He ignited fire in me

(In the memory of Prasanna Mohanty)

Satyabrata Rout

It was the year 1975 when I joined as a under graduate student at Ravenshaw College, the most prestigious academic institutions of the then Orissa, now a University. I had to come to Cuttack to stay in the college hostel from my ancestral village. The college had opened many other avenues for its students. The college cultural society was very popular at that time. There were so many activities going on parallel to study. Literature club, sports club, gym, dance n’ music club and dramatic society were established to express and ignite the young minds. But unfortunately these organizations were dominated by the arts and commerce students. The science students’ seldom joined in these clubs. Being a science student I got strict instructions from my teachers and parent not to take active participation in those cultural activities as it may disturb my study. But I had a different mind. I had a keen interest in literature and art. So I joined the dramatic society without the knowledge of my guardians. Every evening some of the likeminded students gathered together and use to discuss about Oriya theatre, cinema and other cultural activities that were going on around the city. In this way I got involved with cultural activities and came to know about contemporary Oriya theatre. That year our senior students presented Arthur Millar’s “All my Sons”. I did not do any role but they gave me the job of a prompter. Slowly I was exposed to a wider world of Theatre. I came to know about the playwrights and plays. I learnt the production process. I interacted with spot lights, wings, flats and I was thrilled. The play was directed by one of the leading Oriya theatre and cinema actor Hemanta Das (He expired in April this year). A memorable Oriya film “Sesa Shrabana” (The last monsoon) was released by then and got popularity among the Oriya people. Prasant Nanda and Maheswata Ray became a house hold name because of this film. Hemant Das was doing a major role in that film and got lot of appreciations. So working with a man of that stature was an opportunity for me. Hemanta babu got impressed with my work and I came close to him. One day he brought me a proposal to attend a theatre workshop organized by Bharatiya Natya Sangha at Kalasri Theatre auditorium. He insisted on theatre training to become a good actor and for that the workshop is essential. I also did not want to miss the opportunity. I have already made up my mind to become an actor by then.

I collected the address and reached Kalasri Theatre. It was late afternoon. There were few young people gathered around. I did not know any one of them so I sat quietly inside the hall. That was the first day of the workshop. I heard from someone talking about acting and performances. They were discussing about the play they saw last evening. They were talking about the director of the workshop who has come from Delhi. He will select actors for his theatre group which he has established recently at Tulsi Pur, a kaswa in Cuttack. I have no idea about any theatre groups till then. Though I had the experience of doing drama in my village club during the summer vacations where I used to gather my village friends and directed a couple of plays, I had no experiences of modern and contemporary theatre and the groups. So I got exited to become a member of a theatre group. At 7.30 pm dot in time, a dark complexioned man entered into the hall. He was short height but looked very smart with a red tie hanging from the neck. He was well dressed up. At the very entrance he passed an impression of slenderness and dominance. Everybody stood up from their place and all the gossips stopped. I couldn’t stop my curiosity and whispered in some body’s ear to know about him. A young man stood nearby me spoke in a low voice, “He is Prasanna Mohanty; the director”. After brief introduction he did some theatre games with us. I liked the way he made us relaxed. He worked with us for 7 days. Every evening he started the workshop rights at 7.30 not even a minute late. In the beginning there were 15 students but after 2-3 days the number was reduced to 6, perhaps because of the strong discipline and hard work he incorporated. Prasanna bhai taught us the importance of time in theatre and in life as well. “The time that passed will never return. If you come late you will loose. More over Theatre is a group activity. Everybody has to depend on each other as one can’t do drama alone. If one person does not come in time rest of the team suffers.”

Time passed by. Every day I was waiting eagerly for the evening to come. This was my first exposure to contemporary world of theatre. I learnt many creative games, exercises and improvisations during those days. I also made many friends. To our utter disappointment the workshop was culminated after seven days. As we all finished the class, Prasanna Bhai called and told me to come to his residence at Tulsi pur. I was waiting for that. The next evening I reached his residence in the stipulated time. I found many young new faces gathered along with some workshop students and Prasanna bhai was addressing about his new theatre group, “The Theatre Movement”. He introduced me to others. There I found one young man little elder than me with whom I made friendship. He was Hara Pattanaik, who adapted to Oriya cinema in later years and became a house hold name. We all became the members of the group and marched forward for a committed theatre movement. Our first venture was “Jwala”, an Oriya play written by Dr. Basant Das. Hara Pattanayak did the lead role. I just played a minor character in that play. I had a liking towards the offstage activities so I involved myself in lighting and stage design under the guidance of Prasanna Bhai. By observing my keen interest in theatre he advised me to join National School of Drama, New Delhi from where he had already studied theatre. I came to know about this famous Institution from him only. He told us many stories about Ibrahim Alkazi and his dictatorship in theatre. I learnt about the legendary productions of Andhayug and Tughlaq at Purana Qila and Firoz Saha Khotla in Delhi. They were like fairy tells to me. In my imagination I started mapping a new horizon of theatre completely different from my village drama. It was a myth to me during those days.

Slowly I was exposed to many qualities of Prasanna Mohanty. He was a painter and a trained scenic designer. He joined Oriya Doordarsan and posted at Tulsi Pur very recently. I saw many of his design works and sketches of productions during his NSD time which inspires me to adapt design as a career. I learnt sketching from him. He was a big brother to me during that phase of time. We did number of plays during that period in our Theatre Movement group. While involved with Prasanna Bhai and his theatre group I could not give much time to my study. My father’s dream to make me a doctor was shattering. I could not do well in the final year examination. Fortunately my honours was retained and I got a seat in a medical institution at Bhubaneswar. I had to leave Cuttack but I couldn’t cut off myself from Prasanna Mohanty. We met each other occasionally till I joined NSD in 1980.

He was my inspiration. He ignited the fire in me to adapt a wider world of theatre. He is no more with us now. He left for the heavenly abode on 12^th September, 2010. I did not know about his death until I got a phone call from Surya Mohanty from Bhubaneswar. I couldn’t believe it at that moment. I couldn’t even accept his death. But it is true. His health was reducing like anything during the recent years because of his drinking habit.

……………….May his soul rest in peace.

__________________________________________________________________ Dr.Satyabrata Rout/Associate Professor, Dept. of Theatre Arts, University of Hyderabad

He; who opened my eyes.

Moment-1

Dr. Satyabrata Rout

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He opens our eyes; removes all the darkness from within us and helps to acquire the light of knowledge. He inspires us to follow the right path in life. He makes us special and fills us with positive energy. He is always connected with his students and all his deeds are for the betterment of his disciples in long run. From the outer view he may be harsh and rude but his heart must be pulsating for his students in every moment. He is the most selfless man who loves to give and share his experiences and teaches us life. He is my GURU.

I am going to narrate some of my experiences with my beloved teacher who shaped my thoughts, ideas, personality and above all my perception towards this wonderful world. Yes I am talking of the legendary Guru Sri B.V Karanth and intend to share my experiences with all.

Something happens in somebody’s life that twists his path and makes him someone he never thought of. I am talking of myself. I had never dreamt to be an artist. Though passion for art was always there from childhood, I never ventured to adapt it as my profession. I was studying medicine and wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to lead a life that most of the common individual cherished for. But something happened to me in my 3^rd year of medicine that changed my life and made me focused to a different perspective. It happened because of Sri B.V Karanth.

First time I met him in 1979. He was giving a talk on Indian theatre at Bhubaneswar. I didn’t know him before but I can’t forget that moment when I saw a man with kurta and black beard talking in English mixed Hindi to a huge gathering of Oriya audience. The language I couldn’t follow but his expressions and aura was so powerful that dragged me under his spell. At that moment I decided to learn theatre from him. I expressed my desire to study at National School of Drama to him. (Karanth was the director of NSD during that time). But to my utter astonishment he started shouting at me and refused to talk. I remembered I was shivering and trembling like a leaf by his harsh loud words. I came back to my hostel and spent a sleepless night, every moment recalling his wide beard face. His words disheartened and upset me from my within; “I will not select you in NSD. You are not born for that. Continue your study and be a doctor”.

At that very moment I promised to join in National School of Drama in the ensuing academic year and told my friends that, “nobody can stop me joining there nor even B.V Karanth”. I prepared myself thoroughly for theatre. I read books related to plays and literature. I learnt Hindi and read Mohan Rakesh’s “”Ashad ka Ek din and “Adhe Adhure”. I applied for NSD in 1980 and called for an interview in Delhi. I met Karanth there. At my first appearance he shouted at me, “Oh! Oriya boy! Why did you come? I am not going to take you.” Again I was discouraged by his ruthless words. I couldn’t do well in the interview. I came back Bhubaneswar with broken heart. The next couple of days went very badly. I got irritated towards friends. I did not talk to anybody properly. I got very angry with Karanth. For me he was a villain. I was so frustrated that I thought to discontinue my medical study and go back home. Ultimately I fell ill and was hospitalized. I blamed Karanth for all my sufferings and cursed that moment when I met him first time in Bhubaneswar. I was almost at the point of breaking down.

I got cured but my disappointment was increasing day by day. Almost a month passed by. One day the post man handed over a registered letter to me. I opened it and could not believe my eyes. I was selected for NSD with condition that I have to submit a no objection certificate from my parent.

And the rest is history……

Contd………………………………….

----------Remembering my Guru on his 8th death anniversary

1st September, 2010.

Karanth ; A rendering yogi (Baba)

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I have seen a rendering yogi in him who is always in search of something, something new, something modern and at the same time original, indigenous, pure and connected with the roots at every time and in every moment. He remained an experimentalist and blessed by the supreme to create new all the time of his creations. Music was his weapon to achieve the truth. With the help of music he was always hooked up with the waves of cosmos. He has never associated with any organizations, repertories or groups for long. He had the tendency to leave and renounce at the pick of its maturity. As he always used to say, “I can’t stick to a particular kind of life for a longer period. I get bored after certain time. My throat choked and I long for fresh air. I can’t create any thing if I wouldn’t travel. I want to see the world, people, life, landscapes, mountains, temples, Mosques, gurudwara, Church, tribes, rituals and everything that a man can see in his whole life. I want to do mistakes and rectify it by my own experiences. I want to learn anything and everything that I could do”. (Once I found a book on “The art of cooking” in his book self). So he became a traveler throughout his life. He didn’t follow any particular style or form. Where ever he went he adapted the native forms and converted that into his own creations. That became the style of Karanth (Karanth effect). He has never followed the grammar rather created his own. His eyes, ears, heart, mind and soul was transformed into a big truth of Theatre; the holy theatre. Theatre became a celebration for him which was reflected every time in his productions; the celebration of life; Utsav dharmi. He had a tendency to forget. He forgot everything very easily. Even some times he asked for my name and felt very much embarrassed for that deed. It became a part of his personality. But it is obvious for Karanth Ji. For him, “If I will not forget, how can I create?” He never repeated anything in his life. There was no look back even. Many times he forgot his own compositions which he had created few hours ago and made something new. We had to make him remember the original one. In this way he had created many compositions for a piece of music or a scene. Even at times he himself rejected his own creation by saying it was not done by him. This nomadic yogi has achieved and acquired that others couldn’t. A sense of satisfaction and dissatisfaction were found always in his gestures at the same time and same moment; satisfaction for his achievements and restlessness for new creation. He gave up everything so he was pulled off with many things.

Baba…………!!!!!!!!!!!You have opened my eyes and ears towards a wonderful world of creation and ignited all the senses to receive. I salute you on the occasion of your death anniversary and the forth coming Guru divas (Teacher’s day).

Bless us all.
Yours loving
Satya

Me and my self; A Spiritual Journey

Dr.Satyabrata Rout (India)

Chapter-6

Continued……

………………….The night passed by with open eyes. At about 5 PM the students started waking up and prepared themselves for the morning class. (The students were staying in the same hotel). They started their power walk towards la Maloca. Cantara came to picked me up from the hotel as it became very difficult for me to climb up the mountains. After she opened the circle with a welcome note to the Monkey according to the Maya calendar, I took over the session. Last evening before the class was finished I wrote them the Guru Vandana in Sanskrit and told to remember or at least read it thoroughly so that they can repeat after me. So to start with we recited the Sloka as a mark of offering to our Guru.

“Om…Om…Om… Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Gurudeva Maheshwar, Guru sakshat Param brahmam, Tashmai Sri Gurabe Namah… Om…Om…Om”

I have explained them the importance of Guru in the life. The parents give birth; the guru opens the eyes to the world. He who removes all the darkness within and shows the path of light is called Guru. That is why in India we regarded Guru as our second father and performed all the duties for him as we do to our own father. A student asked me what the difference between Teacher and Guru is. To answer to his question I said, “Teacher is not the exact translation of Guru in English. We can’t translate a culture in to other languages, we can adapt it. Teacher is an adapted word of Guru. A teacher teaches but a Guru inspires. A teacher teaches about the subject but a Guru teaches about the life. A student while learning from the Guru adapts many things from him. He carries away the tradition from the Guru and becomes an extension of his master. In India we touch the feet of our Gurus every day before the class starts. It is scientific. By touching the feet we accept and surrender ourselves under him to accept his learning. More over the positive energy of the Guru passes from him to his student which is very much essential to start the work. Guru gives ashirwad (blessings) to his students and without the blessings of the Guru no knowledge could be achieved. That is why we placed him in the position of God”.

After the Guru Vandana, we start the voice exercise classes. We did humming exercises with different body gestures. We worked on resonators and tried to find our suitable resonator in different moods and situations viz. love, fear, anger etc. Then we meditate for some time with a Buddhist chanting. The forenoon session was dedicated to mother earth. We did many exercises related to earth and tried to gain energy from the soil. I divided the class in to four groups and told them to improvise the topic keeping strong relationship with nature, environment and earth. The topics should be derived from myth of your land or even they can create myth. After an hour and half they showed me the work which after group discussions and rectification is decided to be presented as a piece of demonstration on the final day of my class. I also suggest them to do a piece from Guayasamin and handed over the book to them which I have kept with me.

Post lunch session was devoted to the discussion and discourse. I have brought with me many recorded versions of Indian classical and folk dances which I played for them. Afterwards I told them about Indian Classical Drama and the origin of Natya Shastra. The students took more interest on the Indian mudras and movements. This way the day’s work was over.

For the next couple of days I worked with them on the oriental gestures of the body realization and its reaction on different emotions. I explained them how to achieve the Rasa. We did many exercises on voice culture. Once the whole night we spent on fire exercises. One day was devoted for water and the body realization. On one Saturday morning we went to the nearby weekly market at Villa de Leyva for observation. On the foothills of this colonial town there were temporary shades for the market which opens once in a week. It was a chilled morning with showers of rain. I rapped myself with worm cloths and started for the market along with the students. We spent nearly half a day there till lunch hour. The market was full of with colours. People with different gestures, postures and facial expressions were busy in the market. We had our lunch at outside that day and I remember Pilar one of the participant of the workshop invited me for a typical Colombian food in a restaurant in the market plaza. After our return from the market the students prepared an improvisation based on the observation of people in the market place.

The time passed like a flying bird. My time slut for the classes came to an end. The students were so much involved in the process that they continued the practices after the dinner till late night every day. Perhaps we all were in search of something unique and special. We are learning about life during these days. We were connecting us with our own self. On 18^th July the students present one demonstration show based on the knowledge they acquired during these days. It was inspired by the oriental view I have injected them. The work of Guayasamin which was a part of the demonstration was a unique experience for me.

The next two days we went on a study tour to Rakira Mountains. It happened to be a spiritual journey for me. We took a bus from Villa de Leyva to Rakira, a town 40kilometers away from Villa de Leyva and is known for local handicrafts. While travelling through a bus on the hilly roads of Colombia I interacted with the typical Colombian mountain ranges for the first time. Though I had been her for so many days, I was busy in my work and could not find time to see nature perfectly. Here through the window of the bus I saw the wavy sky lines formed by high rising mountains around the horizon. There were rows of Cyprus trees rising high on the both sides of the road. It reminded me the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh, a 19^th century Scottish painter who had an obsession to paint the country side landscapes with full of Cyprus trees. This particular highway had a strong resemblance with the European landscapes. Out of curiosity I asked someone sitting beside me to know more about this landscape. To my astonishment I came to know that these Cyprus trees were not the native flora and fauna of Latin America. They were brought by the Spanish from Europe. These vegetations adapted America as their home land and grew copiously throughout the mountains in the country over the years. One very important thing was revealed during our discussions regarding these mountains. Millions of years ago these landscape of Boyaca was under the sea. During the course of time the level of water went down and the mountain range was revealed. That is why large numbers of fossils of the ocean animals were available in the mountains. I came to know that there is a big fossil museum established by the government in this locality near Villa de Leyva. A life size fossil of a Cronosaurs is kept there for public viewing. I took interest in it and planned to see the museum one day during my stay here………………………..

Continued…………………………………..

Satyabrata Rout/University of Hyderabad/ India.

Me and my self; A Spiritual Journey

Dr.Satyabrata Rout (India)

Chapter-5

Continued from chapter-4

…………………..Post lunch session was devoted to theories and discussions. I opened the session with the basic understanding of Indian culture, religion and its geographical conditions. I started my discourse with the invasion of Aryans to this land and called it‘The Aryavarta’ (land of Aryas) and how the native pre vedic culture of the land was mixed with the new civilization and gave birth to a religion named as “Sanatana Dharma” (it was recognized as Hindu Dharma in the later stage). In my conversation I told them that,

“India which we know is the native lands of the Hindus, not in the sense of religion but in the sense of geographical structures. The people who were living on the eastern side of the mountain range of Hindu-Kush were called themselves the Hindus.It became their mother land. The social and cultural life of those people gave birth to two unique civilizations much before the Greek or Mesopotamia; The Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa civilization which were flourished more than 15,000 years ago. These ancient people believed on 5 elements of nature (Earth, air, fire, water and ether) and started praying and invoking these elements. That becomes the foundation of Hindu religion. Rituals and festivals were performed to establish a harmonious balance between the earthly and the spiritual life. Sanskrit became the language of culture among the people of this region. Vedas were written in Sanskrit language. It became the first inscription of the Hindu literature. It decided the Dharma of the people and the deeds to achieve that dharma. Slowly with the advent of time myths and stories were added into the life style and became popular among the society. It gave rise to a strong tradition which is popularly known as “Vachana Parampara” (narrative tradition). By this time two famous mythological books became popular in the Indian society; “The Ramayana” and “The Mahabharata”. Ramayana was written on the back drop of Indian social systems. It must be written during the time when the cultural crossing of Aryans with the native Dravidians was happened. There was a clear indication of the co-existence of Aryans and Dravidians in Ramayana as well as in the Mahabharata. The monkeys and other animals like bear and Eagles were the mythical representations of the native Indians who were living in the forests or caves near by the seas. Even some of these characters were dwelling in the islands inside the Indian Ocean like Bali and Java. Bali, the monkey king was also a character in Ramayana. These monkeys and bears including the mighty Hanumana, Angada, Bali, Sugriva and Jambavana helped Rama, the great Aryan king of Ayodhya to fight with Ravana, the king of Lanka (Sri Lanka) to rescue Queen Sita the wife of Rama who has been kidnapped by Ravana from the Jungle of Panchabati. The presence of Dravidians and their co-operation with the Aryans can be trashed in the Mahabharata Also. By the time of Mahabharata the social system of Hindu religion was already set up. The cast system which is the back bone of Hindu religion divided the society in to four distinct segments; Brahmana, Kshtriya, Vishya and Sudra. In the beginning the cast system was not a hierarchy but a duty to maintain the social order. This became the tradition of Indian life and the tradition is continuing till today that the son of a Brahmin will be a Brahmin and the son of a Sudra will be a Sudra and their professions and duties towards the society was prescribed clearly in Vedas. That is the reason a Hindu religion can’t be adopted rather it is a gift by birth.

The Ramayana and Mahabharata became the life line of Indian society. These two epics of India which is full of with stories, events and characters, told us how to lead an ideal life and practice morality in order to get liberation from this earthly world. They depict us how truth and honesty triumphs over injustice and dishonesty. The stories from these two great epics were narrated by the Brahmins who worked as mediators between the microcosm and the microcosm. They are allowed to speak, read and write in pure Sanskrit where as others are debarred from learning and spoke in different languages other than Sanskrit. There are evidences in the Mahabharata where a Sudra (Ekalavya) wants to learn archery from Guru Dronacharya (a Brahmin teacher who taught the knowledge of war to the Pandavas and the Kauravas) who rejected him to be his student because of his cast and punished him so that he can never pick up a bow and arrow in his life time. As the story goes; Ekalavya didn’t leave the idea of learning from him and started listen to the teacher from a distance and practice archery in the jungle in front of an idol of Drona whom he had made out of clay. He became a master of archery in the due course of time. When Drona came to know about his fame, he wanted to take a test from Ekalavya so as to prove his knowledge and proficiency. Ekalavya became succeeded in the test and win. Drone asked him for his teacher. In answer Ekalavya said, “My Guru is standing in front of me from whom I have learnt archery”. Then he narrated his story of learning. Drona got furious by listening to this and asked for Dakshina (a price one has to pay to the teacher for the knowledge) i.e. the thumb of the right hand. The thumb was to be offered to the Guru as a price of his learning. Ekalavya cut his right thumb and offered to his guru whom he adores to. In this way he is debarred from knowledge forever. These kind of stories with full of morality and education were being narrated, sung and performed in the form of parables to maintain the order of the social system. Thousands of years of practicing the story narration gave birth to a presentational form “Vachana” or narrative oral tradition.

Indian myths and stories never indicate to a particular person, situation, character or subject. It never talks of history rather speak in symbols and metaphors. That is the reason Indian culture is based on philosophy rather than facts. The tradition of narrating the stories continued from generation to generation orally. Many new stories and events were added in to the main text. That is why many versions of these epics are available in India and are practiced till today in different forms and languages.

India had a tread relationship with many nearby countries viz. Ceylon, Bali, Indonesia, Malaysia, Java, Borneo, Maldives and to the far west countries of Rome and Greece. The culture also made its journey along with these traders and people. Some of the Indians also started leaving in those countries and made them their home. But they couldn’t forget their own culture. Perhaps that may be the reason why the performances of Indian myths are very much popular in those islands. The Ramaleela of Bali and Java is world famous. We have also borrowed many things from west. Like the use of curtains (yavanika) in theatre is a western practice. The Europeans taught us how to use the curtains during the changing of scenes in theatre. We leant scene paintings from the Italian painters and from the Bibiana family.

With the passing of time the Brahmins became very powerful because they had knowledge and wealth. Sanskrit being the official language was practiced by them only. Rest of the society became a kind of slaves in the hands of the Brahmins. They only discharged their duties and serve the Brahmins. The social system which was set by the elders was got misbalanced. People found fault in the infrastructure of the social system. The major fault was lying in the casticism at the same time they also found that the cast system in the Vedic Hindu philosophy is its back bone upon which the whole religion stands. If it would be changed the total religion would be destroyed. To protest against the social system some other sects were launched. Some reformations were made and new religions were established. Like Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism etc. These religions became more popular among the oppressed and many numbers of Hindus joined in these sects. Out of all these religions Buddhism became more popular as it was easy to practice. The Sanskrit language was re modified in to Prakrita and Pali which were the mixture of Sanskrit and the other local dialects. Buddhism discarded the age old cast system of Hinduism. An equal social order was established. New testaments were written based on Vedas and other religious inscriptions. Buddhism didn’t rejected Hinduism completely, adapted many age old practices of the Hindus like prayers and offerings. Like Hinduism Buddhism also believed in the 5 elements of nature and preyed those elements to keep balance between nature and life. Buddhism taught us to give respect to self and to others. It helped culture and education to grow rapidly. So during its practice in India many numbers of stupas, viharas and monasteries were formed. Universities were formed to impart education and became the centre of knowledge. Out of many numbers of universities two became very famous, the Nalanda and the Taxila university. Scholars from all over the world were attracted towards these centers and joined. Scholars like Huensung and Fi-han from China became the students and learnt Buddhism and also Sanskrit language as well. Alexander, Salukis and the great philosopher Aristotle from west also attracted by the culture and education of India and came here. In this way a strong cultural bonding between the west and the east was established. Our literatures were translated in to other foreign languages and culture was adapted in other countries. But unfortunately many of our old and ancient inscriptions and literatures were stolen and taken away by these foreigners and invaders.

The progress of the religion, education and culture of India couldn’t be digested by the Brahmins. They started revolt against the Buddhism. They killed many Buddhists and burnt away their monasteries. Out of fear for life the Buddhists either left the countries and took shelter in other nearby countries or kept hide themselves in the mountains near Himalayas. Some of the Buddhist scholars even crossed the Himalayan range and ran away to far-east countries and took shelter there. It happened to be a blessing in disguise. Indian culture, tradition and religion became popular in those countries with the help of these Buddhists who took shelter in different eastern Asian countries. People from the other parts of the world understood the philosophy and meaning of Buddhism and adapted it as their prime religion. In this way Indian religion was spread in other countries. Japan, China, Korea, Sri lanka and Tibet were among the major countries where Buddhism got nourished and flourished. With the extension of the religion, Indian culture, art, literature and education became popular and were adapted by the people of those faraway lands. In this way India became the torch bearer of knowledge and Buddha is regarded as the Light of Asia”.

After completing my talk I look at my students. A line of satisfaction was there in their faces. They were exposing slowly and gradually to a new culture and tradition. They were trying to relate the culture of Occident with Orient. They were trying to find a linking thread between these two civilizations; India and America. Quite for some time there were pin drop silences in the Malokha. Then Sol a student got up .He wanted to say something to me. He was trying to draw a link between the Maya civilization and Indian philosophy. I told him to speak about Maya as I have very little knowledge about that civilization. He revealed me a very interesting link between Maya and Indian civilization. Thousands of years before a civilization was developed in Mexico in Central America, this is known as Maya civilization. The people of Maya also believed in the elements of nature and pray those elements for their well beings. He narrated me some sentences in Latin and translated it into English which means;

“Earth my body, Water my blood, Wind my breath and fire my spirit.”

I got astonished by listening to the verse. I couldn’t imagine that two different civilizations with pole apart can think in the similar way? It was something very new for me. I told him, “Yes it seems to be very similar as if both the civilizations have some spiritual connection. In India also we strongly believe and practice in the same way. We believe the human body consists of with the 5 elements. It is constructed by borrowing these elements from the nature. It remained as an obligation on us in our life time. So after the death we offer the dead body to the fire as a matter of pay back. The body goes back to the fire, the smoke goes to the ether where it can be converted into the clouds and mixed with water in the form of rain. Air goes to the air and dust goes back to the earth. In that way we complete our life cycle in this earthly world without debiting anything.

Then somebody asked me to know more about a Hindu’s way of living according to Vedas. I answered him;

“The life of a man according to Veda is divided into four major segments; the Valya-Shrama (Childhood), the Gurukulashrama (phases of education), Grahyasthashrama (Family life) and the Vanaprasthashrama (Old age). Every stage of life has its Karma or duty to discharge. The period of childhood which continued up to 7-10 years are meant to learn the discipline and tradition from the family and friends. This period of time works as the foundation for the whole life. Then the boy has to be sent to a Guru and stay there for a certain period of time up to his young age to take education and learn about life. The house of the Guru was an Ashrama where disciples from all social status and walks of life (except Sudras) were used to come and stay. This is the best part a student learnt to stay in groups, to study together and to share the life with others. This is the time when a student learns to strip out his human ego. The students had to work in the fields, grow crops and he had to look after the cattle and other animals of the ashrama and he has to obey the order of the Guru and Guru Patni (Wife of the teacher). After the completion of education, with the permission of the Guru, the student comes back home and started his family life. In this phase of time he has to discharge the duties towards society, towards parents, to wife and children to the gods and to himself. The discipline which he has learnt throughout his career is now applied in to practice. This becomes the most important part of his life which may continue for a longer period.

The last phase of life is called Vana prastha or renunciation. At the old age the man has to reject and donate everything he has collected and gathered during the whole life time which includes wealth, family and knowledge and left for the jungle to die alone or can stay alone in a designated place waiting for the death.

After his death as I told his last rites were performed by his community which completes his life cycle on this earth and the soul, which was liberated from the body, starts its journey in search of a new one. Again it will take birth and die during the course of time. The process of birth and death continues until the soul gets salvation and merge with the Supreme which is called Nirvana in Sanskrit language. Indians believe in rebirth and re incarnation. Those who take birth in the earthly world will die and again will take a birth to fulfill his karma until the purpose of the life will be served. Once the purpose of the life is achieved, the soul dissolves into the oblivion. The human life takes a circular journey always egger to meet the centre. (This circular motion of life influences our culture, art and religion. I will discuss it on the next day.)

Death in Indian religion is not treated as tragedy like the Egypt’s or Greeks. They wanted to keep the bodies for the final judgments. So they preserved it by the process of mummification. But for Indians, after the soul gets liberated, the body has of no use. So we return it back to the source out of which it was created. After the death of the person we perform his last rites and pray the supreme for a better new life for him. The last rituals continues for 10-13 days and during that period the relatives of the person wears white cloths, eat simple foods (vegetarian) to mention purity and pray to the God.

The session continued for a longer period. Many questions and inquiries were aroused to know more about Indian religion and philosophy, Indian yoga, tantra and mantra. How religion influences the tradition and culture? Etc… I kept these quarries for the next days. It was already dinner time so Cantara closed the session.

Coming back to the hotel and lying over the bed I was thinking of the last session. How much keen these students are to know about a different culture! They were taking notes and were ready to understand more and more about Indian spiritualism and philosophy. But in India we don’t care for it. We couldn’t understand the value of our culture and tradition. We got it so easily! It lost its value at our hands. Whereas here in another country, they don’t have any ethnic tradition of ancient history, spiritualism and philosophy, they are so egger to know and adopt it in to their practice! Some of my students here I found are the disciples of some Indian yogis like Yogi Satyananda or S.N Goyenka. Some of them are practicing yoga for many years like my voice of India Luisa. She has a cherished dream to go to Rishikesh to learn yoga from one Indian teacher. One student was learning Vipasana meditation. Later on I visited some Colombian families and in every house I came across with something related to India and its tradition; even a book on Indian Yoga or meditation, Spanish version of Gita and Mahabharata or even a photograph of a god or a Sadhu. Osho is so popular in this country that almost all his discourses and books have been translated into Spanish and many people have already read them. Here lies a country that is waiting eagerly to adopt and accept Indian philosophy and we the Indians have either forgotten or could not develop an understanding towards our own culture. We always looked towards West to become modern and advanced. I have never heard in India people talking about yoga, meditation and philosophy. We should really feel ashamed of it. We have no right to call ourselves Indian until and unless we know India and its age old rich tradition from the root. How unfortunate I am! Knowing my own country from the mouth of others! Sitting in the other part of the globe I am trying to understand my mother land!

The whole night I couldn’t sleep. Every moment a sense of guilt disturbs me. For the last 20 years I am giving education to my students. I am preparing a generation which will control the country politically, economically and culturally. Never ever in my life one of my students has asked me to know something more about our culture and tradition and I am sure these students don’t know the ABC of India. We are becoming materialistic day by day. We started evaluating everything in the context of money; even our own self. As it is rightly said, “The value of the country is judged through its culture”. If our future generations will not understand the value of our culture, I am sure we will lose our identity within a couple of years. The priceless property which has been handed over to us by our ancestors through traditions will be lost forever. It must be the prime matter of concern among the people of India as well as the government. We the teachers can take a step forward to retain our cultural heritage by giving moral education to our students…………….

Satyabrata Rout/Hyderabad University/ India

La Maloca (The ceremonial house)

Me and my self; A Spiritual Journey

Dr.Satyabrata Rout (India)

Chapter-4

Continued from Chapter-3

La Maloca:

It reminds me our Nam Ghar of Assam or Akhada Ghar of Orissa or Bengle where we do a kind of rituals or practice something. It is like the village community centre where the elders meet. Malokha is an old muisca name given by the tribes. It was their prayer hall. They prayed and were connected with the cosmos inside the malokha keeping fire in the centre. This concept of Malokha was adapted here for the practice room. It was a round hall with 12 feet diameter made up stones. The roof was conical. There was an opening on the top of the roof which was opened to the sky. On the line of that opening on the ground, we can find a round pit having 2.5 feet diameter and 4 feet deep. Sometimes they fill the pit with water depending upon the requirements. Most of the Bio-Drama productions are presented here. At the time of presentation they cover the pit with wooden planks or use it creatively. During the prayer they lit up candles inside the pit. In this way this pit has a multiple use. One can find many conical glass windows on the walls of the Malokha to supply enough lights and air inside. Towards the north of the hall there was a huge fire place for warship. I found a very small door may be 4 feet height for entry and exit. This was the only door leads to outside. One thing I observed that anybody taking entry to the hall comes in back foots by bending down bowing through the door. I asked somebody to know the reason. He cleared my confusion. According to him, “The door opens to the east. In the eastern side of the Villa de Leyva there is a hill called the Sacred Mountain. Muisca people were living near by the hills. These ancient tribes used to pray the mountain. So when they enter inside the Malokha they entered facing the mountain and the Sun for good furtune. This is a kind of ritual everybody has to practice while go inside”.

This seemed interesting to me. Now days we are forgetting the rituals and prayers which was a regular practice among our ancestors. By doing this and offering prayer to the spirits they always achieved positive vibrations from the ether which kept their mind and body in balance. Indirectly it used to solve one big human problem which becomes the most problematic condition of the world now, i.e. stress and tension. It happens to be the root of all human trouble and disorder now. At least at Malokha they are mentioning the concept!

I came to know that malokha has been used in many ways in different productions. Sometimes they present plays inside while the audiences sit in a circle or in three sides like arena theatre. Occasionally they also use the roof of Malokha for the acting area when the audiences sit or stand and watch the play from a little distance. This multiple use of the space interests me much. As a designer Space is something that hunts me always. Every time my eyes are in search of some new and innovative space. While moving here and there during these days I have selected some spaces for my work and now I added Malokha in the list.

On 10^th July Wilson gave the demonstration. A few people from nearby areas were invited to watch the programme. The presentation was held inside the Malokha towards the afternoon hour. The main focus of the presentation was on the body dynamics of the actor. How a human body reacts and behaves in different situations and time was the subject. Though this kind of work is not new to me but it seemed to be interesting particularly the last two exercises. 1. The flow of water, 2. Breaking the sticks. They were new to me. Both the exercises were related to sound. In the water exercises an actress started pouring water from one container to the other not evenly but in an uneven manner. The group of actors started reacting to the sound of the water pouring. They presented the exercise through the body. With different sounds created at different times of water flow the actors behave accordingly. In the 2^nd exercise an actor brought a dry tree branch and started breaking the sticks from it which created sound; tuk…….tuduk….. All the actors by closing the eyes started reacting to the sound came out of the break; sometimes hard and sometimes soft. There was another exercise which hold my interest is the actor and space. Here in this game music was played and an actor fixed himself inside a very tight and closed chamber. He started moving his limbs inside the chamber which was really very small to be played. The actor moved inside that tight space and tried to use all his joints to keep his mobility. Since the exercises were related to human body, no voice was employed into that. After the demonstration all the actors sat on a circle inside the Maloka and narrated their experiences with Wilson during these days. What I found in the discussion that the students tried to discover the possibilities of the human body in the context of movement and the relationship of the body in a given space. One or two students tried to link the body with the universal space and time but to me it was nothing but a brain exercise. At the end Beatriz gave thanks to Wilson who was suppose to leave the next morning. Then she closed the circle with the word of the day. For me this word of the day was a new concept. I tried to ask her but kept quite at that moment.

Now it was my turn to lead and continue the workshop for another one week for which I was preparing myself for a long time after getting the invitation from Cantara 5 months ago. Doing a workshop was not a quandary situation for me. Most of my career is spent on traveling and conducting theatre workshops in different regions of India and sometimes in the nearby countries viz. Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bangladesh and Mauritius etc. I have also come once to Bogota, Colombia to carry out a workshop that led into a full-fledged production. Doing a workshop is always easier than teaching the students in institutions and Universities because those who come to attend a theatre workshop are either fresher or practitioners without any theoretical knowledge. So generally we teach them the basics of theatre, the ABC of drama which becomes enough for a workshop situation. Sometimes we directly jumped into a production and the students learn through practice. But here the situation was bit tricky. I came here to contribute to Bio-Drama, a new concept and idea that we in India don’t practice or we may have practiced in some other names. In the beginning I was confused. I searched in the net and other sources to know more about this terminology but unfortunately I couldn’t gather much informations. At the beginning I related this concept with Mayor Hold’s “Bio-mechanism” and prepared a number of exercises related to the topic to be carried out with the students here at Colombia. During those days I came across with a short biography of Beatriz Camargo in a book in which I found that this lady is working far away from the city in an environmental situation. Something clicked in my mind. “To practice Body mechanism, it is not essential to go to an open environment inside the mountains and jungles. It must have something related to nature, atmosphere, open sky, sun, moon, stars, air and cosmos”. Slowly my research process took a U turn towards my own culture and heritage. I found out our oriental, particularly Indian tradition is much closer to the ethereal vibrations than the western culture and tradition. In our Vedic Richas and Mantras we always found a strong bonding of pulsations with cosmos and ancestral waves. Indian dance, music and theatre constantly indicate towards liberation, salvation and the union of the soul with the supreme. Our ancient practices of rituals, festivals, yagyans and offerings prepare us to stay in balance with the harmony of nature and with its 5 primary elements (Pancha Tatwa); the earth, the fire, the water, the air and the ether. Our human body consists of these five elements as well as the other forms of nature irrespective of animate and inanimate. We should find a linking thread between these elements with our own soul in order to live harmoniously with the cosmos. “To get into the meaning of life through the medium of theatre could be the purpose and the sense of Bio-Drama”. After discovering the concept and the philosophy behind the project I decided to prepare a syllabus based on the theories and practice on Natya Shastra and other ancient Indian scriptures viz. Vedas, Vedanta and myths. The focus of my project turned towards Satwikavinaya (The spiritual performance).

In the month of February I had to go to my ancestral village in Orissa to see my allying aunt (She expired after some days). There at my village I had a strong interaction with nature. I used to go to the fields every day in the early morning to glimpse the due drops above the grasses. The rising sun and the reflection of its golden rays on those drops and the presence of seven colours inside it made me moved from within. These colours inside always kept changing with the reflected rays. It seems to me the eternal dance of Lord Siva. Then I would travel to our firm nearby to see the groundnut plantations, my uncle had planted which were in their growing stages. I fall in love with the natural almond green colours of the ground nut leaf. The sweet fragrance of the mango flowers, the sound of the buzzing bees, the changing colours of the morning and evening sun and above all the spiritual silence and serenity of my village awakened my mind to understand the meaning of Bio-Drama. During my stay in the village once I happened to visit my Father in Law’s house five kilo meters away from my home. The village is situated on the bank of the river Baitarani, a mythical name derived from Hindu belief. While crossing the river by a small boat I became attached to the water. “Like the waves created by the movement of the boat on water which reach the bank one after the other, similarly our human mind must have generated vibrations that must be reaching somewhere, may be in the ether. It means we are always connected with the universe through electromagnetic forces as the boat is connected with the river bank through the waves. The memories which we acquire in one life span are an extension of thousands and millions of years of our ancestral memories obtained by our great grand fathers. We bring in our blood all these ancestral memories with us which we called traditions or “sanskara” in Sanskrit language”, I thought. Slowly and steadily I tried to establish a link between our custom, tradition and ancestral memories.

Coming back to Hyderabad I started noting down my experiences of my village and prepared a project based on “Body memory in relation to the space and its elements”. After reached here at Colombia I was astonished to found that Beatriz Camargo is working on the same track for the last 22 years with much clarity and conviction. Followed by so many experiences of life during these days and after a thorough discussion with Cantara I was fully prepared to go through a complete spiritual experience with the students of the Bio-Drama. I told Cantara to work with the students from morning 7 am to late evening and it will be a continuous process for a week. We will start the morning class with the voice practice. The forenoon session will be focused on human body and abhinaya. The afternoon will be devoted to conceptual discussions which will be followed by video screening of any productions related to Indian culture and traditions. She said, “Wonderful!”………………..

We started about6.30 morning towards the Malokha from the hotel. In the previous night it was raining heavily but by the morning the rain had stopped and the sky was almost clear. The sun has already come up behind the mountains and started shining on the drop of waters that were yet sticking on the tree leafs. But the roads were slippery and muddy. The students made a straight line. Manuel, the team leader announced each one must follow the foot prints of the other. One shouldn’t look here and there except the heels of his/her precedor and they all started walking. I was at the last. I asked my front students to know more about this but he couldn’t give any answer and kept quite. We all were walking down the street like a chain. After a while we left the main road and started climbing the hills. There was pin drop silence among the team. I saw a student who was leading the line came back behind me. I was so exusted by climbing up that I told him to walk on leaving me behind and came out of the chain. Now I moved along with them but on my own. In each succession the boy/girl who was leading the team came to the back. Now I understood it was a game of theatre which we call “follow the leader”. It took 40 minutes to reach the Malokha. I was so tired by walking that I did not go to Malokha with them. Rather I preferred to have a cup of tea at Beatriz’s residence. Beatriz was preparing herself for the class. By seeing my condition she laughed but I got little irritated. I told her that, “It was impossible on my part to walk on to Malokha every day. If I would be tired like this I couldn’t teach. My purpose wouldn’t be solved”. “But it was your choice”, She told. “I didn’t know that it became so difficult to climb up the hills to Malokha” I argued. (From then every day she picked me up in the morning by her jeep from the hotel) While drinking tea I told her about the chain walk. She explained, “It is called the power walk. It transmits energy from one person to the other and becomes one unit. It takes lesser time to climb up. During the time of Spanish rulers they made their slaves to walk like this to climb the mountains”. I thought, “After 200 years of independence also the slavery yet remained somewhere in the blood”. But I kept quite. “We were getting late for the class” By saying this she led me to the class.

We enter into the Malokha through the hurry door. By that time all the students were gathered there and sat in a circle. A big candle was burning in the centre. Cantara placed herself on a kushan designated for her. I sat next to her and by my side the Colombian girl Luisa positioned herself for the translation. It was a fine morning as if the sun was waiting for me to share its energy which I would be going to transmit the students for the next couple of the days. Cantara opens the circle with the thought of the day. It is a practice which appears to be completely new for me. Afterwards I came to know that it is a regular practice by her to offer a positive world to the circle so that everybody can contribute their thoughts to the idea in a sentence. That day it was Sun. After the ceremony is over Cantara handed over the group to me and told me to elaborate my project and explain my idea behind that. Since I have already prepared a written project in English, Lusia, my voice of India, translated into Espanol immediately. Then I told the students the concept behind my project. I told them clearly that all the work in this week will be based on oriental theatre and philosophy. I recited them the opening sloka from Natya Shastra:

“Angikam Vubanam yashya, Vachikam Sarva Bangmayam, Aharyam Chandra Taradi, Twam namah Satwikam Sivam”

……………(Natya Shastra)

I explained them the meaning and concept behind these shastras. I told them about the kinds of Abhinaya according to Natya Shastra which can be practiced separately and together also. Since it was break time I called them to be gathered after the breakfast.

The fore noon session was devoted to the voice practice. I started the class with “OM” and told them to repeat the sound for many times. After a while I stopped them but these American students were very much interested to know what this sound is. Then I started my topic with Nada. I told them, “when the universe was formed and there was a great explosion out of which all the galaxies, stars, planets and moons were formed which we called “The Big-Bang theory”, at the very moment there must be generated a huge amount of sound as a result of that explosion which we called Nada or Nada Brahma in Sanskrit language”. I demonstrated it by hitting a brass gong, hanging over there. Then I explained, “When we hit some object with another object or when air is being obstructed by some kind of objects, it generates sound. The sound spreads in waves and while hits our ears we are able to listen to it which is called Ahada Nada. Sometimes our ear couldn’t listen to a particular sound but feels its existence in the ether. Our ear is conditioned to certain decimals of sound. Any sound that does not fall within that decimal couldn’t be audible to our normal ears. That doesn’t mean that there is no sound beyond the reception of our ear. There exist huge quantities of different sounds which human ears may not receive. It is termed as Anhada nada. One can think on this way that when a motor bike or a car crosses nearby us; we can hear a clear sound of friction that comes through the contact of the vehicle with the air. Similarly when the earth and other planets move in their orbits must be creating enormous sounds that our ear can’t receive due to many scientific reasons. But the sounds are there and some of them travel through ethereal waves. Our fore fathers and grand fathers, the rishis and yogis of India, were able to listen to the sounds through the process of dhyana and Yoga. They have discovered that every time there is a constant vibration of waves that comes from the cosmos which is received through our body. If you close your eyes in silence you even can listen to that sound or at least feel the presence of it. It is called the voice of silence. It needs a lot of concentration to receive the vibration. OM is that vibration that constantly coming from the ether. It is the primordial voice of the eternal power that governs everything. This sound is the mother of all the energy and creation”.

After giving a clear description of “OM”, I started with the basic voice training. I told them about the resonators and how it works in different situations. We have 5 points in our body which becomes responsible for voice reproduction. They are 1. Naval point, 2. Chest, 3. Throat, 4. Nose, 5. Talu or brain. In different emotions a particular resonator gets tensed and gives pressure on the vocal cord to produce a kind of sound similar to the situation like in fear our throat and nose get resonated while in love the chest vibrates. Naval centre becomes responsible for producing the base voice. At the time of Humming and high pitch we take the help of our brain. As a student of theatre we must be aware of our resonators to modulate properly. After giving a brief note on sound resonators we did some exercises related to the topic (Breath control, contraction and expansion, relaxation etc.).

After a small break we go on for some kinds of exercises related to theatre. This time we gave emphasis on body and movements. Start and stop, look and walk, making human bond with the designated numbers, contact with objects, and group activities with objects were among some of the games we played to open up our imaginations and awareness.

Post lunch session was devoted to theories and discussions. I opened the session with the basic understanding of Indian culture, religion and its geographical conditions. I started my discourse with the invasion of Aryans to this land and called it‘The Aryavarta’ (land of Aryas) and how the native pre vedic culture of the land was mixed with the new civilization and gave birth to a religion named as “Sanatana Dharma” (it was recognized as Hindu Dharma in the later stage). In my conversation I told them that…………………………

Continued………………………………..

Satyabrata Rout/Hyderabad University/India

Me and my self; A Spiritual Journey

Dr.Satyabrata Rout (India)

Chapter-3

Continued from Chapter-1………….

…………………The next few days were just to know the place, the city, the locality, climate and Beatriz Camargo. Every day she used to pick me up from the hotel around 9am to her work place and sent me through a taxi back to my hotel at night. I used to interact with the students regularly in the dining hall and during their off hours. By then I came to know many students. They have come from different parts of the America and Europe to attend the workshop; from Argentina, Ecuador, Amazon, Mexico, Canada, Italy and off course from Colombia. I have never experienced with students from different countries in a workshop situation. So this is going to be a unique one. Beatriz told me if I want I can read and take rest in a room just adjacent to the kitchen. There were some selves with video cassettes of her productions and posters kept on a table. A small bed was placed there for rest and a table to work. Framed posters of her old productions were hanged on the walls. Among them was a framed photo of Goddess Saraswati. I got curious to know how and why she has kept this photo. She smiled and told that this photo of Saraswati was presented by one of her Indian friends. She knew that Saraswati is the goddess of Art and knowledge. So she kept this image in her library and named the room, “La Casita De Saraswati” (The Saraswati Hall). I was astonished to see her love and respect for Indian culture.

Quite after some time I have marked that all the students were calling her by the name “Cantara”. In the beginning I couldn’t understand but after listing to the word regularly, I ask her one day to know why she is being called Cantara? She kept silent for a while. After a few seconds she began, “Cantara in Spanish is the earthen pot. We human being are like the earthen pot which breaks and mix with the earth every time. While at France I fell ill and I was almost dying. I couldn’t adapt their culture and life. Every moment I felt my throat was chocked. I was longing to breathe fresh air, the smell of my soil. I was completely disconnected from my soul, from my ancestral memory. One research scholar from Sri lanka who was doing his research on Tamil literature there, cured me by applying ayurveda technique. After coming back from Europe I changed my name to “Cantara Abasensuca. Cantara means the earthen pitcher that becomes empty every time. I have many things within me which I want to share and become empty again to be filled again. Abacencuca means sweet in Muiscas language. It means “The sweet earthen pot”. During the course of time I forgot my parental name and became Cantara. I had a strong inclination for language so I went to study it from the National University of Bagota. But I couldn’t express my feelings after completing my course in Language. I wanted to become an actress so that I can express my feelings in my own language. I joined in the National School of Dramatic Art at Bogota and studied theatre for three years. I learnt all the grammars of modern theatre. After I complete my study at NSDA, I joined as an actress at “The teatro La Candalaria” one of the most modern and biggest theatre company of Colombia ran by Santiago Gurcia, the father of modern Colombian Theatre. At the same time I started teaching at the NSDA, Bogota. But after some time I felt restless. I did not want to speak the language of common theatre, the language created through technology, by modern arc lights, high-tech stage designs, etc. I want to speak the language of earth. I want to be connected with the people, with the cosmos. I wanted to speak from within the earth. I wanted to understand the myth and the philosophy leys behind the mystery of the nature. I felt suffocated in a black box with electric lights flooded you every time. I don’t want the audience to be kept in dark all the times. I wanted to go outside far away from the city into the mountains. With the help of one of my student, Barnando Ray I found a land here at Villa de Leyva suitable for my kind of theatre and started doing lots of experiments related to my concept and theory. My students prepared plays and presented in many places over the country and abroad. But slowly I discovered that my plays are not meant for the so called common audience. It is for those who understand the meaning of life, those who can connect themselves with the spirituality and with the nature. So I restricted my plays for the rural and original people. It was received well and my Bio-Drama school, “Teatro itenerient del Sol” started. I became popular by the name “Cantara Abacencuca”. You can also call me in the same name”.

After listening to all these things from her, I felt little embarrassed. In this modern age where theatre has reached its zenith with the help of technology and so called gimmicks, round the world, who will try to miss the opportunity of losing the techniques? There are lots of money and work for those who have adapted theatre in its advanced form. It is a wave that engulfs the whole world of theatre of 21^st century. The design, the technology, use of multimedia and intellectual interpretations! (If is there any) are becoming so common in the name of post-modernism that the real self of the actor and soul of the total production is left behind miles away from the heart of the audience. The simplicity and the aesthetic beauty of the production, taught by our grand fathers, are buried under the glamour of the machinery. In today’s India this kind of theatre is a common practice. Everybody is applying this technique into theatre without understanding the concept and thoughts behind it. Rather they have been pumped and aired to do so. The people who fooled the society by doing this are gaining name and fame, publicity and honour. On the contrary yet there is a kind of people living and practicing theatre from its root and trying to find a connection between the souls to the soul.

As Grotowisky has rightly said in his book “Towards a poor theatre”;

“An actor is nothing but a courtesan or a prostitute till he covers himself with so many glamorous objects, like a public lady applies cosmetics on her skin to cover up her age. By doing this she lost her soul and spirituality. Rather an actor should be like a piece of sculpture which comes out with utmost flagrance by stripping out the unnecessary things on and above it. Give away means we are coming nearer to the soul. This is spiritualism. It gives immense pleasure to the audience as well as the practitioners. This is like a prayer anybody can practice but the process is really difficult”. (Georzzi Grotowisky)

If this is the situation, how can we find people who are ready to give away? In this materialistic world, money, glamour and publicity are everything that counts. Yet, as I told there live a few in this world like Cantara and others those who are ready to give away anything in search of the soul. Though In India we have forgotten the meaning of spiritualism which once accepted as a major part of performance in Natya Shastra (Satwikavinaya), still we can name a few who really tried to go to the deepest root of culture, tradition and confront their audience with simplicity, purity and with utmost dignity.

I recall sitting in the other part of the world the works of my teachers, Ankur Ji, Ratan Da and my beloved Guru Sri B.V Karanth. The glamour of materialism did not pollute these pious souls of my country. These great sons of our culture knew how to give away and achieve the spirit of high energy. Ankur ji populated the narrative form of theatre which was a common practice in the ancient and medieval India. We have the age old tradition of Katha Gayan and Katha Vachan parampara (singing and narrating the stories). The whole story was presented with the help of songs and narrations. It was an improvised form of presentation where the singer/narrator told the story with the help of gesture and mime in front of the audience. Ankur ji adapted the energy of the narrators from our traditions and adapted it in the context of the modern stories. Without the help of modern technology, lights, sets, costumes and objects he succeeded in conveying the story to the audiences. He stripped away almost everything except the three prime elements of theatre; the story, the actors and the audiences. He is the man who made stories and novels popular in common masses. Or else who has the time and patience to read in this hour of time! Because of him only all modern writers became popular in the society.

Ratan thiyam returned back to the root after completing his course from National School of Drama, India. From the very beginning he understood that, the culture of India lays hidden under the soil of the region. A hand is needed to scratch the earth; it would burst out like a stream of water in its purest form. After his return to his home town in Manipur in 1975 from NSD, he purchased a small piece of land, the money he saved for his lively hood and started his theatre; “The Chorus Repertory theatre” which during the course of time flourished into a huge banyan tree and became the Macca of modern Theatre. It attracts theatre practitioners and scholars from all over the world. The campus of The Chorus Repertory Theatre vibrates positive energy all the time and always stay connected with all the elements of the nature and the ether. It becomes a land of spirituality, sanctity and serenity. The “serine” indoor Theatre inside the campus proves these words. A Thi architectural auditorium, designed by Rattan Da himself with motifs of tantric arts from Buddhist manuscripts all ways pulsates with positive energy with the rhythm of the nature. He is the man who really gave away everything in search of the soul of the mother earth. In all of his productions we can smell the sweet fragrance of the landscapes of Manipur. The rhythm of the common life, the gentle flow of the bridge coming from the seven hills, the cristal clear water of the Loctak Lake, the orchid flowers, the air waves inside the corn fields and above all the culture of vaisnavism spread by the great Indian saint Sri Chaitanya Dev in the eastern and north-east valley during 17^th Century, reflect in his productions every time and every moment; sometimes in the physical forms and sometimes as the undercurrent, the force that drives his productions to the correct path. Ratan Da has achieved in getting his ancestral memory in the time, space and creation.

While thinking of these masters, I was connected to a man whom I always adore to; my loving guru Sri B.V Karanth. I learnt life from him and theatre is a small segment of life. Whenever I have started writing on him I couldn’t write, not even a single line. My thoughts jumbled up and waves intersect each other. Every time I got sentimental with my eyes full of tears on his memory. I know that man so much that I could write nothing about him. Many people insisted me to write a memoir on his death. But I couldn’t. I did not want to bind him in words. He should be formless. He should be worshiped in silence. I didn’t want to limit him. (One day I will write on his philosophy of life and work. The time has not come. This will be a tribute to that great soul, my guru). I have seen a rendering yogi in him who is always in search of something, something new, something modern and at the same time original, indigenous, pure and connected with the roots every time and every moment. He remained an experimentalist and blessed by the supreme to create new all the time of his creations. Music was his weapon to achieve the truth. With the help of music he was always hooked up with the waves of cosmos. Unlike Ratan Thiyam he never associated with any organizations, repertories or groups for long. He had the tendency to leave and renounce at the pick of its maturity. As he always used to say, “I can’t stick to a particular kind of life for a longer period. I get bored after certain time. My throat choked and I long for fresh air. I can’t create any thing if I wouldn’t travel. I want to see the world, people, life, landscapes, mountains, temples, Mosques, gurudwara, Church, tribes, rituals and everything that a man can see in his whole life. I want to do mistakes and rectify it by my own experiences. I want to learn anything and everything that I could do”. (Once I found a book on “The art of cooking” in his self). So he became a traveler throughout his life. He didn’t follow any particular style or form. Where ever he went he adapted the native forms and converted that into his own creations. That became the style of Karanth (Karanth effect). He has never followed the grammar rather created his own. His eyes, ears, heart, mind and soul was transformed into a big truth of Theatre; the holy theatre. Theatre became a celebration for him which was reflected every time in his productions; the celebration of life. He called it Utsav dharmi. He had a tendency to forget. He forgot everything very easily. Even some times he asked for my name and felt very much embarrassed for that deed. It became a part of his personality. But it is obvious for Karanth Ji. For him, “If I will not forget, how can I create?” He never repeated anything in his life. There was even no look back. Many times he forgot the compositions he had created few hours ago and made something new. We have to make him remembered about the original one. In this way he had created many compositions for a piece of music or a scene. Even at times he himself rejected his own creation by saying it was not done by him. This nomadic yogi has achieved and acquired that others couldn’t. A sense of satisfaction and dissatisfaction were found always in his gestures. Satisfaction for his achievements and restlessness for the new search were always encountered in him. He gave up everything so he is pulled off with many things.

Sitting in my hotel room I was thinking of these great souls of my mother land and comparing themselves with this western lady Cantara. She renounced almost everything to achieve something intangible. How much Indian she is; in thoughts and actions? My eyes fall on the books lay on my table. I picked up one; “America my brother, my blood”. It was a collection of paintings of Guayasamin and Pablo Niruda’s poems. While looking in to the pictures I was thinking of that man and his keen observation of human struggle and sufferings. How we talk of religion and politics, how we long for power when the common human being is suffering under the sun and dying? How we claimed to be educated and modern when people of my country do not have a single time meal to eat? How can we smile and sleep quietly while my brothers and sisters have no roof over their heads and suffer the whole cold and chilled nights? Did we close our eyes or go blind? Are we deaf so that the scream of my brothers can’t reach our ears? Guayasamin put so many questions in front of us. He is a common man’s painter who must have seen life from all the angles. His way of expressions, bold and strong lines and selection of colours clearly depicts his anguish and passion for humanism. With each of his works I found a related poem of Niruda. This great Latin American poet was banned in the capitalist countries because he wrote for the common man, because he spoke in a common man’s voice, because he told the truth! It is very difficult to digest the truth. His poems definitely have taken away the sleeps of the bloody rulers…………….

While going through the work I found that both the works of these masters complement each other and seams inseparable though they were created at different time and space. I went through the book thoroughly. My eyes stuck at one of the works of Guayasamin and the related poem by Niruda. In the painting, piles of disfigured, grotesque human bodies were laying scattered with crumpled hands, legs and heads. There on the other side written a small poem by Pablo Niruda;

“Thousands of corpses lie there. Murdered hearts laid out pulsing. Opening the moist pit where they tend the trickle of that day. (They entered killing on horseback, they cut off the hand that offered its tribute of gold and flowers, they closed off the plaza, exhausted their arms until they were numbed, killing the flower of the kingdom, plunging up to their elbows in the blood of my startled brethren.)”

I was so much moved with these works that I wanted to present it into a piece of theatrical expression with the students of bio-Drama. So I kept it for my future work.

One day I went to observe the classes of Wilson, the choreographer from Ecuador. I have never gone to the class rooms before. So I was lead by one of the students of the workshop. He took me inside the trees to a place where they were practicing. Wilson was busy with the students. They were doing some exercises related to body. I sat for sometime there to observe. The works which he was doing was not very much new to me. In India we are very much accustomed to these kinds of works. Our choreographers, Bharat Sharma, Sangeeta Sharma and others sometimes do better and innovative works. So it didn’t attract me very much, except the intensity of the work of that Ecuador man. One thing that caught my attention was the space where they were working. They call it Malokha; the ceremonial house.

Continued………………………

Satyabrata Rout/Hyderabad University/India