Epic Recall

Today’s woman may believe she has come a long way, but she still has lessons to learn from her epic counterparts, discovers Anuradha Varma

We may love it or rail against it, but when it comes to Indian mythology, we can’t ignore it! It finds resonance in our personal lives. There are those odd moments when the fiery resolve of Draupadi and the inner strength of Sita offer inspiration.

The urban woman, juggling a career and kids, tied to her Blackberry, and used to having her say on all important issues, seems a far cry from the women in epics, whose destiny was inevitably tied to that of her husband’s.

Writer Manjula Padmanabhan says, “The female characters were generally presented as so meek, goody-goody and self-effacing, it was hard to identify with them; I aligned myself with the heroes and I liked Arjuna best; he seemed the most recognisably human.”

Dancer Mayuri Upadhyay relates to Parvati for her contemporariness. She says, “It goes beyond religion. She is a source of strength as Kali and doesn’t hesitate to let her husband Shiva know when she is upset. She is raw, nurturing and knows what she wants. She tells us to take control and not complain.”

Resilience, Not Revenge
Shivani Wazir Pasrich, who played the Pandava queen in her theatre production Draupadi — We Are So Different Now is a self-confessed fan of the leading women in mythologies. She says, “Their stories that cannot be forgotten, especially because these stories are being lived in different permutations and combinations even today.” In her play, Shivani’s Draupadi helps a contemporary woman, a victim of social abuse, choose resilience over revenge.

Shivani adds, “The woman who has a child out of wedlock — the angst she faces, the decision she makes and the consequences she has to live with — this Kunti lives even today! Parvati, Shivani, Bhavani and so many more fall in love, live and die for love. We do it all even today and we find strength in the brave actions of strong women from the past. I believe the past is a platform to learn from and live differently.”

While Draupadi may have acquiesced to her mother-in-law Kunti’s diktat of consorting with five brothers, the lady famously laid down a rule of her own — none of them could bring a wife into the same house. She also maintained an independent and abiding friendship with Krishna, her true soulmate.

 
And when we perceive Sita as the embodiment of Indian womanhood — self-sacrificing and chaste — we may not be getting the whole story. As Jalabala Vaidya, puts it: “Sita broke all norms to accompany her husband Rama into a 14-year exile. She walked thousands of dangerous miles, and successfully pitted her will against Ravana, the most powerful man of his time. Valmiki tells us she ordered her agni pariksha or trial by fire, in fury to punish Rama for suggesting that she could live anywhere but with him on their return to Ayodhya. That brought him to his senses.”

Brave And Liberated
Adds Vaidya, “Kunti ordered the Pandavas to share the woman they had won, Draupadi; I wonder if influenced by her own experience? Savitri confronted Yama, the God of Death, to get back Satyavan. Parvati did a long penance to gain the attention of Shiva: won him and kept him! How many of us are brave enough or ‘liberated’ enough to do what they did?”

And, while on the Ramayana, if Ravana, king of Lanka, had heeded wife Mandodari’s advice to leave Sita alone, things would’ve turned out quite differently. Amsterdam-based musician Patrick Jered, who is researching for a book on Ravana, reveals: “ In Sri Lanka there is a growing women’s movement which see Ravana’s sister Surpanaka as role model for a strong-minded assertive woman, the opposite of the ‘obedient wife’ figure of Sita.”

Strong And Assertive
However, Draupadi, with all her imperfections, remains a favourite with women. Says writer and chess player Shilpa Mehra, “For me, she’s the quintessential lover, the fiery princess, the merciful nurturer-mother, the survivor.”

Theatreperson Sohaila Kapur says, “I can relate to Draupadi. I admire her courage in living with five men and still being her own person, strong yet supple like a young branch. Sita and Savitri are unidimensional; their purity and sense of duty is hard to emulate or understand. Parvati is a goddess and therefore not human but Kunti’s dilemma is so contemporary — how does one relate to a child born out of wedlock? ”

The women continue to inspire… from Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions that retells the Mahabharata war through the eyes of Draupadi or Amish Tripathi’s The Immortals of Meluha, where a diffident Shiva tries his best to attract the attentions of the independent, talented and extremely standoffish Sati. And, yes, turn on reality television, and it’s a woman readying to choose a husband through a nationwide swayamwar… time for an epic recall?

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Strong Women 

(by Amish Tripathi)

I have imagined a different interpretation of Lady Sati in my book, The Immortals of Meluha. An interpretation where I see her as a strong woman with a mind of her own. Her husband, Shiva, loves and honours her as an equal. While the hugely popular Tulsidasji’s Ramcharitmanas — a 16th century modernisation of the original tale of Rama shows Sita as submissive and docile, the original Ramayana, by Maharishi Valmiki, has a much stronger Sita, portrayed as a woman with a mind of her own. The Gond Ramayani shows Sita fighting battles.

There is a Deobandi fatwa which says that it is unlawful for Muslim women to work in areas where men also work. I don’t know how many non-Muslims know the story of the illustrious Khadija, who ran a hugely successful trading business in ancient Arabia and donated large sums to charity. She was to later marry one of the agents who worked for her, Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, and her husband honoured and loved her.

We know her husband today as Prophet Muhammad. Perhaps liberal Muslims should quote the example of Lady Khadija to those amongst their coreligionists who think women should be kept suppressed.

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/view-article/Epic-Recall

A Tibetan dream

Taiwanese American Wen Yan's social networking site will bring Tibetans and Chinese together to share personal stories. 

Ask anyone in McLeodganj in Dharamshala for the Common Grounds Cafe and you will be directed to the cosy hangout where people from different continents meet to chat over a cup of Tibetan tea. But the cafe is only the beginning for 27-year-old Wen Yan, who calls herself Taiwanese American, an identity that has helped her marry different cultures. Her grandparents were Chinese refugees in Taiwan and her parents moved to the US when she was six.

Both chefs, they came down to help Wen set up the cafe. Growing up in Minnesota, Wen visited Dharamshala and McLeodganj during school trips and for volunteer work. As she finished college, she began to question her own contribution in the scheme of things. While her brother pursues the good things in life as a real estate agent in the US — "We're very different," laughs Wen — she plans her most ambitious project so far, The Common Grounds Project, a social networking interface for Tibetans and Chinese youth to connect.

McLeodganj has been home for over two years now. How is it living among Tibetans in Dharamshala? She says, "I visited Tibet when I was 19-years-old and could sense the tension when people there spoke to me. They thought I was visiting from mainland China. Here, I am seen more as an American than Chinese. I won't call Dharamshala home, but it's definitely becoming a home away from home." She adds, "The Dalai Lama never turns away Chinese groups who want to meet him. And he stresses on peaceful dialogue between both communities. Things are changing here, from the time five years ago when Tibetans broke a projector in a cinema hall which screened a documentary on the Tiananmen Square protests."

Her website will be a one-stop destination for Tibetans and Chinese looking for news and videos on their lands. Explains Wen, "Last year, several Chinese groups attended the Tibetan support conference in Delhi. Government-level discussions have proved to be useless; it's time for people to discuss their personal stories. You can argue over politics and views, but you can't argue with a person talking about his life, his struggles.

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/view-article/A-Tibetan-dream

A Transition

Death can be a complex concept for children to handle, but not if elders deal with it gently, says Anuradha Varma 

From killing off villains in video games or encountering tales of orphans and evil stepmothers, death is not an alien theme for children familiar with the virtual world. But come to the real world and death is generally considered a concept “too complex” for a child to understand.

However, experts believe it is important to introduce the concept to children at an early age. Psychiatrist Anjali Chhabria is reminded of the time her daughter was three-and-a-half years old and her pet parrot died. Chhabria recalls, “She cried all night and the next morning, came up with, ‘I’m angry with Shiv bhagvan. He got an elephant’s head for his son, but what about the poor elephant?’” Chhabria, not sure how to react, wrote a note for the teacher to discuss it with the child. She says, “The teacher addressed the concept beautifully with a class of three-year-olds and told them how different faiths viewed it differently and it meant the person had a new body. My daughter returned with a smile on her face, saying, ‘The bird got bored with his body and now has a new one’.”

Neither Heaven Nor Hell
Talking to children about different faiths and how they view the concept of death helps initiate a dialogue. Says Tibetan freedom activist Tenzin Tsundue, “Buddhism doesn’t promise heaven or hell. Death is quite cool…. It’s the end of one life and start of another, and kids can learn about death from an early age. Nurturing children on the romance of life as an unending fairytale is not only misleading but can be dangerous. You are treating children with condescension if you think that they can’t understand complex issues like love and death. In fact, they do.”

Osho recommended that education must have five dimensions, which includes the art of dying. He says, “In the fifth dimension, you can know that there is no death, so that you can become aware of an eternal life inside you. This should be absolutely essential, because everybody has to die; nobody can avoid it.” According to Ma Prem Naina, of Osho World Foundation, “Everybody is afraid of death and that is contagious. People just don’t want to talk about death and children start getting infected by this constant fear all around.” She adds, “Osho says, ‘Make the child aware of the mystery. If the child’s heart becomes enquiring, that’s enough; that’s all parents can do for the child. Then children will seek their own answers in their own way’.”

Talking Of The End
Says child counsellor Vatsala Shivasubramanian, “By the time children are three, they have encountered a pet dying or seen a flower wilting. It’s important to talk about such events. If a grandfather dies, a child wonders where he has gone…there are huge questions, which have to be addressed. Children can have very profound questions and can wonder — ‘Will I die?’ ‘Will my parents die?’ Hug them, talk to them about the future and how you will be there when they grow up and marry, and that death comes when one is old and unhealthy. It’s not necessary for them to know that death can come to the young and healthy as well.”

When someone dies, it’s important to tell a child that they won’t be coming back. Death is not a sleep-like state from which one can be awakened like Sleeping Beauty in the fairy tale. Chhabria recommends, “Sometimes, you can tell them that they become a star! Visiting a crematorium may be tough to handle, but they can definitely be part of the ceremonies.”

When A Parent Dies
In case of losing a parent, if the issue is not handled well, a child can also blame himself for a parent’s death. Teachers should also talk to other children on how to deal with a bereaved child. Says Chhabria, “I had a 26-year-old patient, who was depressed. I traced it to his childhood when he was about 14 and his father had died of a heart attack. Just before that, the father had scolded him over studies. Ever since, he blamed himself for his father’s death.”

Says children’s author Deepa Agarwal, “Most children as young as four can grasp the finality of death through stories and learn to deal with their feelings of loss, loneliness or guilt. I recall from my own childhood that a ritual like burying the animal can help to bring closure. When my daughter lost a classmate as a teenager, it was an extremely traumatic experience for her because at that age, you almost feel immortal or believe that only old people die. But by talking about it with her classmates she was able to come to terms with it better.”

The Nachiketa Story
Mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik rcommends the story of Nachiketa from the Katha Upanishad for children. As an old, rich man distributes gifts to Brahmins, his son Nachiketa watches. When he points out to his father that he is giving out things of no value, the exasperated father warns that he will give him away to death. Nachiketa decides to look for death and finally, ends up at the house of Death. Death isn’t home, but his wife invites him in. Nachiketa refuses and decides to fast till Death arrives. After three days, Death comes and Nachiketa says, “My father has given me to you”. Death explains that he is too young, and touched, asks him for a wish. Realising that death will come, whether he is a king or a beggar, Nachiketa decides to ask a question instead, “When you come, am I going to die really or is it just a facade? Am I just going to change bodies like houses? You have to tell me the truth.” Death confesses that he only changes “old, rotten bodies and minds and gives them new bodies”. A few who have lived so totally and so consciously, don’t need to come back at all, and become a part of the cosmos. Nachiketa realises he has nothing to be afraid of and death is just a fiction!

The story holds a lesson for children and adults too!

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/view-article/A-Transition

Mentor And Healer

Goa-based Patrick

A spiritual master has the power to minister with compassion and insight, reports Anuradha Varma




Your guru could be your friend, philosopher, guide and therapist — helping you navigate life here and after. That’s because she is probably more than a knowledge-giver; she is an empathetic listener and counsellor, too. Above all, she is non-judgemental.

For single mother Prerna (not her real name), who is fighting for her daughter’s custody, a chance meeting with Goa-based healer Patrick Sanfrancesco changed her life. “I was as low as low can be. I was looking for answers, couldn’t make sense of my life and wanted guidance. Patrick taught me to look outward, and stop focusing on my life and problems. I gradually moved from my self-created hell to a self-created heaven,” says the gritty young woman.

When Prerna first saw Patrick, she was struck by the happiness he radiated, his kindness, and the way he was there for everyone. She knew she had to change her lifestyle. Now, she runs five schools for less privileged children and says, “My universe has expanded. My own child is so much happier; my family is so much bigger.”

Path Of Self-discovery
Sometimes, it takes a guru to help you find the happiness that’s locked away in your heart. Most families in India encourage confiding in a religious leader or spiritual guru. But consult a psychiatrist and you could come back with a stigma that’s not easy to get rid of — the ignorant think it means ‘you have lost your mind.’ The expertise of a guru and a medical practitioner or psychologist can be complementary. As pychiatrist Seema Hingorrany says, “A guru can lead you towards self-discovery. When we teach clients self-soothing techniques, we encourage them to attend satsangs. Introspection becomes easier with the guru’s help.”

However, overdependence is unhealthy, cautions Dr Hingorrany. “If you spend the whole day listening to her voice on a cassette, feel an intense urge to run to the guru at all times, and you start to neglect your family, it’s time to slow down. Strike a balance between the real and the spiritual world,” she advises.

Best Friend And Guide
For mediaperson Suparna (name changed), her guru is someone who helps her stay stable through life’s toughest challenges. She says, “Maitreya came to me as a friend. He guided me through the three biggest events in my life. My mother lived in a vegetative state for years and my life revolved around taking care of her. He was the first to advise me to let go. When my mother was freed of her suffering, I found great inner strength to cope with the loss. Soon after, Maitreya warned me to be ready for another loss, of my father. This time I was more accepting. When the day came, Maitreya was there to guide me through it. The final test came when I met with a near-fatal accident. He not only pulled me out of the most critical phase but asked me to make simple changes in myself. Suparna adds, “A guru becomes special because of his compassionate, giving and understanding nature. That’s what I see in Maitreya, and this helps me evolve into a better person.”

Guru Helps You Focus
When Sreemoyee Piu Kundu decided to take a sabbatical to write her book, she approached her guru, a lama. “He asked me why I was unsure about taking up something I knew would give me happiness. Why not just do it? I realised I was so used to being someone else, it was difficult to connect with the real me.” For Kundu, her guru is keeper of her conscience and is not necessarily clad in saffron robes.

For cosmetics entrepreneur Shahnaz Husain, it was her father. She says, “If there is a god on earth I worshipped, it was my father. I remember when I returned from abroad and showed him all my certificates from London, Paris and New York, he said, “You have made all the preparations for this world. What have you done for the next world?” I laughed and said, “I am very young, I can wait.” He smiled and said “Shahnaz, the only certainty in life is death! Don’t wait, start now.” So I started our free beauty-training course for speech and hearing-impaired girls and boys.”

Leading By Example
A guru is someone whose life is an example for others to emulate. Says a reporter from Dharamsala, “When I observe the Dalai Lama, I learn to slow down. I’m inspired by the way he conducts himself in public, even if he’s in a hurry, he makes each interaction, however short, meaningful and intimate.”
Television actor Ravi Dubey turned to the teachings of Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda as a dejected teen. He recalls, “I was mentally fragile and the smallest setback could crush me. I read his autobiography, which was truly inspiring. Even in the midst of turmoil, his spirit shone and he became an inspiration for others. His powerful life force turned things around for the better. A guru is someone who dispels darkness.”

The non-judgemental presence of a spiritual mentor can be a source of constant inspiration. A guru can hold up a mirror, where you can see yourself for what you are, warts and all. Says entrepreneur Divita Kanoria, “I can talk to him about my pains, phobias and problems and he listens to me with a gentle smile. His blessings give me strength and I feel I have shed my emotional and mental burdens.”

Confess Without Fear
A spiritual mentor is someone who looks at life from a more evolved plane and so can help us gain perspective. New Age guru Deepak Chopra says, “I don’t consider myself a guru. I am someone who believes that consciousness is a field of potentiality that can be explored with the same rigour as mathematics or biology. There are ‘spiritual’ solutions to all problems and they have only one principle ‘Know thyself’. In general, people are confused. If people spent a little time alone and reflected, they would not need therapists, gurus or confessionals.”

Sri Amma Bhagavan of Oneness University says, wellness is a state of harmony of body, mind and consciousness. The journey inward enables a person to accept herself for what she is. He says, “In this journey, you start from where you are and not from where you want to be.”

Clearly, your guru can do a lot for you: She could help you sort out your life and find inner calm. But choose the right spiritual master, one who helps simplify life and leads you to joy. Remember, too that she is no replacement for a psychiatrist in cases where medical attention is necessary.

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/view-article/Mentor-And-Healer

Not so happily ever after!

Fairytales, with their adult themes, continue to fascinate children and adults. Anuradha Varma finds out why

The eagles who soar through the sky are at rest

And the creatures who crawl, run, and creep.

I know you’re not thirsty. That’s bullshit. Stop lying.

Lie the fuck down, my darling, and sleep.

 

So, you thought fairytales and bedtime tales were only for kids? Here’s news — the “children’s book for adults” Go The Fuck to Sleep, written by a frustrated father trying to put his kid to bed, climbed to No 1 on bestseller lists and also became a viral hit. And not long ago, Fables, created by Bill Willingham, which puts fairytale characters in modern New York, also had adult readers hooked. Much like Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up, it seems we all have a kid within us who never grew out of reading about our favourite characters.

Whimsical & contemporary

Says author Deepa Agarwal, “When I read Go the F to Sleep, I said, ‘God, this is what was actually going through my mind all those times my kids wouldn’t go to sleep.’ This book provides the catharsis so many of us need when we can’t be perfect around our children. Using the format of a children’s picture book drives the point home more effectively.” Says graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee, “It brings in the contemporary anxiety of parenting. Its whimsicality makes it attractive to be parent.”

Radio jockey and comic book enthusiast Mihir Joshi is a fan of the Fables series. He says, “If you’re a lover of comics, I don’t think you'll ever get over fairytales. Imagine your favourite fairytale characters in a dark gangster/fantasy/film noir setting...and that's what Fables is.”

Not so happily ever after!

J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan said, “Nothing that happens after we are twelve matters very much.” That perhaps explains our fascination with fairytales. And who says fairytales are for kids anyway? Much of the original content had to be toned down when told to children. The Little Mermaid in Hans Christian Andersen’s original tale comes on land after drinking a potion that makes her feel like she is walking on knives all the time, but the prince goes ahead and marries someone else anyway, and she throws herself into the sea. In one version of Cinderella, the stepsisters lock her in a closet while they saw off their toes to fit into the glass slipper. In The Red Shoes, the little vain girl has to cut off her feet as they won’t stop dancing! As for Snow White, the original German version by the brothers Grimm has the wicked queen fatally punished by being made to dance wearing a pair of red-hot iron shoes until she falls over dead. And Jack may have been a thief and Little Red Riding Hood a seductress!

Welcome to the real world

So, what purpose do fairytales really serve? Morals were often appended to fairytales when they were rewritten for children, according to Mary Tatar, who teaches Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University and is the author of Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood, Off with Their Heads! She says, “Fairytales connect with all kinds of adult secrets. They tell children about death, which is something that adults talk about in hushed tones. They tell them about romance and marriage and in some cases, they'll tell them about sex and violence."

Remarks author and mother of a three-year-old Madhuri Banerjee, “I have found that the popular fairytales need to be toned down. They were probably meant to scare children into doing things the adults wanted. If you trespassed, you would be punished like Goldilocks. If you didn't keep your promise, Pied Piper would take you away. Adults are fascinated with them because it keeps their kids busy and each story can be interpreted in a kinky way.”

Adds Sarnath, “Kids are cruel by nature… they’re lovable yet petrifying! Much of children’s literature is written by adults who think they knew what children want. My personal favourite is Vikram and Betaal… the setting is fantastic, where the king has to pick up a corpse from a tree. We need to revive our stories.”

A twist in the plot

There are some feminist versions of fairytales around too. The Paper Bag Princess, first published in 1980, rescues her not-so-charming prince from a dragon and then dumps him when he criticizes her for not being dressed like a princess. Modern-day Princess Bubble achieves her personal happily-ever-after even before she meets her Prince Charming! The plot gets a bit twisted in Just a Plant, where parents introduce their little girl to the benefits of marijuana.

It’s a mean world out there and looks like fairytales and lullabies are not afraid to admit it… remember the lullaby “Down will come baby, cradle, and all”? One British lullaby threatens that Bonaparte will “…beat you, beat you, beat you, And he'll beat you all to pap. And he'll eat you, eat you, eat you, Every morsel, snap, snap, snap.”

However, as G.K. Chesterton said, “Fairytales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

And, parents, if you’re trying to put that kid to sleep, try telling a fairytale, one that you enjoy too!

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-03/people/29733035_1_fairytales-fables-bedtime-tales

Dastangoi is a fun oral tradition: Mahmood Farooqui

Long before films and theatre, or even the adventures of Harry Potter, there was the dastangoi, the medieval art of storytelling, which dove into the world of fantasy and sorcery. The original ‘dastango’ or storyteller engaged audiences at street corners in Lucknow or on the steps of the Jama Masjid, each story taking several days to play out. Today, theatreperson and Peepli Live co-director Mahmood Farooqui and his team of actors recreate the art on stage. He talks to Anuradha Varma about what makes the dastan special

What is dastangoi?

Dastangoi is the Urdu and Indian art of storytelling where the narrator uses nothing other than his voice to tell stories of war, love, Tilism and Aiyyari, most of which centre around Amir Hamza, his progenies and their adventures. They often fight again mighty sorcerers and in this they are aided by an army of tricksters, led by Amar Aiyyar, who is Hamza’s childhood friend.

How and when were you introduced to it? What fascinated you to work on its revival?

I was introduced to it by the legendary Urdu scholar and my uncle S. R. Faruqi. He has painstakingly collected all the 46 volumes of the series and done a multi-volume study of it. I was drawn to it because the stories were truly marvelous and dramatic and as a theatre director and actor I got material that was totally self-contained. I needed nothing else, not even rehearsal space to prepare them and as a performer it gave me immense joy.

When was the last dastan written? Have there been attempts to write fresh ones?

Dastans were an oral narrative, passed orally from the Ustads to the apprentices. They were only written and printed when the tradition was coming to an end, at the end of 19th century. The last great Dastango Miir Baqar Ali died in 1928. We have compiled some Dastan like narratives, one around Partition, one around Binayak Sen but they are more like Dastangoi presentations and less like Dastans.

What does Dastangoi reveal historically about the period it was popular? What were the times like?

It reveals extremely fun people who were willing to suspend their disbelief to an amazing degree. It also shows a period where attitudes to romance, sex, bawdiness, morality and religious sanctions were much more relaxed and liberal than in our times. It also shows a very sophisticated taste for entertainment.

Among the dastangos, who was the most prolific? Was it a populist art or restricted to the courts and elite gatherings?

Dastangos recited their stories from the steps of Jama Masjid and at street sides in Lucknow so it was popular with the masses and elite alike. It was immensely popular in places like Lucknow, Delhi, Rampur and Hyderabad. There must have been at least hundreds of Dastangos in the nineteenth century. I would say Syed Husain Jah was probably the best Dastango. 

Who are the main people involved in this, besides you and actor Danish Hussain? Does Anusha (Rizvi, his wife and co-director of Peepli Live) play any role here?

I started this in 2005, then Dan joined me in 2006 and now there are about 12 people in Delhi and Bombay who regularly perform with us. S. R. Faruqi is, of course, in a sense the founder and mentor and continues to be involved. Anusha is the executive producer and looks after the costumes and the props and has collaborated closely at all stages on it.

I had a grant from the India Foundation for the Arts for a couple of years in order to conduct workshops in Delhi and Bombay and to bring out a book, etc. But everyone involved in it does other things to keep themselves going. We support ourselves.

Has the success of Peepli Live rubbed off on the Dastangoi performances? Is it easier to get people to the performances?

We like to do shows which are free and open to all. Peepli Live is in a separate realm and Dastangoi is something else; they have very little to do with each other.

The Dastangoi is in Urdu… is there a secular message there somewhere? Among the dastangos mentioned is Amba Prasad Rasa, along with Mir Ahmad Ali Rampuri, Muhammad Amir Khan, and Ghulam Raza.

The Dastan narratives are themselves very secular. Urdu has a highly secular ethos and there has always been a small but significant component of non-Muslim writers and scholars in Urdu. But until 1947 everyone who lived in Punjab, Hindu, Muslim or Sikh used and spoke Urdu. Some of the biggest Urdu newspapers were published from there.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-29/news-interviews/29829149_1_dastangoi-urdu-storytelling

'Prithvi theatre doesn't encourage outsiders'

As Sayeed Alam’s play Big B draws audiences in Delhi, he regrets not being able to put it up in Prithvi theatre, he tells Anuradha Varma

TNN | Aug 5, 2011

In his 16-year-long career, which saw him become “playwright by choice, director by chance and an actor by force”, Sayeed Alam has performed in Prithvi theatre just once. 

Alam counts himself among the few playwrights writing original scripts, in a theatre scene filled mostly with adaptations. His play Big B is an inspired piece of writing, based on the late Hindi writer, Munshi Premchand’s work Bade Bhai Saheb. In ‘Hinglish’, the play is about two brothers — the ‘studious’ Kamta Prasad and the younger ‘sporty’ Samta Prasad. Alam plays the elder brother who mentors his brother with lessons in English, even as he fails his own classes. In ‘broken English’, the play includes lines such as “Do not go outside, it is very nighty”.

Alam shares his favourite moment in the play, “‘He walks’ becomes ‘She walksy’ for a woman.” The play also introduces a younger generation to Premchand’s work. He adds, “I’ve been reading Premchand since I was a child and find him a great humourist. Unlike other writers, he doesn’t need to concoct situations to create humour; it is understated, unassuming, true to life and very natural.”

He says it was common earlier for the elder sibling to act as self-appointed guardian for those younger. “It’s everybody’s story. My brother did the same with me. I had a roommate in college when I studied in Aligarh, and he would tell me to study hard and not waste my parents’ money, when he himself had failed quite a few classes. I used to wonder, ‘What about you?’”

Among the plays Alam has penned are Ghalib in New Delhi and Maulana Azad, both featuring actor Tom Alter. While the 103^rd show of Big B was held recently, Ghalib… has crossed 300 shows. And though the group has performed in Mumbai, Prithvi Theatre remains a dream. Alam believes it’s become the exclusive ground for a few theatre groups. He says, “Outstation theatre groups are welcomed in Delhi, but that’s not so in Prithvi. There are four or five theatre groups, which I don’t want to name, who perform there regularly.”

On his association with Tom Alter, he says, “I was looking for an actor to play Maulana Azad and somebody suggested I watch the film Shatranj Ke Khiladi. I found Tom spoke better Urdu than the main protagonists played by Saeed Jaffrey and Sanjeev Kumar. In fact, he speaks better Urdu than me too. His acting is effortless and his knowledge of Indian culture is amazing.”

Another wish is to have Naseeruddin Shah watch his play Big B. Reveals Alam, “I was inspired to write the play after a reading of Bade Bhai Saheb by Naseeruddin.”

We wish him luck!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/people/Prithvi-theatre-doesnt-encourage-outsiders/articleshow/9490846.cms