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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.)

Sixteen SITs; none fruitful

The Maharashtra government’s announcements of SITs look like a farce

Special Investigation Teams

Mumbai: The Mahayuti government in the state, since its inception three years ago, has formed at least a dozen of Special Investigation Teams (SITs) to investigate several serious issues. But, one realises that hardly any of the SITs have served the purpose of their formation unless and until ‘killing time’ is one of the undeclared tasks entrusted to them.


The state government announced formation of the SIT in murder case of the Massajog Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in Beed district on January 2, almost a month after the incident took place. However, within a fortnight of formation of the SIT, the state government had to reconstitute it by removing nine cops from the Beed district and appointing six new cops from the state CID, to maintain impartiality of the probe agency. While this act exposes the callousness on the part of the state government in forming the SIT, the only credit to the agency so far is surrender of the prime accused in the case Valmik Karad.


In August 2024, the state government had formed three SITs. The first one was on August 20 to probe the sexual attack case in a school on Badlapur. The incident had happened on 12-13 August and the opposition had threatened with state-wide protests on August 24. On this backdrop, the SIT was announced on the day when the local protests escalated badly affecting the railway traffic on the route. Incidentally, the accused was arrested even before the SIT was formed and charge sheet was filed on September 22. However, the main accused Akshay Shinde was killed in a police encounter the next day, while the SIT report submitted to the court on December 17 recommended action against a senior police official for dereliction of duty, giving a general sense that the case is being hushed up by the authorities.


Another SIT formed in August 2024 was on August 27, to investigate the reasons that led to collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Statue at Malvan in Sindhudurg district on August 26. Though the accused were apprehended and case has been filed, the SIT was reconstituted on September 19 expanding its scope of investigation. However, nothing tangible seems to have come out of the probe.


Incidentally, on the same day in the neighbouring district of Ratnagiri, a 19-year-old nursing student was raped by an auto-rickshaw driver and an SIT was formed to probe the incident. It is being said that the SIT was formed just to manage the public opinion which was already fierce in those days due to the rape and murder of a woman doctor at the R G Kar institute of Kolkata.


Despite the numerous SITs announced, and the assignment of senior officers to oversee them, their outcomes remain elusive. This has provided the opposition with ample fodder to accuse the government of using SITs as a mere smokescreen, a tactic to temporarily appease critics and defuse tensions. Once public outrage subsides, neither the opposition nor the media seems inclined to follow up on the progress of these investigations.


SITs formed by the Mahayuti government over past three years

Date of SIT Announced by Task entrusted

11 Feb 2023 – CM - Ratnagiri Journalist Shahsikant Varpe Murder Case

16 May 2023 – DCM - Trayambakeshwar temple incident

19 June 2023 – CM - BMC Contracts worth Rs 12,000 crore

12 Dec 2023 – CM - Disha Salian Murder Case

15 Dec 2023 – DCM - Mahadev App Case

17 Dec 2023 – CM - Woman assaulted by IAS officer's son

03 Feb 2024 – DCM - Ulhasnagar BJP MLA shooting

27 Feb 2024 – Vidhan Sabha Speaker - Jarange Patil's Remarks

28 Feb 2024 – CM - Maratha Quota Stir Caning

21 May 2024 – DCM - Ghatkopar hoarding collapse case

20 Aug 2024 – DCM - Badlapur school sexual attack case

27 Aug 2024 – DCM - Ratnagiri Nursing Student Rape Case

27 Aug 2024 – CM - Sindhudurg Shivaji Statue Collapse

2 Jan 2025 – CM - Probe Massajog Sarpanch abduction and murder

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