Mumma wants a Bahu

[Dedicated to my dear mumma ! ]

My mom is really worried regarding what sort of Bahu’s gonna hit the home. All mummas are the same worried types I suppose. Or may be they get worried once their sons reach closer to 20 (I am yet to reach 19). There are a lot of factors which contribute to mummas’ worries: (I have caught a bad habit of writing in points!)

1)      A single neighbourhood where talks are proceeding related to a son’s marriage is sufficient enough to initiate such worries.

2)      Given the son has got a lot many friends among girls (I am one of those lucky chaps) which in turn, have got a lot of variety, mumma is bound to have worries. (Mind it, I have written ‘friends among girls’, not ‘girlfriends’)

3)      Too many messages from the females in N-70 inbox, a bunch of pics in lappy, in collaboration with the son sitting every night on gtalk whenever he comes home, son reciting stories of IIT Delhi which (surprisingly and unexpectedly) hardly involve boys.

4)      A brother of the son who has no interest in girls. A similar close friend of son who is equally close to mumma will also work.

5)      Increasing ‘unpredictability’ of girls in today’s scenario.

6)      Mumma doesn’t have a daughter. (This is, however, a redundant point I must say)

I am very extrovert and ‘chak de yaara’ types with all mummas and elder didis of the world. On the basis of my gappey with several mummas, I have observed and concluded that all of them have got a few common criterion of their “to-be-desired” bahus:

1)      The girl should be of the Same Caste. (Kataaps in the very first step. Now, the boy is left with less than .001% girls of his reach)

2)      The girl should be beautiful. Some mothers also say ‘at least decent-looking’. The definition of ‘decent-looking’ is often misleading and confusing for sons.

3)      The girl should be well-educated. (There should be someone in the home who can teach kids afterall. Mummas assume their sons to be ‘by default nalaayaks’) Graduation is a minimum criterion. Too-highly educated girls should be avoided (no offences to IIT Delhi).

4)      No girl would be ready to pass her whole life as a housewife. Hence, a job of 10 to 5 would work well.

5)      Girl shouldn’t be too short or too tall.

6)      Decent family background. (‘Decent’ is the most diplomatic word on this earth)

A survey shows that almost all the mummas in Indian cities encourage their sons to mix up freely with girls and allow them to choose involuntarily one of their own choice (or rather say, wait for a choice) and when the son comes up with the first choice of his life, 99% mummas give a rejection certificate. Most of the ‘to-be-desired’ rules stated above are discovered after such incidences. Now there are certain points which are a general criterion for today’s “rationale” and “responsible of themselves” boys: (It is desired for the readers to notice the differences and similarities between the two types of criterion)

1)      Caste no barriers.

2)      Of course, a beautiful girl is desired by one and all, but if she isn’t that beautiful, it will work provided a few given conditions.

3)      Definitely education is required. A fool with a decent degree (again ‘decent’) is fine. IIT Delhi girls are welcome. No problem in adjustment. Any mis-adjustment can be well adjusted by “understanding”.

4)      Job is surely required in times of recession. Unemployed husband with a working wife is not a bad option.

5)      Boys never decide on the basis of height.

6)      Family background should be an important point. But at the end, I am getting married to the girl, not the family.

If a girl is a close friend for quite a significant time. She understands you well. She knows your why’s and how’s irrespective of your what’s and when’s. She gives you a desired aura of being at comfort. She shares you and your responsibility. She completes you and shares your completeness. She doesn’t believe in oppositions and contrasts, rather she believes in dissolving talks which result in a result. She believes in applying what is beneficial for both. She lives in my happiness and I live in hers. She believes in a combination, not in individual struggle and successes. She believes in practical understanding at every moment of the day, to live each moment with joy- a joy in partnership when each partner has a share of 100%.

Is such a girl OK to be a wife, or lets say, even to be a girlfriend for time being. Even if she doesn’t fit into some of the rules which have been registered in an orthodox, traditional manner. Are these new criterion as I have stated possible to be satisfied in real and practical marriage life or teenage love life? Do criterion of elderly people supposedly matter, given their experience and maturity?

The problem for mumma arises when the son is more unpredictable than girls!

Next blog soon.

Snehil Basoya.

[ A short and crisp blog. More importantly, it wasn’t planned. Good to see myself having started writing spontaneous blogs within 90 minutes. Hoping to find a few answers too.]

 

The ART of Street Play

[Caution:

1) Street plays have got an infinite aperture. My domain being extremely tiny, this post refers specifically to the street play culture in IIT Delhi.

2) This is no comparison to stage plays or any other form of ART.

3) Specifically targeted for those minds in IIT Delhi (or even outside) who think that street plays are a trivial form of art, a domain minus talent minus skill minus acting minus seriousness accompanied with purposelessness, arbitrary wastage of time and energy and timepass useless bakaiti.

]

Rendezvous 2009 is over, so is my Street Play fever. Hangover still persists, but I am habitual of that! An anecdote of my 3rd street play at IIT-D will require a completely separate post (and I will come soon with it !). This one, as I have decided, would be a general approach rather than a personal one.

IITD people, as seen through a general convention, aren’t in a habit of taking Street Plays seriously. Seriously in the sense that Stage Plays are considered more ‘Artful’ and talentful often. Those involved within the Dance and Dramatics club command each and every worship of Art preformed at IITD, but for the major lot of those who aren’t, nukkad natak still remains a form which in layman’s language koi bhi kar sakta hai.

sirf hasana hi to hota hai

bas chillana hi to hota hai

sabko ek ek do do dialogue milte hain, ye kaunsa mushkil kaam hai

energy ke naam pe uchhalna koodna to ham bhi kar lein

practice mein faaltu ki exercises hoti hain, jinka koi relation hi nahi hota main play se

bina matlab raat raat bhar useless practice karwayi jaati hai

………… and the legacy continues.

These were just a few of comments and dialogues which I have got habitual of listening to in my vicinity. All of them have been spoken directly to me. Diplomats who haven’t got a farthest of far relation with dramatics criticise the way practices are held. IITians are big diplomats you know, budding analysts of futuristic India. I listen each and every word of an actor who has already done a street play, be it criticism or analysis. But for someone in a habit of ‘Analysis’, or someone who wants to prove that he too has a director’s brain, i dont have a reply for ‘their’ way of how street play should be made.

I can simply write a blog. I have got nothing else as a means of communication.

Shouting is an Art. Bringing voice from your stomach, not from your chocked throat is an Art. How to increase your volume both ways discretely and continuously is an Art. How to dissolve your voice into your senses is an Art. How to involve stomach, chest, nostrils, oesophagus and forehead in bringing out voice is an Art.

Modulating your voice is an Art. Striking an appropriate balance between the depressions and elevations in the pitch and volume is an Art. How much to inhale, how much to exhale. How much to pause. Intonation is an Art. Not just Street play, every form of play requires these basic critarian. Hence we practice them for hours.

Maintaining stamina for 25 minutes of performance is an Art. Continuous 25 minutes in  sprint. When one puts exponentially more than 100% stamina and energy, 25 minutes seem to have converge into a Black Hole. It seems as if the play has collapsed into a moment, a tiny performance. To maintain that energy, we practice our energy for hours.

Spontaenity is an Art. Street Play is a PLAY at the first place, with situations and dialogues. The games we play, the innovation we bring to our practices, the rapidness and spontaneous practice sessions, thy all imbibe something mature within us, without letting us know. Every practice, every new learning gets stored and added to our maturity and comes out as an outcome somewhere when required, when, we dont know!

Someone who is a God of Street Plays, who has done or directed numerous of them, can write off thousands of such blogs with Whats, Whys and Hows of Street Plays. But Dramatics dont work that way afterall.

Dramatics isn’t something to teach or to learn. Dramatics is about experiencing and absorbing. An individuality. A collective phenomenon. Stage and Street are an independence. A dependency. An actor reaches infinity. The same actor will reach to Zero in a different role. Acting dissolves. Acting seperates. Acting brings you to your true self. Acting makes you artificial.

These were just a few essential basics which I have learnt seriously in my hitherto one and a half year instinct at IITD. Whatever I act, whatever I perform, I try to implement whatever I have absorbed within me. Every practice, every performance absorbs something new in me. I am fortunate to be an actor who is learning continuously.

Next blog soon.

Snehil Basoya.

[ I have always welcomed criticisms, be it on blogs or on my performances. But as many already know, I get irritated when criticisms come without a reason or spine]