Seventy-one year old Kushan performer, Baanshinath Dakua, better known as Baanshi Geedal, has devoted his entire life to Kushan folk theatre. Belonging to the Rajbongshi community, he was introduced to Kushan songs and the folk music of North Bengal by his father, Jogeshwar Kushani as a child. He was only in class III, when he gave up his studies to start formal training in  Kushan songs. He first learnt under Dhano Kushani in the neighbouring village of Ullarkhawa and later, also later trained under the renowned master, the late Jhampura Kushani. 

With basic training under his belt, he first started performing as a chhokra in Kushan folk theatre (Kushan pala) and was known as Baanshi Chyangra. Chhokras are male dancers dressed as women, while chyangra means teenager. He trained for eight years and then started learning the Bena. Meanwhile, he also started performing in Dotra palas, but after a few years, decided to focus on Kushan. He was about 18 years old when he became renowned as Bachha Kushani.

Performances would go on for more than 40 hours - for which they would be fed (as much as they wanted), given gua-paan (supari/ areca nut and betel leaf) and be paid a meagre Rs 5. Money was not the objective of the performers of those days - their art was their life.

Baanshi`s children have refused to learn the art. They question the value of this art which has done nothing to improve the quality of their lives. But Baanshi pays no heed to his children - he will continue performing till he dies, he vows. He opines that though the teenagers want only the latest popular entertainment and film music, the older people in the village still want to hear the old Kushan songs.

In 1996, he participated in a district competition which also featured the renowned Lalit Kushani. Baanshi takes great pride in telling us that he managed to oust Lalit and stood first both in the Kushan and Dotra pala categories. 

Baanshi gets about 140-160 programme nights per year. Of the 28 people in his group, only 13 are involved in the traditional Kushan - the rest perform the jatra that is appended to each Kushan performance. The group earns between Rs 12000 to Rs 14000 each night. However there is no denying that the jatra style has influenced their performances, as was evident from the small excerpts from Sitaharan that Baanshi enacted for us. 

Baanshi has performed around Cooch Behar, Assam, Jalpaiguri, Siliguri and Bihar. Today, he just about makes do with his earnings from Kushan, sometimes supplementing it with farming work in the monsoons.

In Baanshi`s opinion, there are only a handful of trained Kushanis currently practising across Cooch Behar. These include himself, Mahindra Barman and Dhaneshwar Barman. Amongst the other Kushanis, there is no authentic training. The songs being sung are incorrect and according to him, the new women Kushanis get by only because they are better looking and are able to carry a tune! The decline started from about the 1990s. Baanshi says that among the trained Kushanis, the songs have remained the same, but the presentation has changed.

In a valiant attempt to keep the culture of his land alive, he and Santosh Dakua, the talented musician, who often accompanies him, have started a music school teaching the traditional songs of North Bengal.