My play with Garama Garam Chai!



I was wondering how it would be to read my play in front of the audience who is not familiar with the language I shall read my play in. As a playwright, words are primary medium for me to communicate when I read the script. Of course, later, when a director takes on the script, I am not worried about how they are interpreted. It does not mean that the director is free to 'mis-interpret'. My belief is to work with a director who is aware of my thinking behind that particular writing. Once I am sure of that, I don't boil my head on analysing if director is faithful to my script or not. In that sense, I look at the director's work as a collaborative process in which we both are partners. I think that is fun of making of a play for a stage production.

But, here at Rafiki, a group of theatre artists in Bangalore, it was going to be different experience, I was thinking. I didn't know those who would be coming for the reading or they didn't know who will be reading. It was exciting to live with this kind of mystery but the feeling was stretching my imagination and building nervousness.

To my pleasant surprise, when I finished reading the play, we all were in the same world of experience. We all were experiencing the world that is narrated in Pulakhalacha Bombalya Maruti. Interestingly, the informally arranged small group of people was responding to the worldviews in the play with rapt attention. For me, it was encouraging to see that through the reading, they were associating themselves with different characters in the play. One of them said that it’s like she was moving with four characters at a time. Partly, as Anish Victor of Rafiki observed, it was my reading that could engage the audience though they were not familiar with Marathi or dialects in Marathi. However, I could see that he was Anish! A warm person. Perhaps, he wanted to encourage me. By the way, I took his comment seriously and felt happy!

At Rafiki

In fact, it was for the first time that I did reading of my play in Bangalore. I was nervous in the beginning. To get away with the nervousness, I was holding Rafiki responsible (in my mind!) for inviting me to read my play. I thought of telling them, in case of debacle, see, who had asked you call me? But, that moment didn't come. It was delighting experience to be there! Not only that, the audience gave me interesting/critical feedback on the play which will be helpful in revising the play. Also, I was happy to meet very generous, loving host-friends: Shiva, Sachin, Sunita, and all others from Rafiki. Above all, we all left a small hall of Vigbhyor with the lingering taste of samosas and chai.





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