Thursday, November 15, 2018
Bombay
Another Hardworking Day--With A Farming Story at Prithvi Theater
Namaste from Bombay!
It seems I am learning quickly about work-life balance! I just make my life part of my work! As happened today, for instance...
So I woke up again at 5.00 am--hating these body clock fluctuations. I think I am simply better off waking each day, like clockwork, at 4.30 am and then taking a mid-morning nap! Or maybe not...
Working, working, working:
Had an article that NYU sent me to proof-read. They are uploading the conference presentation I made in Florence, Italy, in the summer, on to our NYU Faculty website. They wanted me to go over it to make sure all editorial tweaking was in order. Re-reading a 22 page paper took a long while, but I felt fulfilled when it was done--plus I will have the satisfaction of seeing it published! Great!
Also looked at some paperwork that Chriselle sent me to peruse. Only when those two tasks were completed, did I get down to typing up my blog post. And then it was 7.00 am and I was jumping out of bed to wash, down a cup of java and dress for the gym. One noisy hour later (I hate how they blast their music when I am trying to read The Times on my iPad on the elliptical machine!), I got home. Found out when I stepped into the shower that my geyser was on the blink (yes, again) and no hot water emanated from it. I dressed again, called my electrician Clement and sat down to eat my muesli breakfast because I was near starvation by that point. I watched Monty Python's Flying Circus between mouthfuls--such a ludicrous show...and yet you cannot help guffawing.
Work today was devoted to designing the syllabus for St. Xavier's College proposed Post-graduate (MA) course in English. I have been assigned three courses by the Principal of the College as part of my voluntary Fulbright professional offering. I was working on a course on Multi-Ethnic Immigrant American Literature and I was amazed at how much time it took for me to source both primary and secondary (critical) texts to flesh out the course. Before I knew it, my stomach was urgently beckoning for me to get some lunch.
So stop, I did...for chicken curry, cutlets and white pumpkin. A huge guava (ripe and sweet) made a great dessert as I watched Come Dine With Me.
Then it was back to the grindstone for me as I finally finished up one course and started on the second one--this one on Diasporic Literature from the Indian Sub-continent. This took just as much time, but I also wanted to squeeze in my 20 minute nap. Managed just 10 precious minutes when my doorbell rang and Clement walked in to attend to my geyser. There wasn't anything much wrong with it, he told me, except fluctuating water flow (thanks to a defect n the building's pumping system about which I cannot do much). He advised me not to shower if water flow from my shower head is skinny. I should wait until the pressure is halfway decent, he says. OK, problem solved.
Clement left and I returned to work for just another hour. Then I showered, and got dressed for my next appointment.
Off to see A Farming Story:
So here's what I mean by making my leisure part of my work. Since I am examining Western Performing Arts (my passion, my joy) in Bombay, I hooked up with a chap called Viraf Pocha, a Parsi Chartered Accountant who, for fun, has done stage management including lighting design and execution for a gazillion English plays in Bombay over about 40 years. He has also become the voluntary archivist of Theatre Group's oeuvre and has created a website upon which scholars, such as myself, can drool! I was advised to talk to him by three of the people I have already interviewed--Roger Periera, Farokh Mehta and Dolly Thakore.
So, I called him and discovered that he is right in the middle of doing the lighting for a play called A Farming Story that won the Sultan Padamsee Playwriting Competition organized by Theatre Group in Bombay last year. Apparently, the prize is that the play is produced and staged--so this year, I would be seeing last year's winner. Viraf told me that he would give me two complimentary tickets and Shahnaz was free to go with me. Before the show began at 6.00 pm, I would spend an hour interviewing him. That was the plan...
Accordingly, I got into a rick at 4. 15 pm--Shahnaz was supposed to meet me at the theater at 5.45 as she had some work in downtown Bombay. I have not been to the Prithvi Theater at Juhu in 30 years! Once upon a time, it was a regular haunt and, during my youthful days, I have done a fair share of hanging around its cafe sipping Irish Coffee and trying to look as hip as the beautiful people who thronged its leafy, canopied environs. Today, not much has changed...the caff is still there filled with hip young people with more money and time on their hands than they know what to do with them.
The rickshaw driver took me to a place called PMV (Cinema) Theater and insisted it was Prithvi Theater! I told him I was not senile yet and although it was 30 years since I had been there, I really did know the difference between a multi-plex cinema theater and a cultural center--because that, basically, is what the Prithvi has evolved into. A passer-by confirmed that it was not Prithvi that the driver had dropped me at...and suggested I get off, take another rickshaw with a driver who would know where the place was. Good thinking! I paid the fare, jumped off, then got into another rickshaw and within five minutes, I was there.
I met Viraf in the caff. Sadly, the years have taken their toll on me in more ways than one--I cannot sip those legendary Irish coffees anymore--not unless I want to risk serious insomnia! Hence, I had a mango lassi while he sipped a lemon iced tea. We got talking and I found him to be a great fun guy--full of amusing anecdotes of his growing years when he came under the direct influence of theatrical giants such as Adi Marzban who was his uncle! He was able to fill the gaps in my time line--although he was very vague about everything and told me he would look up a lot of data. While anecdotes make for amusing reading, at the end of the day, I do need factual data to substantiate my research!
It was 6.00 pm before we knew it and I had to get inside the theater. Shahnaz was stuck in traffic and would be arriving five minutes too late. Once the doors close, no one is allowed in until intermission. Too too bad!
It turned out that A Farming Story was written by someone called Vineet Bhalla, a Bombay chap who is now based in Toronto, Canada. He was present in the theater--which was very poorly filled. I counted merely 20 people in a fabulous amphitheater of an auditorium that has the capacity to seat 200. And for very good reason. It is a strange sort of play--a most unusual setting. It does not carry the setting or the characters that appeal to me. These were human beings on an 'estate' who are evolving into animals--they call themselves 'hummals'. For the moment, they have sprouted pointed cat-like ears while some have snouts and others have whiskers! They are oppressed by someone called Miss Brand who wears fascinators and sips bucket-sized drinks through a straw. She is the only human in the plot--the last of the humans, apparently, as the race has become near-extinct.
The hummals are invaded by a monkey family--who sport names such as Dante and Fenwick! One of the hummals (Samantha) falls in love with Dante, much to the consternation of the other hummals. She campaigns to save the monkey family while the rest of her race are demanding their destruction. Miss Brand steps in to take sides with the hummals. At the end of the play, the good guys die and Miss brand is victorious--a triumph of evil over good (which turns the tables on traditional drama). As I am not a fan of such fantasy settings (which is why I do not like Star Wars or Tolkien's Middle Earth and its weird characters), I had great difficulty connecting with the plot--although I did understand its message and its relevance in our day and age.
Shahnaz who reconnected with me during the interval (when, to kill time, she had stuffed her face with potato wedges and coffee!) told me that she quite liked the play although she thought it plagiarized the ideas of Orwell's Animal Farm a little too much. I disagreed that it was plagiarization. I told her that I thought Animal Farm might have inspired this play and that there are many literary works that inspire other ones. We had a nice discussion in the rickshaw on the way back together with a friend that Shahnaz bumped into called Rita Shanbagh. Her husband is Sunil Shanbagh, a well-known theater personality in Bombay. His revival of the play Deewar was debuted at the Prithvi Festival, a week ago.
Rita hopped off on Linking Road in Santa Cruz, Shahnaz hoped off at Linking Road in Bandra (she had a birthday party to attend at Global Fusion--lucky her!) and I directed the driver to my studio.
Back home, I called Dad to make sure all was well and then sat down to eat my dinner--repeat of my lunch plate--while watching Nigella's Christmas Special (which I chanced to come upon through You Tube). It might seem inappropriate at this time of year to be thinking about Christmas but the lights are already switched on in Oxford and Regent Streets in London and there are massive decorations at Covent Garden. Here in Bombay, we are recovering from the aftermath of Diwali, but I do believe we shall be swinging into the Christmas spirit soon. The Diwali lights will barely dim before the Christmas ones are switched on.
It had been a very good day and I do intend to finish up the other course syllabus tomorrow before I leave my studio to take Dad to his six-monthly appointment with his ophthalmologist. Hopefully, all will continue to be well.
Until tomorrow...
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