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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.)

Divide and Rule – Do It Yourself (DIY)

Updated: Dec 23, 2024

DIY

So, friends. Did you try that banana peel experiment yet to learn how fresh, yellow peel turns crumbly, black soil? Ever wondered why and how it has happened? The soil is full of huge number of microorganisms namely ‘decomposing’ bacteria and fungi. There are also larger animals like earthworms and different species of insects. Soil is essentially the natural residence of these organisms. So, did you enjoy observing the banana peel turning into black soil? Now here is a bigger thing you can do.


First, learn and develop the habit of ‘segregating’ your household waste. Segregation? What’s that? Oh. Come on. Simple. All you have to do is sort out your waste into two main categories. All the waste generated in the kitchen that is ‘wet waste’ which is ‘biodegradable’ and comprises waste produced after cleaning the vegetables, fruit peels, nirmalya (stale flowers), even stale or leftover foods, tea powder left after the tea is strained etc. etc.


Do you know that just by sorting out and segregating the household waste in this way, you are reducing the volume of the waste that is going out of your house almost by 50 per cent! Wow! It means that only 50 per cent of the dry waste will be dumped in your dustbin which is relatively easy to manage. That is how ‘divide and rule’ works.


You are now going to learn the simple but most effective way of converting all your kitchen waste into compost which is full of essential nutrients and minerals necessary for normal and healthy growth of plants. This composting can be done by using a culture of decomposing bacteria (Bi-ocomposting) or by using the earthworms (Vermicomposting). Both these methods are equally efficient and effective. However, at the individual, household level biocomposting is most preferred method. For larger scale operations such as at the community level, I would prefer Vermicomposting. We are going to learn both these methods through these articles.


Bio-composting: This method of home composting is now being encouraged as a means of reducing the organic waste being discarded and sent to the landfills. It uses certain specific varieties of soil bacteria which are already present in the soil. The starting mixture enriched with these bacteria is available in the market. It is commonly known as Bio-culture or Bio-inoculum. You can get it from the plant nurseries or you can order it online.


Once you get this readymade culture as a startup mixture, get ready for the very exciting act of converting all your kitchen waste into a dark soil or the compost. It can be done in a suitable container. Bin composting is the most popular and advanced version of home composting system that overcomes problems experienced in other composting systems. There are bins of different types and different sizes available for home composting in the market.


However, you try to use an old, discarded container for this purpose. The most preferred containers are those made up of plastic such as plastic buckets, bins, bottles etc. collected from waste. Even earthen pots or wooden boxes can be used alternatively. Oh! Our time is over for now. Will continue with this exciting activity next Saturday. Till then, have a great weekend and Merry Christmas to all the readers!


(The author is an environmentalist. Views personal.)

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