Writing about the Ozone street play got me thinking of the other plays I’ve been in, and huge attacks of stage fright notwithstanding, the stage is actually a really fun place to be. A place where you can shed your inhibitions and bask in the limelight. A place where you will get cheered (as your school will cheer you on!! Of course you’ll be jeered at too) and where you will forget your lines at times (but make them up seamlessly if you value your skin) and where you will have a hammering heart and cold hands.
So here are a few roles I could think of which I played:
The first one:
The dadu in a Rabindra Jayanti play involving a cat everyone’s mesmerized by…there was a whole pack of powder on my clothes, and very little on my hair, but at least I got the stoop and the quaver in the voice right-gimme a break, it was class 7!!
Not long after:
The bangal chakor in bharate chaai -a weird role involving an exaggerated bangal accent and a lot of gesticulation, for Teachers’ Day. Teachers loved the play-Inam looked amazing as a bangali bou and said “ki amar sokhar math gorer pran!!”(a teacher put her right), while hitting Mitra with a broom. That was the first big success--and that’s why we’ve been recycling Bharate chaai at regular intervals ever since, whenever we need a script fast.
Then there was Abak Jalpan which I don’t remember properly, and another one which our Bengali teacher made up..... and a few more I guess…none inter-school though.
There was a brief hiatus in our acting careers after that while we focused on our doomed-from-the-beginning band but Teachers Day and Rabindra Jayanti etc always saw us doing something, anything. We loved the stage and would do anything to get on it--all 11 of us!! 7th and 8th grade were packed with fun and we spent more time in our backstairs ‘practice’ spot than in our classes….I don’t believe how many classes we bunked back in 7…tar opor chilo music, debates, extempore, quizzes,-- everything we got our hands on, we participated in.
Maybe that’s why we got so jaded later on….
I got kinda sidetracked, but this will be added to and continued later on (hopefully)…..
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i'd acted virtually every year in school plays and never once hav had tht thng called stage fright.. but whn it came 2 giving speeches n debating or oral exams etc.. i hav fumbled so miserably n hav messed thm up so badly tht i either hav flunked in thm or hav got passing marks! weird shit :S
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