Bikhre Bimb (Shattered Images)

I have always told myself that it is easy to confront anyone in this world but your own reflection you see in mirror everyday.

What do you do when that image of yours questions you on things you have no answers for? You feel guilty...and there is so much anger in your eyes that the mirror breaks and you see yourself shattered like those broken pieces.

Now, picture such a situation written by playwright Girish Karnad. In 'Bikhre Bimb', Karnad sharply deals with conflict between one self and one's alter ego. It also talks about inexplicable relationship among other things. Since the play is one-act, its impact depends a lot on its actors. I gather that the original play (in Kannada, directed by Kanad himself)was staged by Arundhati Nag alone. I saw Sushma Seth and Rashmi Vaidyalingam performing under the direction of Rajinder Nath at IHC last week.

I haven't seen either of them on stage before. While Seth is a favourite (I guess from Hum Log days), I was more than impressed by Vaidyalingam's performance. She was flawless with her expressions and her voice was just like I hear myself when I do something wrong!

The story is essentially about an English professor, Manjula Nayak, who writes short-stories in Kannada. However, she finds sudden international fame when she writes a novel in English. The critics back home, however, are not pleased as they feel she has deserted Kannada.

A TV channel airs a telefilm based on her novel and invites her for a brief address. Manjula takes this as an opportunity to answer the critics and reveal that she took an inspiration from the life of her paralyzed younger sister, Manini, who passes away a couple of weeks before the novel is published.

After the emotional and powerful speech, just when a 'content' Manjula is about to leave studio, her inner soul affronts her. And then we witness a parley between Majula and her image which brings out true character of the protagonist as well as others involved.

I love the way Manjula, in her dialogue talks about the 'emotional affair' her husband had with Manini, who lived with them. It becomes very interesting when Manjula (and along with her the audience) realizes who had the last laugh after all.


Do watch it whenever it is in your city next.

Lights, sounds and blasts

Unlike beer and bread, Wine was discovered 'accidentally'- by a Persian lady. A Persian woman tired of her life attempted to poison herself by eating content of a jar labeled 'poison'. She became intoxicated and fell asleep. She opened her eyes later to find that the stress she bore for years had gone and she felt light and happy. The jar was full of spoiled grapes. It is said that in Persia even now wine is sometimes called the "zeher-i-khoosh," i.e., pleasant poison.

The discovered the fact minutes before serial blasts shocked and scared Delhi on Sept 13th. It was narrated through a dance play -- And Then They Came to India --by Mallika Sarabhai and her group Darpana. The play in 45-minutes talks about the Parsi community and events leading to their migration from Persia to India after the Arab invasion. Apart from the wine discovery, one of the landmark events included in the narration was the birth of Zarathustra, the founding father of Zoroastrianism.

Though I found the concept interesting, i would admit I expected a lot more from the group. Mallika was the sutradhar dressed as a spinning dervish. That created a nice impact on the entire play. Undoubtedly, the events were beautifully visualised and the choreography was commendable but there could have been a better choice of events. While some of them were very gripping, there were moments when one lost interest. Sure, it is difficult to summarise the rich Persian history but I am sure there are many more facts that could have the evening more interesting.

I Liked the costumes -- they were rich and vibrant. Lighting was interesting. It was mellow. Music gave the 'parsi' feel. I loved the end part when the tribe mixes with the Gujarati community, adopts things like saree style and a few customs and finally 'arrives' in India. Peace, joy, happiness were the words that came to my mind when, uncannily, just then I received a message saying "Whre r u? Rush home...there hv been serial blasts in delhi killing several ppl...."