PALAKKAD: The first beat lands, then another. Soon, 30 chendas are speaking in unison. But what makes the performance remarkable is not merely the rhythm.
It is the sight of 30 wheelchairs moving into formation, each carrying a performer who has overcome a very different set of barriers to be there.
For a group of people with disabilities from Palakkad and Thrissur districts, the percussion form of sinkari melam has become more than an art form. It has become a way of reclaiming public space, confidence and a sense of belonging.
The performers, trained by Team Poombatta in Thrissur, have already taken their wheelchair sinkari melam troupe to more than a dozen stages. They began learning the art in the last week of October 2025 and have steadily built a repertoire that allows them to perform together despite the physical limitations imposed by their disabilities.
For many of them, life was once marked by isolation, restricted employment opportunities, difficulties in mobility and dependence on others.
For 48-year-old Kavitha P Kesavan of Nhamanghat near Vadakkekad in Thrissur, every performance is a reminder of how far she has travelled. Kavitha was paralysed below the chest after tuberculosis spread to her spinal cord.
She spent 12 years bedridden and was dependent on others even to sit up. An avid reader before her illness, she gradually withdrew from the outside world, with the walls of her room becoming the boundaries of her life.
“I cannot believe that I am a stage performer now,” says Kavitha, who has completed post-graduation in Political Sciences. “We know we are not professional artists.
We cannot make the movements and dance that usually accompany sinkari melam. But this percussion has brought new light into our lives and into the lives of those who are bedridden or use wheelchairs.”
For 48-year-old Ramesh Eravakkad of Koppam, the journey began with a road accident.
A bike accident in 2012 left him with a spinal injury and abruptly changed the life of a man who had once been an active football player and a familiar presence in his village.
“When I got injured, I thought it was the end of my life. I was filled with negative thoughts,” he recalls. The support of fellow wheelchair users gradually helped him regain confidence. It was through that network that Ramesh came to know about Team Poombatta, a society based in Thrissur that works to nurture the artistic skills of people with disabilities while also supporting their parents and caregivers.
“We were training disabled children in Chenda Melam. It was then that the idea of training people with disabilities came up,” says Aparna Narayanan, secretary of Team Poombatta, which was founded by Peppin George.
In the sinkari melam troupe, 12 of the 15 performers are women.
There are people who use water cushions during the performance. They perform up to one hour a day. “Travelling is the main challenge. We got a performance request from New Delhi. But we had to turn it down, due to our limitations,” Kavitha said, adding that they will keep on learning sinkari elam.
Because, for them, every stage appearance is a public declaration that disability need not mean invisibility.
Beating the odds
The performers, trained by Team Poombatta, began learning sinkari melam in October 2025
The team, a society based in Thrissur, works to nurture the artistic skills of people with disabilities
The group performs up to one hour a day