A tie-dye parai: Chennai scientists colour Tamil Nadu’s traditional drum

The parai throbs with life when struck with a wooden kuchi (stick) . What if it can make heads turn even without its resonant beats? For the past three years, a team of five scientists at the Chennai-based CSIR-Central Leather Research Institute have been trying to colour on the pale brown surface of the percussion instrument, made of dried buffalo hide stretched over a circular wooden frame.

They have finally succeeded — the result is a technique that can render the parai colourful, even producing tie and dye patterns on its surface. M Sathish, Senior Scientist, led the team whose research at the institute under the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India’s CSIR, was headed by Chief Scientist M Madhan and guided by P Thanikaivelan, Director, CSIR-CLRI. The new technology has the potential to change the way parai is seen.