीचे आर्त स्वर खोल जखम करत राहतात.