Ammavin aranmanai - A play with a social message

 Every year in December we have a week long concert fest which is iced with two tamil plays  on weekends at Keyes school ground. We have been regular to the plays if not on both days atleast one of the day.

This year too we were seated in the makeshift auditorium of Keyes school  to witness the play of Gurukulam’s ( original boys co. 95) troupe  “Ammavin Aranmanai” (Mother’s palace). Gurukulam to the best of our knowledge is not a popular troupe or atleast we had not heard of it. So, we were skeptical about the play, but thankfully we were not disappointed and I was happy my teens whom we had dragged with us, enjoyed the play.

The play dealt about the migration of people from  joint families in smaller towns and villages towards nuclear families in  cities and other continents. As they moved away some of them lost touch with their roots, culture and some lost their  identity or‘nativity’ too while adapting to their adopted culture.

The plays deals with the  above theme through a family which lives in a village home with its traditional architecture of open courtyard  surrounded by garden of fresh vegetables and flowers.

The sons, daughter, uncles  and their family who live in a flat in a city congregate at the family home for their father’s 80^th birthday and relive the simple pleasures of growing up in a village home and say such simple lifestyles are not possible any more and are no match to their automated lifestyle they lead in cities.  

While the preparations are on for the 80^th birthday, the patriarch  falls  unconscious due to exertion. The son’s and daughter decide to move the parents to the city after the function since the cities afford  best medical facilities.Post the 80^th birthday, when the discussion veers towards moving the parents, the father refuses saying  there  would be nothing called ‘Native culture’ any more if everybody migrates and adapts foreign cultures . The temples which are not just place of worship but treasure trove of culture would be neglected, familial and neighbor hood ties would be fractured in cities. He says it is wise for elders to stay in their native and await the arrival of children to their homes atleast once in a year to visit the family deity and visit the native temples. This will help pass the baton of culture for future generations rather than stay in time-share resorts and home-stays.

The play never sounded preachy although it had a strong social message.  The beautiful  pleasures of growing up when life was not technologically connected  was comically built through lovely dialogues and versatile acting making it a memorable fare.


In short, i could identify with the play since the play's message were so similar to my thoughts which I had posted long ago in  "Connecting to my roots" 

Washington-il thirumanam

Wedding in Washington  (Washingtonil Thirumanam) is a tamil play which I have been wanting to see since many years.

The play in original format is from a book from the same name . It  was  serialized (written form) in the 80’s in a tamil weekly called ‘Saavi’.  I then did not know to read my mother-tongue but the  witty illustrations that accompanied the story caught my attention.  I would ask my mom to tell me the story.  The story she said,  was  how a tambrahm wedding is conducted in Washington  where sourcing things like garlands, and other indian wedding needs were difficult and the humorous situations that lead to the wedding. So, when this story was adapted as play, it was on  my wishlist since long.

 Kalasagaram  a cultural center of twin cities staged Goodwill creations “ Washingtonil thirumanam”  last evening.  We started well in advance as  we  were aware that the Governor of AP was to be in the audience. There were lot of security checks  and also  we had to negotiate the mindless Hyderabadi traffic though the venue is only a few kms away

The story line like said above is  how  US millionaire couple Rockfellers  are charmed by the customs and rituals of an Indian(  read tambrahm)wedding. They are fascinated by the land of philosophy and spiritual significance. They want to witness  this and  so conduct  an Indian wedding in Washington DC. They sponsor a chennai based  middleclass family’s wedding in The US. The entire family, friends, priests, caterers, domestic help, goldsmith, florists  are flown in chartered flights from India to the US. Not even an appalam making paati (papad making old lady)is spared. She  along with her team lands in the US with  rolling pins to roll appalams for the wedding. (This story was written in the 50’s when event management or wedding contractors were unheard of)

The story is simple, but the drama’s lifeline is the liberal dose of  humorous situations and witty dialogues.

Some  of the funny situations are when thousands of appalams have to be rolled out and they find a huge terrace of a skyscraper to sun-dry the appalams, the priests interview by a reporter of Washington post  while doing sandhyavandanam on the banks of River potamac etc.,.  The rockfellers are smitten by the nischayathartham( betrothal), jaanavasam( baarat), Thaali( mangalsutra) and she thinks they are great fashion statements.

On the day of  jaanavasam (baarat)  a sambandhi sandai erupts( The quarrel between groom and bride side). The  groom's mama refuses to accept that there is no open car( like a horse in baraat, an open car in used for jaanavasam)  to take the groom around and there is no proper filter kaapi available to drink. He refuses  to drink the coffee made from milk powder and wants coffee made from cow’s milk. Mrs. Rockfeller who is watching the sandai (tiff) asks the bride’s party why cows were not brought in flight.  Just one of the comical situation to show to what lengths they would go to witness a real wedding in the US.

There is more wit in the play which rises due to lingual  mis-pronunciation and differences. For instance payasam(kheer) becomes poison,  appalam becomes apple-ham, idli as Italy, adhirasam as sweet pizza. Aiyaswamy becomes “Hai shamy to “ Hai shame” , panju  becomes punch etc

One of the highlights was when the actors descended down from the stage and the jaanavasam( baraat) went around the audience. The stage, props and some of the players made it seem so realistic. Two actors worth mentioning were Koothapiran( Natarajan) and the producer of Goodwill Kovai Padmanabhan. Excellent in the roles of Sambamurty shastrigal  and the groom’s mama( who quarreled).

The two along with the actor playing paati stole our hearts and there was thunderous applause when they delivered dead pan humorous expressions and dialogues. The rest of the cast was so-so.

I found the play not worth the hype. The story was written may be in the 50’s when going to ‘Foreign land’ (Read US) was a great achievement,  things like love marriage, internet and wedding management were unheard of. Some of the situations are not relevant to today’s times. Moreover since the 90’s almost every other second Indian has visited the US and there is not much glamour attached to the name US.

Although, it did not meet  my expectations( may be i had great expectations)  the hall echoed with laughter for every second dialogue and the huge hall was packed beyond capacity.  It was heartening to see that theatre had not suffered a huge setback due to TV and internet. A huge clap for people like Kovai paddu and Koothabiran( an alumni of Chennai’s beasant theosophical school, Kalakshetra) who are still keeping the art alive.  Both the actor are live wires and it was surprising to know that they both were 82 year old( amazing energy levels!).

The actor Koothapiran and the Governor who was the chief guest are supposed to be school mates. It was interesting to hear to  the 82 year old relate a few anecdotes of Kalakshetra,  The way he related  showed that communication is an art, those anecdotes could make another post.

Whose side would you take?

We are going to have entertaining weekends this December. Cultural organizations of twin cities( Hyderabad and secunderabad) like SICA(south Indian Cultural association), Kalasagaram, Sharada cultural trust, Desika Sabha of twin cities, Sri chandrasekarandra music academy have organized music concerts, Dance, dramas , harikathas lined up for the lovers of music and fine arts.

It is difficult for us to attend the weekday schedules and so far we missed the concerts of T.M. Krishna, Nityashree, Ranjani- Gayathri sisters.

Last week end, we happened to watch the play of Kathadi Ramamurthy titled ‘ Neenga yaar pakkam’ (whose side are you?).

It is the story of a retired man ( sivaraman) and his wife lalitha. Their only son is settled in the USA. After retirement, The son wants his parents to join him in the USA and help him tide over the cooking problem while his wife is posted in another city for 6 months.

Sivaraman refuses to go to USA telling that one becomes a prisoner in an alien land and has to wait for their children’s approval to go out whereas he is free at his native Mylapore and can keep himself engaged and active and can visit temples, take strolls in the local parks with friends and do as he wishes.

After a series of arguments, Lalitha his wife decides to help her son and so travels to USA all alone with out her husband. While in US her son tells her not to talk to or smile at their neighbours since they would take offence. With no socializing /outing and her son also busy with work, Lalitha turns a mental wreck.

Doctors in the USA declare to her son and D-I-L that she cannot be cured.

So she returns to India with her son and DIL and the son accuses his father of being too strict, principled and selfish.

Meanwhile, Sivaraman calls up a friend and he comes home and narrates her the neighbourhood happenings and gossips. She hears the gossip of ‘edathathu alamelu’ telling the neighbourhood that Lalitha has fought with her DIL in America and has returned. This does the trick and immediately Lalitha springs up from her seat and jumps to defend.

Every body is surprised by the cure and her dil finds this unbelievable since the efficient American doctors found her uncurable. Sivaraman says Socialising and gossiping helped her maintain sanity and Here they had their own lives too lead and the short quality time they interacted each day kept them bonded, here too if they were thrown together all the time watching each others face, they would have ended up with frayed nerves. The visit to Niagara, Disney world and other US attractions pales in comparison to his & Lalitha’s social life In Mylapore.

Sivaraman says all retired people should stay in their own place and should not become a puppet in the hands of their NRI children, besides in old age it is the familiar people and surroundings that is reassuring. If children cared , they should find jobs in their home land and support their aged parents.

Lalitha says there is no harm in helping their NRI children and so one can travel abroad when they require their help.

Their son suresh says, children move out for greener pastures and parents have to support their children.

Another friend suggests that there is no harm in parental migration to US.

Now, Whose side would you take?. NEENGA YAAR PAKKAM?.

I side with Sivaraman.

A relevant to times play, not preachy ,not judgemental but let's the audience to ponder.