Carambolim resident Diksha Naik was only a couple of years ago, a shy timid girl who would rather stick to the side lines. Today however, the 15 year old is full of opinions and ideas and can’t wait for them to be heard. Ask her what the biggest issue facing her village is, and she is quick to reply, “Pollution!”
As part of the Carambolim Bal Gram Sabha, the teen along with a group of eight children are raising a voice against the troubles of the village through a Marathi play titled Kuth Gele Maze Pani (Where has the clean water gone) highlighting the problem the nearby Carambolim Lake faces with two shows, one on Sunday in their village and two other shows on Tuesday at Sanskruti Bhavan, Patto. Once known for being a spot for migratory birds the lake has come under threat thanks to garbage and pollution.
“My parents would tell me stories of what the lake used to be: fresh waters, so many birds. But all of that is under threat now because of pollution and construction,” says Naik. And with the help of NGO Mitsuko Trust who have been working with the children of the village for over two years, the play aims to highlight this danger with a theatrical play not only for the village this Sunday, but for people in Goa as well, as they will be performing the play in Panjim on February 10.
They have not been voted. But they have taught the village what ruling is. They are not the government. But have shown what government is.
Nine year old Syden Fernandez says for him, it’s the best way to get the message through. “I wanted to be a part of this play because this is an issue that is very serious and it is a good way of telling it to the people of the village,” he says.
The idea for the play came from one of the many workshops the NGO organizes. Naik’s depiction of the lake was an exercise the organization held at one such workshop. Shyamalee Roy, Director at the Trust asked the children to ask their grandparents of stories about the lake and depict it in a painting.
Naik’s representation was a river flowing and a story of birds, crocodiles and clean water her mother told her along the banks of the river. This was the starting point of the play. Arundhati Chattopadhyaya whose won awards for acting and was acting in off Broadway theatre productions in New York, worked with Marathi theatre group Aniket as well as several experimental plays, took to Naik’s painting and built a script for a play.
“I simply took the thought and decided I wanted to do a piece with it but I didn’t want to make a typical theatrical piece out of it, because it wouldn’t have worked. My sister (Chitra Palekar) who lives in Bombay is a script writer and I begged her to work on it with me. So when we started writing it, the flow was instant. After all the addition and deletion we finalized it in August 2014. When I came back to Goa we had some water movements in our head, and so we worked with it. Eventually we decided why not have the play in the middle of the room and the audience all around,” says Chattopadhyaya who currently resides in the state.
The flow is mingled with the music, she says. Visualized as a water piece the play is mixed with heavy movements, heavy pauses and breaks, a need that would have otherwise lost the audiences attention.
The experimental nature of the play only developed with the addition of the musical factor with Shamant Behal on the classical guitar and Friedrich Walzel on the flute.
Behal who studied at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, France has been teaching and performing all over India and says his participation in the play stems from the need to highlight issues like garbage.
“Initially I had no idea what the play was about. It was a good development process and since we’re always complaining about the garbage problems in Goa, what better way to depict it,” he says adding that the improvisation was the backbone of the play. For German, Walzel a flute teacher at the Child’s Play Foundation, the language may have been a barrier but Chattopadhyaya’s directions and feel for the situation made up for not being able to understand Marathi.
Even the walls of the village panchayat hall, where the Sunday’s performance is to be held, underwent a revamp. Goan artist Ramdas Gadekar turned the once dull and boring walls into a colourful and lively depiction of migratory birds and scenic lake and its surroundings.
After all is said and done however, the biggest achievement among visibly seen is the freedom of expression and though the children have managed to develop. “The main aim is to let the children think and express themselves,” says Roy while Chattopadhyaya adds that all nine children cast in the play have questions and opinions of the part they play.
“They’re full of ideas and constantly developing with their ideas. Pushkar (one of the cast members) would come and whisper in my ear, “Why not do it this way?” I said, “Why not?” Another day Snyden asked me what to do with his hands in once scene. I am their eyes, and because of my experience, I can see the movement and can develop from that,” she says.
Additional support was provided by Satish Gawas in the form of lights, Niyati Upadhya in production design and Alok Johri in the graphics division.
Review Bureau
