May 4, 2013
(The play has two actors – male & female, to signify different characters as the story progresses, and the character change is shown with a change in scarf, accent and of course the acting. The performance uses drums and dance forms to narrate the story. The play opens with the sound of drums (jembe) and ghungroo (payal) both these entities act as instruments doing a duet (jugalbandi). This duet reaches a sudden halt and a spot on the stage reveals a man with a jembe (African Drums) between his legs crouched in a seated position, looking towards the audience and waiting. Behind him a lady facing away from the audience. The man begins to speak.)
Man: I was sitting fourth row from the right. She was on the centre of the stage. All we could see at first was her silhouette, the silhouette her body formed against the curtains. The audience comprised of men from different villages who had lied to their wives about the performance. I had told my wife that I was going to take part in some political rally (sheepishly), you see we had all come to watch her dance. The seductress – as they rightfully called her. They said it was going to be her last dance. There were rumours that she was going to run away with some Gora (foreigner) to England. The lights switched on,
(another spot switches on to reveal the lady)
Man: The curtains dropped and there she was.
(The lady now slowly gets up to the beats played by the drums. She slowly turns towards the audience)
Man: She lifted her head slightly, looked at the crowd and blushed. (Man whistles) The crowd went crazy. She signaled to the musician and……
(The man now plays a beat on his drums to which the lady dances in traditional style. She goes around him in circles continuing the dance form as the man continues drumming and describing his feelings.)
Man: She was enacting the story of ‘lost lovers’, a story about a lady who cheats on society to run away with her one true love. She was like a dream. I only wished for a moment I could hold her in my arms, the way I used to hold my wife. Just me and her, and as I was enjoying these thoughts, it was as though she was picking up the beats of my heart. The more anxious I was, the more she danced.
(The drum beat slows down a bit and the lady slowly moves towards the man while she throws her scarf towards him which he holds on to.)
Man: And just as I was enjoying these voyeuristic escapades, she stopped and stared. She looked at me and smiled, she knew how to tease a man!
(The drum beats gets more intense and the lady now dances in the centre and now the man goes around her like she is the centre of his universe.)
Man: It was the final act of the performance, and her dance was only getting more passionate, the crowd was now throwing money on the stage, her movements got even more wild……and just as ecstasy was all I could see in her eyes, someone switched off the lights.
(The lights go off)
Man: The crowd screamed, kya hora hai, shuru karo nach ganna. Soon, the lights came back on. But there was a man now on stage, a man with a dhol and he screamed….
(The light switches back on the man now stands with his drums around his arm and a scarf around his head, to signify the change in character.)
Man: Azaadi doh, Azaadi doh, Bharat Ko Azaadi doh, Bandh karo yeh nach ganna aur shamil ho jao is jang main.
(The lady – change in character, mimes lighting some lamps and walks around the man)
Lady: Azaadi doh, Azaadi doh, Bharat Ko Azaadi doh, He would go around villages, screaming his slogan. He called himself the crusader, he was more than a crusader to me, he was my true love. (smiles) I was waiting for him that night, I was all alone. It was just like any other night, my husband had lied to me about going on a political rally when I knew he had actually gone to see the seductress from across the village. But it didn’t bother me. That night, the sound made by the windows, reminded me of his dhol. (a few drum beats) He would try to stop people like my husband from going to Brothels and wasting their time, he wanted everyone to be a part of the freedom struggle, including me. It was getting late, he still hadn’t come. I began to worry, what if he walked into the show across the village? What if my husband saw him? Would he know? What if my husband comes home early that night, I was tensed. Just then there was a knock.
(The man hits the drums to signify the knock)
Lady: I looked at the door, the knock only grew in volume and intensity, I could be anyone. I stepped forward and, and, it was him, my crusader. (Relieved)
(The man now steps forwards and looks at the lady)
Lady: He had been badly beaten up. He wouldn’t let me touch him. (the lady tries to see his wounds but he moves away) Maybe he tried to stop the performance and things didn’t go too well. He looked humiliated, he didn’t want to tell me what had happened. But that didn’t bother me, I still loved him. I was ready to runaway with him that night, escape and start a new life, in a new and free Bharat he had promised……, and just then he told me.
Man: I am going away, to Calcutta, the freedom struggle is in full swing there. I don’t deserve to be here. People here are ignorant and foolish.
Woman: I told him that even I would come with him. But he said......
Man: No, I can’t take you, there’s too much happening, I can’t be distracted, you will be safer here...……
Woman: Strange, the man who was suppose to set me free was now interested in the freedom of the country. (The man grabs her by her arms) But then he looked into my eyes and told me
Man: I will come back for you. I promise.
Woman: How could I say no to him, I rushed inside to get him some food.
(The lady takes a few steps back and turns to get something, the man goes off stage)
Woman: But when I came back, he had left. He left without saying goodbye, I forgot to ask him his address in Calcutta...…I rushed outside, and he wasn’t there.
(The lady holds her scarf like a lamp and starts moving around the stage trying to find him)
Woman: I couldn’t find him, I lit up a torch and began to run, I ran towards the dockyard, the usual route he used while coming to meet me…..And as I reached the dockyard, hoping to find him on a boat, all I saw were large ships sailing away. What if he was on one of those ships, on his way to Calcutta? I tried waving my torch and calling out to the big ships……….
(The woman waving out at one corner of the stage and the man now sits at the other corner of the stage resting his head on the drums looks at her. The man now speaks in a British accent – change in character.)
Man: As we were sailing back home that night, I stared across the shores of India for the last time. I saw something shining, I took out my binoculars and it was a tiny figure waving a torch, as we sailed away the figure only grew more distant…..and I wondered if it was her.
(The spot on the woman now goes off and she goes offstage)
Man: India, a mysterious country indeed. A country I never enjoyed initially, to be quite honest. But strangely, as I was beginning to enjoy it, we were given orders to leave. I could only imagine the celebrations of freedom that were going to follow. I wondered if she was going to be happy knowing that I had left without her. She was aptly called the seductress. She was my escort the first time we met; a birthday gift which was a gesture of goodwill by my senior officers.
(The lady now walks in as the seductress on stage and practices some of her dance moves as the man goes around her describing her)
Man: But I kept meeting her every night after that. She never understood a word of what I spoke and I honestly never bothered to learn her language. But we still enjoyed each other’s company. She would take me to the local market, try to teach me about her culture and dance and tradition. And I taught her everything about the Queen, the British Empire and of course table manners and tea, a topic people from Britain knew very well about. It didn’t matter to us if it was the Queen or the congress, the mutiny or the Satyagraha. We were just happy to be together.
(The lady with sign language asks the man to take her away)
Man: One night she took me to the dockyard and with just the gesture of hands she asked me to take her home, take her to England. I promised her that I would. I promised to take her after her last performance in the village, even though I knew I couldn’t do that. It was only a matter of time before she got to know that I had lied. But I guess I was giving her country freedom as a farewell gift.
(The man now walks back to his previous position, resting his head on the drums and the Lady – seductress stands disappointed and gets back into performance position as a dancer.)
Man: And as I stared at this tiny figure waving from the ocean I wondered if it was her.
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