A new engagement...

One of the good things that has happened to me after coming to Jadavpur University is getting exposed to professional theatre.Being a girl from Durgapur(where one would rather find a huge shopping mall than a good book store or a library),I had never seen theatre as a performing art let alone admire it.In JU campus,which is always vibrant with different sorts of activities like street plays,film screenings,seminars and theatres ,students have a good exposure to arts that they have a liking for.My first experience of theatre goes back to last September when one of my friends took me to Triguna Sen auditorium in the campus where Nabarun Banerjee’s(noted author,editor) ‘Fyatarur kissa’,(a play about an anarchic underclass fond of sabotage and which can fly whenever it utters the mantra fyat fyat sh(n)aai sh(n)aai) was being staged .Though parts of the production did not make much sense to me and the use of expletives in almost every dialogue failed to hold my attention throughout the play,the technicalities such as lighting,direction,use of props and dialogue-delivery gave me something new to think about.For the first time I knew what a theatrical performance looks like.

      Jadavpur University offers a very interesting course structure in English Honours and in my second semester nothing delighted me more than to study a fashionable compulsory course named Literature and the other Arts-a comparative and analytical study of literature in relation to theatre,film,graphic novel and popular music.Our professor ,Dr.Ananda Lal,who is himself a theatre artist and director briefed us about the very basic aspects of theatre and discussed the scenario of Indian theatre in the 21^st century.The JUDE annual production was coming up and Dr.Lal decided to test us on it,that is on what we understand of the play.This year our seniors put up Mollier’s ‘Imaginary Invalid’,a satire on hypochondria.We  had a week long discussion on the production,its narrative,technicalities and loopholes before taking a test on the same.Theatre as an art was beginning to interest me all the more.

One of my batchmates had started a theatre group with his schoolmate two years back and this February he got some more of our students to act in a play called ‘I Love you’.Though not very good as a story I went to watch the play firstly because two of the actors are close friends and secondly because I wanted to find out how their group( named ‘Mirrors’)works,so that I can join them in their next production.The play mostly satirised the way young people conceive of ‘love’nowadays-some flirt in the virtual media but are often confused about what they actually feel,some feel ‘love’ to be merely a luxury of the higher classes when thousands of poor people go without food,while some others have a vague understanding of the emotion but lack the company of  like-minded people. Loosely strung but ‘I Love you’ assured me that I would like to be a part of Mirrors’s next production.

I spent another day at the Academy of Fine Arts where three noted theatre directors were staging their plays based on the theme rashtrer kono mukh nei (the state has no face)-Suman Mukhopadhaya’s  ‘Mephisto’,Biplob Mukhopadhaya’s ‘Caligula’ and Koushik Sen’s ‘Korkotkrantir Desh’ .’Mephisto’ is the story of a dancer,theatre artist who loses his friends,his morals and finally himself in a bid to survive in Nazi Germany(working on the old myth of Mephistofeles who would rather make a deal with the devil than accept servitude).Everthing about the play was simply splendid.Right from satire against the state to acting to props to the overall execution,’Mephisto’ saw the audience satnd up and applaud at curtain call.’Caligula’ staged the tyranny of  a Roman emperor named the same.The death of his sister/lover convinced Caligula about the absurdity of existence and made him live by drawing nourishment from hatred;he slaughtered  his countrymen,his God-fearing ministers and even the people who loved him,only to be murdered by a coup.This play had greater impact on me because of its execution-the lighting,the choreographed snippets of dance and the way it ended-Caligula declaring his immortality in death.The last play was really slow and since it was already quite late I left early.My batchmates who sat through the whole show later told me that the play tried to reconstruct the ‘Hindutwa terror’ in the Mughal reign but the narrative as well as the performance failed to impress most of them.

On behalf of IROM-a gender-forum of our campus,I participated in a play called ‘Bagdhara’ in a  Women’s Day program organised by the Department of Women’s Studies –my first stage perforamance in a play.I really wished my parents and  Sir could be there on my first performance but it was a busy week and I knew they couldn’t come to see me performing.I am yet to learn many things about proper theatre and plan to watch more number of plays in the coming days.As for now,I am thinking of participating in a street-play for our university fest and also join Mirrors in its next production that would probably start after our end-semester examination(it is supposed to a deconstruction of Tagore’s  Shyama, which makes my prospect of working on it doubly welcome!).I have also talked to my parents and  Sir and all of them have encouraged me to go ahead with it.It is always good to learn a new art and if one finds it interesting ,it is all the more pleasurable.I earnestly hope it works for me in the same way!

Away from home

              A couple of days far from the madding crowd always helps to rejuvenate one’s spirits  especially if the recluse is a hill-station.It was the end of 2013 that gave us the chance to take a short trip to Shillong –a trip that we thoroughly enjoyed and shall remember for long.We reached Guwahati on twentieth December only to hear that a strike had been called in all over Assam that day.Anticipating that problems may arise further in the day,we immediately hired a car that took us to Shillong.A nice,tree-lined and not too crowded Shillong impressed me at the first instance and it was within one hour of us reaching there that we were seated in a local taxi that would take us to the local tourist spots.We went first to the Elephant falls,a gurgling fountain falling in three steps in a quiet,sylvan setting.This falls was originally called ‘The three steps’ by the Khasis.Later the Britishers named it the ‘Elephant falls’ after a rock situated left of the fountain that resembled an elephant.The rock was destroyed in an earthquake but the name given to it remained.The air force museum,our next destination was a place that inspired respect for the contribution of the Indian air force.Helicopters,fighter-planes.missiles used in various wars(especially during the Bangladesh war)have been maintained by the museum authorities and several others types of defence aircraft ,uniforms of pilots and of air-crew are documented in the well-maintained and fascinating place.The museum also has a detailed model of the Garo-Khasi-Jaintia hills and displays the ethnic dresses and lifestyles of the native tribes.We stopped at the golf-link(the grassy undulating stretch of land that covers miles) for some time before going to see the house where Rabindranath Tagore stayed whenever he came to Shillong and where it is said Raktakarabi and Sesher kabita were conceived.The present  owner of the cottage was out of town and so we had to satisfy ourselves by just walking through the gates and looking the stone carving that acknowledged Tagore’s stay there.It was disheartening to see that most of the tourists were interested to shop or visit the parks and the Wards lake(a local place for people to sit and gossip)instead of stopping by the museum or Tagore’s house.Even at the church which has splendid architecture and serene surroundings,people were only posing for photographs instead of sitting in the prayer hall or looking at the architecture.We ended our local trip for the day by stopping at the police bazaar(which was crowded with people shopping for Christmas) to buy a few souvenirs for relatives and friends back home before returning to the hotel.

     Five years back I had read an article in the TTIS about Mawlynnog which it was stated,is Asia’s cleanest village.We had wanted to visit the place since then and the village being about ninety kilometres from Shillong,we knew we had to visit the place even if we missed out some other attraction.We came across another hamlet called Nohyet on our way to Mawlynnog .A watch tower has been built at Nohyet with only bamboos that has the strength to bear thirty people standing on it at a time.The architect of the wonderful structure was a shy man.When we managed to strike up a conversation with him(with our driver acting as the translator)he told us how he made the bridge,how some minister has praised it and how despite a minister coming to visit it not many people come to see his craftsmanship.As we talked with him another group of Bengali tourists came.Neither the viewpoint nor the fine water containers made by the villagers and displayed there seemed to impress them.They were rather taken aback to see us marvelling at the villagers’ sense of cleanliness and beauty!We spent some more time at Nohyet buying a water pitcher and glasses from the villagers,sharing chocolates with the children and posing with them for a photo or two.Before we left,our architect shook hands with us and asked us to come back while the children,who though shy at first had opened up after getting chocolates waved us goodbye.I had been unwell since morning that day but as we got into the car I felt as if the place had helped me get better.Mawlynnog  is the place that every Indian should visit to learn a lesson on cleanliness and sanitation.Perfectly justifying its tag of Asia’s cleanest village,Mawlynnog is truly the most perfect village that I have visited.We saw toddlers picking up dead leaves from the road and dropping them in cane dust-bins,women washing clothes with water stored in small tubs cut out in the rocks,solar-plates laid out in the gardens to tap sunlight and the spring-water being tapped for domestic and other use.The best thing about this village is that no villager sits idle or whiles away time in gossip.The children  are either going to school or lending their hands in household chores  or playing among themselves,the women are either busy in the households or manning the small restaurants that offer refreshments to tourists,the men are at work or busy catering tourists.Poverty continues to hinder many dreams but the people at Mawlynnog do not complain about them.We were greeted with smiles and “please visit us again”from a little girl who was on her way to school,the girl who served us food,her brother who struck up a conversation with me about the kind of festivals that we celebrate,a young mother whose baby was very happy to be in my mother’s arms for a little while and a labourer cum teacher who shared with us his dream of bringing more number of the village children to school.Before heading for Shillong we walked for a long way to reach the Living roots bridge,that has been naturally made by entwining roots. The next day we went to Cherrapunji and from the time our car crossed the mile-stone bearing the name of the place,I was amazed by the beautiful scenery.Hills lush with greenery shone in the warm sunlight,the roads were very good and my parents(who had been to Shillong and Cherrapunji before)repeatedly talked about the improvement in the roadways and of the maintenance that has been done.We stopped at a bridge(I don’t remember its name)from where one can hear the nearest river gushing by the green foothills,at a viewpoint from where one can view the winding roads disappearing at the turn of every hill (it was one of the best places of Cherrapunji and more so because of the lack of tourists who avoid climbing the hill),a waterfall named Noh ka Likai,meaning ‘in the lap of Likai’ and the Ramkrishna Mission of Cherrapunji.The mission has a school adjacent to it and I could not help but imagine how lovely it would be for the pupils to attend school that is situated in such a breathtaking place.The hills and the vales stretched for miles;still brooks,small churches,patches of wild flowers made the journey simply wonderful.We also went to the seven-sisters falls,a hill top from where one can see seven streams  of water meeting the Brahmaputra.It was a foggy day and we could only see the sketchy view of four streams making their way down the hill-slopes.On our way back we were greeted by Cherrapunji in its own self.Once known as the place recording the highest volume of rainfall(Now,a small station called Mawsynram ,a few kilometres from Cherrapunji is known to be India’s wettest place.),we literally sped through clouds.I have always had a fascination about cloudy skies,rain and wheeling down the window I tried to smear myself with clouds.Cherrapunji is one of the nicest places  that one can go to and although it was winter(my parents had been to Meghalaya in the monsoons when they said,the hills,the waterfalls and the streams teemed with newly showered water!),our trip was most memorable.

Every time I visit a hill-station,the departure from the hills make me want to cry.It happened this time too,especially because Shillong impressed me more than most other hill-stations.By the evening we had checked into a hotel of Assam Tourism in Guwahati and though we had no prior booking for a packaged trip to Kaziranga,my father’s continuous phone calls to the Assam tourism authorities finally got us a two day trip to the home of the rhinos.It took us about four hours to reach Kaziranga National Park the next day.We checked into the Rhino Guest House and soon after lunch the caretaker came to tell us that a jeep-safari has been arranged for us.Soon we were riding along the dusty road that makes its way through the extensive grassland.Tall elephant grasses mark the outer zone of Kaziranga National Park.We saw a number of rhinocerous near and far away,and also a mother rhino with her baby.A vulture sat on the branch of a tree like a meditating saint,a turtle enjoyed the warmth of the departing sun,cranes and pelicans(other migratory birds too flock to Kaziranga in the winter)flew over the lakes and settled in groups on the grassy patches in the pond.There were bisons and elephants too,busy in their own circles.Further deep in the forest,our driver showed us the claw-marks of tiger on the bark of a tree.Tigers,he said sharpen their nails on the barks and mentioned that one of the trips,a tiger had walked alongside the car for as long as twenty minutes(in a night-safari which unfortunately is temporarily not conducted in the park).We were taken to a watch-tower,from where we watched some more rhinos and two spotted pelicans.From there the jeep took an about turn for the day-the vast stretch of grassland and forest was lit up with the yellowish orange rays of sunset and it was indeed a lovely godhuli(well there was much dhuli but not that which is generated from the hooves of cows)!Next day at about four in the  morning we took an  elephant ride into the forest,my first any such ride.The experience was simply amazing.As the elephants moved through the grassland we saw herds of deer resting at one place,bisons making their way through the grass,pelicans flying over the lakes and rhinos moving in their slow,heavy steps.Our elephant was thirty-five years old,named Moromee and the mahout told us how tiring and difficult it is to train the elephants which includes making the elephant learn to walk through the grassland(a nine-year old elephant was frequently stumbling on its way through the mud),taming it to cater to the needs of the tourists,bathing it,and arranging food for it.After a full hour of elephant ride we dismounted and on the order of their trainers all the elephants saluted the tourists,a new and exciting sight for us!I loved the trip to Kaziranga National Park as ,much as Shilllong,the vast area covered by the park is not only a free abode for the animals but a quiet and pretty tourist attraction too.

The tour officially having come to an end,we toured Guwahati on our way back and spent the night at the house of a friend of my father’s(their friendship goes back to their old trekking days) at Maligaon.The whole tour was one that I would cherish for years to come and needless to say given an opportunity Shillong would be the hill-station that I would love to visit again and again.

Head held high

This is my first attempt at speaking up my mind in a blogpost and I should like to start this journey with something that I have been continually thinking about.My father retired from his job on 30th November this year and I got to see the great amount of respect that he has earned from his colleagues and his subordinates at the end of forty years of service.He was given a very hearty farewell at the office,two of his colleagues came to see him off and a large number of people(his former colleagues,clerks, and friends)rang him up to thank him or to wish him at his retirement.All these people said that had there not been my father,most of them would have never learned much and that if there was one person in the company who eagerly took on responsibilities and refused to step down from his principles (from refusing bribes to allying with the union leaders for some 'more share'),it was Somenath da(my father).It was the second time that I saw my father move to tears and at dinner he told me that he may not have been able to earn as much as he could have(he had to forgo promotions because of his filial duty and due to the utter callousness of a few people)but the love and respect that he earned from so many people has sufficiently compensated him!

                  While it was good to see people expressing their gratitude,which most people never do,relatives and outsiders alike(I have seen this all these years with my parents especially with my father),I once more realised how proud I was to be his daughter.The fact that my parents have driven into my system at a tender age is that whatever be one's work,one should always keep up one's honesty and one's sincerity.This is the only way,they have taught me,that one can stay away from the filth and corruption of the so called 'work places',be at peace with oneself and at the end of the day earn óthers' respect.I have seen people,musicians,painters and engineers lamenting that in their professions mud-flinging and corruption spoil the work-culture but as my parents and my Sir say,one's job is as good as one makes of it!Indeed I have looked up to my parents and my Sir as honest and sincere human beings,who have not compromised with their principles come what may and who command genuine respect of many nice people.It becomes easier to commit oneself to honest work if one has inspirational people in front of them and I am lucky indeed to have met such people.They illustrate that the fruit of honest and sincere work can be sweet and in turn inspire me to put in the same dedication in whatever I do.