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By:

Shoma A. Chatterji

21 August 2024 at 10:49:40 am

The Pallbearer’s Tragedy

Three decades after its premiere, Rangakarmee’s Mayyat remains a searing theatrical indictment of caste. Rangakarmee is perhaps the only theatre group that has been producing and performing plays in Hindi in Kolkata for 50 years this year. Founded and headed by the late Usha Ganguly, it is still as active and dynamic in presenting Hindi plays mainly new and sometimes recreating for the new audience, old plays that are timeless in their content and their appeal. The amazing feature of Mayyat...

The Pallbearer’s Tragedy

Three decades after its premiere, Rangakarmee’s Mayyat remains a searing theatrical indictment of caste. Rangakarmee is perhaps the only theatre group that has been producing and performing plays in Hindi in Kolkata for 50 years this year. Founded and headed by the late Usha Ganguly, it is still as active and dynamic in presenting Hindi plays mainly new and sometimes recreating for the new audience, old plays that are timeless in their content and their appeal. The amazing feature of Mayyat is that it was first performed by Usha Ganguly and her troupe way back in 1997 and has already performed around 500 shows spanning 30 years and signifies the cross-generational reach and popularity of the play. We saw a group of absolutely new actors dedicated to Rangakarmee. Their performance defined the strict discipline, the constant workouts and rehearsals to keep mobile and flexible because the very big cast needed to be perfect in body, mind and spirit during each 45-minute performance. What does the word Maiyyat mean? It is said to have its roots in Arabic and literally, it translates as ‘dead body’ or ‘corpse.’ The play is rooted in the deep internalization among the low castes of their exploitation and torture by the Brahmins of their village. The Brahmins are proud in their gait, their body language and even in their pure form of dress with the holy thread of Brahminism proudly on display. The custom of the proud, arrogant and rude Brahmins is to choose at least one among the four untouchables to become the pall-bearer when someone of the upper-caste dies. Instead of feeling sad or insulted, the chosen untouchable feels blessed and proud for being allowed by this strange custom of becoming a fake “Brahmin” if even for one day. Lakku is one such untouchable who lives somewhere near Aurangabad and leads a miserable life of poverty with the burden of a mentally deranged, motherless son he takes care of. The pall is decorated heavily with flowers and instead of looking like a bourse, it is decorated with lots of flowers like a palanquin. Someone obviously among the Brahmins is dead and the other Brahmins draw lots to find out which untouchable will be chosen to offer his shoulder to the bourse. `When Lakku’s name comes up in the shuffling of the paper chips, he is thrilled that at least for one day, he will enjoy the ‘blessing’ of becoming a “Brahmin.” But forced to run through the village on an empty stomach and with a weak body, Lakku collapses and dies before the bourse can reach the crematorium. Now, the question is – who will carry his body and carry it to the cremation ground? The entire performance, with 23 theatre actors, originally scripted, designed and directed by Usha Ganguly, is now performed by a new young cast under the guidance, training and supervision of Amal Saha, Deepesh Rajak, and Anirudh Sarkar. It has been conceived and designed like a musical opera with every Brahmin member of the cast, including the young women, dressed traditionally in pristine white with lots of marigold garlands and a sandalwood tikka adorning their foreheads. Though there are dialogues in the performance, these are either among the leading and decisive members among the Brahmins or scoldings and threats from the Brahmins to the four members from the untouchable tribe, each one representing a different low caste. These four men, alongwith Lakku and his mentally retarded son, keep waiting eagerly in one corner of the proscenium for the results of the lots to be drawn. They hug each other for joy when their names are announced and Lakku specially is thrilled with the responsibility of being pallbearer and becoming a Brahmin for just one night. Whose corpse is being carried in the bourse is not important. What is important is who are the pall bearers? At least, the Brahmins are not. What one carries home after watching a performance-play like Mayyat is the marvellous synchronization of the entire female cast wandering right around the proscenium space singing songs in complete harmony with not a note of error and the Brahmin men discussing, arguing and quarrelling over not how the corpse will be cremated but which low-caste man will become the pallbearer for one night. The bottom-line is caste is a continuous, historical evil. But should it remain so? (The writer is a noted film scholar. Views personal.)

Bottled Greed

A massive liquor scandal exposes Andhra Pradesh’s circular politics of vendetta, offshore money trails, and electoral manipulation.

Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh

The arrest of P.V. Midhun Reddy, Member of Parliament and floor leader of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in the Lok Sabha, by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Andhra Pradesh Police marks a turning point into a byzantine probe that has grown from a bureaucratic irregularity into a transnational money-laundering operation.


The charges against Reddy of criminal conspiracy, cheating, breach of trust, and laundering illicit funds through shell companies, relate to a liquor policy scam that allegedly cost the state Rs. 3,200 crore during the previous government’s tenure.


According to the SIT, Reddy played the role of “core conspirator” by designing liquor policy changes that suppressed popular alcohol brands in favour of obscure labels linked to politically connected distilleries. These firms, in return, allegedly paid hefty kickbacks routed through a constellation of dummy firms and offshore accounts. The funds, officials claim, were then funnelled into the 2024 general elections, securing “undue political advantage” for the ruling party at the time. Reddy’s arrest is the twelfth in the case, and more are expected.


The scandal’s trail leads not only through Andhra Pradesh but also to Dubai. Investigators found that a luxury apartment in the emirate owned by a businessman named Shravan Rao and allegedly linked to primary accused Raj Kasireddy had served as a safehouse for key players. The SIT has noted that Kumar made 29 trips to Dubai since the investigation began, raising suspicions of hawala transactions and foreign asset concealment. The Enforcement Directorate (ED), working in tandem with the SIT, has begun attaching properties in both Hyderabad and Dubai that are believed to have been acquired with scam proceeds.


This is hardly Andhra Pradesh’s first flirtation with scandal. The state’s politics has long been steeped in a pattern of vendetta, corruption, and dynastic ambition. The YSRCP itself was born of such a moment. Founded by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in 2011 after a falling-out with the Congress leadership, the party rode to power in 2019 on the legacy of his father, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Yet even before assuming office, Jagan was already under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED for allegedly amassing over Rs. 43,000 crore in disproportionate assets through quid pro quo dealings during his father’s tenure as Chief Minister. While legal proceedings lingered, political dominance kept enforcement at bay.


Current CM Chandrababu Naidu brings no clean sheet either. In 2023, Naidu was arrested in the AP Skill Development scam, accused of diverting Rs. 371 crore via shell companies. Then in opposition, Naidu cried foul. Today, his government calls the arrest of Midhun Reddy a lawful culmination of due process.


Yet, vendetta politics alone cannot explain the scale and brazenness of the alleged liquor scam. This was not policy failure but premeditated design. Government channels, according to the SIT, were used to nudge out established liquor brands in favour of lesser-known labels tied to political financiers. Liquor retailers were reportedly pressured to stock only approved products.


The arrest of a sitting MP makes the scandal unusually potent. It lifts the veil not only on how Indian elections are funded but also on the shifting geography of corruption. Dubai’s role as a bolt-hole and laundering hub, already well-known from past cases like that of diamond tycoon Nirav Modi, reappears here.


That trail now leads into Telangana, where Raj Kasireddy allegedly used the scam’s proceeds to buy 90 acres near a key industrial corridor outside Hyderabad. Of this, 60 acres were already sold at a profit. The remaining land, along with high-value properties in prime locations, is now under scrutiny.


The bigger question is whether this investigation marks a genuine pivot toward accountability, or merely another round in Andhra Pradesh’s unending carousel of power, privilege and payback. Each government seems fated to dig up its predecessor’s scandals, only to later bury its own. For now, the liquor may be off the shelves. But its bitter political aftertaste lingers and like any good spirit, it won’t evaporate quickly.


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