Sad but true…

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Today I had to take one of the most difficult decision of my life………… closing my first ever salary account. I had been postponing this decision over the past 6 months with the hope that I may find a job and the account would become active again but it’s been of no use.

As I walked to the bank I had the feeling that I was going to lose a very dear friend of mine………… my debit card. I probably never felt this depressed even when I quit my job coz I was never attached to it.

I remember the very first day I had touched it, it felt so magical. I was ecstatic the day I was handed my very own debit card. I even remember the first purchase I made using the card.

Finishing the formalities as I handed the debit card and cheque book to the person sitting across the counter, he started fidgeting with my debit card. He bent it so that it cannot be reused again and I felt that he was bending a part of me. That’s when I realized: somebody’s prized possession may be somebody else’s toy.

As I walked back from the bank, my bag did feel lighter with the absence of the debit card and cheque book but my heart sure felt heavier.

Taciturn reflections indeed!

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I thought my creative juices had dried up & I was suffering from a temporary period of writer's block until a disturbing event surged up my emotions wreaking havoc in my mind.

The past few weeks have been extremely disturbing at the personal font & taxing my brains creating unexplainable turmoil within me. I have been muddling my way through this mess, dragging myself to face the realities of the harsh world yet again. I thought “YOU” were giving me the courage & the hope of a brighter tomorrow. All “YOU” were doing is feeding me with enough strength so that when I could faintly stand up on my legs, “YOU” can beat me down to dust again. “YOU” & me have an on-going battle, since time immemorial which both of know & are aware of. By now i have learnt of tricks to deceit “YOU” in “YOUR” own game. Yet my love & devotion towards you has never become less. Yes, I do question “YOU” on occasions when I felt “YOU” were not by me, those occasions when I needed “YOUR” support the most, I had to search high & low for “YOU.”

I do believe in the "footprints of sand", but “YOU” have never proved it to me when time & again I was faced with such situations where I wanted “YOU” to hold my hand and comfort me. Yet, I am not complaining about it.

But I don’t understand “YOUR” actions towards the people who trusted “YOU” the most. Even during the most disturbing times they never forget to thank “YOU” for what “YOU” have given them, yet it is these very people who “YOU” are torturing today with pain like they have never experienced before.

I know I deserve the 'testing times', “YOU” are taking me through. “YOU” probably want to make me emotionally stronger. What I fail to understand is why “YOU” are taking 'them' through these testing times when they definitely do not deserve this at this age. Don't “YOU” feel you are distancing “YOURSELF” from them??? Yet their love and devotion towards “YOU” will not become less. They will never complain to “YOU” about it.

I don’t know if this would make “YOU” feel any much guilty than “YOU” already are?

An evening to remember

Sometimes you have something special to write about, but you just can’t find the time to do it. This is precisely what happened to me and hence you may actually find this post a bit outdated, but this is something that I had to write about and hence writing.

The last week of December was spent quite valuably. Not because it was close to Christmas and new year and that’s when I decide about my new year resolution, but because I actually found myself going back to one particular landmark in Bangalore more than often.

The landmark that I am actually referring to is “Ranga Shankara” a theatre put together by Arundati Nag, the wife of Late Shri Shankar Nag. People familiar with Kannada cinema will be definitely proud of the two.

Coming back, the last week of December was culturally and socially the best I had spent in the year and I say so because I got to witness 2 of the most amazing plays of Indian theatre.

These 2 plays were actually in Telgue put together by Sri Venkateshwara Nataka Mandali (Surabhi) team which was bought down especially from Andra Pradesh courtesy Infosys foundation. This team is actually a family of 60 people that is carrying forward the tradition.

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Patala Bhiravi and Maya bazaar are the 2 amazing plays that I am talking about. The former has been made into a movie in many languages and is actually an Indian adaptation of Aladdin and the magic lamp. Maya bazaar is however a small story taken from the Mahabharata about the marriage between Shashirekha and Abhmanyu.

“Maya Bazaar” is a spectacular mythological play with lively music, imaginative scenery (including sets of hand painted curtains, wings and frills!), impressive lighting and innovative special effects that will leave an indelible impression on the audience.

A true celebration of the theatricality characteristic of Company Theatre, “Maya Bazaar” is run by members of the one family under a banner first established in 1885. To this day, Surabhi continues to tour Andhra Pradesh extensively, performing in pitched tents for months at a stretch.

This epic drama narrates the love story of Sashirekha, the daughter of Lord Krishna’’s elder brother, Balarama and Abhimanyu, his sister Subhadra’’s son. Central to the plot is the colourful character of Ghatodgaja who uses his magical powers and ingenuity to bring the lovers together in the face of opposition. The play is a must see for its innovative special effects on stage including the descent of Narada from the skies and flying ladoos that land in the mouth of the hungry Ghatotkacha!

Maya Bazaar tells a mythological tale from the epic Mahabharata. It is the story of the romance between Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu and Balarama’s daughter Sasirekha, and how they united against all odds with the help of Ghatotkacha, the demon son of Bhima, using his magic powers.

Best-known for its special effects, Maya Bazaar is unquestionably a treat for the eyes, with arrows flying on the stage causing a wall of fire, another brings down rain to put off the fire; a romantic song with real pigeons flying around and Narada descending from the clouds.

And that’s not all, when Ghatotkacha makes his appearance; the magic seems to begin all over again!

The 2 plays are stories of the bygone eras but the flavor of which is still amazing. I had seen of magic been created on screen using all the multimedia effects, but creating it on stage before a houseful audience was something I saw for the first time and I must say I was speechless.

Be it the dream sequence of the romantic song between the hero and the heroine or the magical fight between Gatokacha and Abhimanyu in Maya Bazaar or the magic slippers and magic carpet in Patala Bhairavi, it definitely left us all spell bound.

Such effects, such dramatization, such magic even puts Harry Potter to shame. I actually did hear one of the audience whispering that Lord of the rings was nothing when compared to the on- stage effects of Maya Bazaar.

People who missed this, I would say you definitely missed something very good. Do catch it when there is a repeat performance. AS far as I’m concerned I would say I am lucky that I got to watch such an amazing play.

Three cheers to Surabhi team!

New year resolution - 2009

Another new year and yet another resolution………….. hmmmm sounds quite boring, especially so if I don’t stick to it 3 days after making it. Just like every other pretty (Ahem!) girl around the world, I also make resolutions year after year about going to the gym, maintaining a healthy life style blah, blah, blah. This year, I thought I’ll make a resolution that’s so different from the rest of the ones I’ve made so far, that I feel like keeping up to it.

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