My play “Meera” was written for Rubena Sinha’s production.
(In this blogsite I plan to record the early history of the Indo-Canadian community in Manitoba through narrating my own experiences and memories of people and events. As it stands, it is a record of my own memories and of my work but it is my hope that readers of this blog will contact me with their own memories of people and events of the 1960s and 1970s so that the recording might expand into something useful for those interested in the history of our community.)
I will be repeating the above header from time to time to remind readers what this blog is about - a step towards a recording of our community's growth.
Major holidays and festivals used to be observed as community events – India’s Independence Day (August 15), Republic Day (January 26), Diwali and Dussehra – with a stage event featuring music and dance by local talents. If the special day fell on a weekday, the celebration would be held the weekend following. The events were usually held at the University of Manitoba, mainly because many from India were associated with the University as faculty or as students and it was easy to get permission to use the auditorium facilities and parking spaces of the University.
The stage events often had Fashion Shows, where the different regional costumes of India were modelled by community members while the emcee described each costume. We were a talented community at the time, and though few in numbers, each had something to offer.
Given the small numbers within the community, it was amazing to see the wealth of jewellery, costumes and artefacts we came up with, and given the vast regional differences in India, the show was a display of colours and variety such as no other community (Ukarainian excepted) could bring forward. My talent was in writing and speaking, and so I often wrote scripts for the productions and emceed the fashion shows, explaining the differences in customs and costumes that one can see in India.
One of the better events we had was in 1972, the staging of a dance drama – Meera. It was sponsored by the Hindu Society of Manitoba which had recently been started - I hope some reader of this blog can write a brief history of the beginnings of the Society.
The programme brochure states that the address for the Society is 2-E, 1975 Corydon, the Thawani Towers. Interestingly enough, the brochure also has an advertisement from Pioneer Apartment Owners (probably Mr. Thawani’s), Manitoba’s First High-Rise Ownership Development for an opportunity to own one’s apartment. Prices are from $15,920 and the down payment required is $1500 paid in ten monthly instalments.
The main inspiration behind the production was Rubena (Ruby) Sinha, one of our leading members with an artistic flair and enthusiasm that spearheaded this and many other cultural events. The lead dancing role (Meera) was played by Ruby, and Krishna was Ganga Dakshinamurti, with Raghu Dhruvarajan as child Krishna.
Mohan Thawani, Vijay Prasad, Sheela and Neena Maniar, Pamela Sinha and Indu Venkataraman were child Krishna’s friends. The gopis were Aruna Augamiya, Ratna Bose, Sandhya Desai, Usha Desai, Kala Dholakia and Ray Manthie.
On the sitar was Kalpana Mitra, who has been one of our major artistes all these years.
Mohan Thawani, Vijay Prasad, Sheela and Neena Maniar, Pamela Sinha and Indu Venkataraman were child Krishna’s friends. The gopis were Aruna Augamiya, Ratna Bose, Sandhya Desai, Usha Desai, Kala Dholakia and Ray Manthie.
On the sitar was Kalpana Mitra, who has been one of our major artistes all these years.
We had to make do with the resources at hand, which were not many, considering the community was still fewer than a couple of hundred people, and we did not have the current facility of downloading the music of the world at the touch of a computer key. So I wrote the script around the musical and acting resources we had.
Many of the main episodes in Krishna's life were depicted as Meera's thoughts and words as she waits for Krishna. Thus there were two Meeras on stage, Sydney Stewart sitting on stage left throughout with the spotlight on her only between scenes, and Ruby emerging from behind her to dance.
Many of the main episodes in Krishna's life were depicted as Meera's thoughts and words as she waits for Krishna. Thus there were two Meeras on stage, Sydney Stewart sitting on stage left throughout with the spotlight on her only between scenes, and Ruby emerging from behind her to dance.
The show was staged on Friday, 7th of April, 1972 at the University of Manitoba.
I invite Comments on where the individuals mentioned above are now and relevant details about them or about similar events.
I invite Comments on where the individuals mentioned above are now and relevant details about them or about similar events.
The script can be read here.
No comments:
Post a Comment