Sakharam Binder

This past Friday, about the same time Pramod was having a great time at Sachin's, I also had a Tendulkar experience of my own.. but of a different kind.

I watched the performance of Vijay Tendulkar's Sakharam Binder, performed by 'The Play Company' of New York. The cast was mostly native (except Sarita Chowdhury who played Champa and Sanjeev Jvheri in a small role). The play was translated by Kumud Mehta and Shanta Gokhle and was directed by Maria Mileaf.

The performance was in a very small theatre, that had only 13 rows. It is part of the 59th Street Theatre Foundation Building. The building hosts the offices of this foundation and two or three small theatres. Each theatre seats at best apprx 150 people. But they have a small stage, and the necessary lighting arrangements. There was no curtain. It reminded me of Sneh-sadan in Pune except that there was more than one theatre in this building. But the feel was very similar. A small performance for those who are willing to find out about it. There were no billboards, no advertisements outside the theater either.

I could not help but imagine (read dream) such a building ( a small multiplex for theatre performances if you will) in Pune. It will be so perfect for the many amateur theater groups in that city.

The performance started at around 8.15 PM and ended at 11.00 PM... almost three hours. But there were only two acts... I don't remember if the original Marathi play has two or three. With almost no plot, and in a translated format, it must have been a real challenge to keep it interesting for such a long time. But the cast did a really great job of doing so. There was a pin-drop silence during the play and the number of people when the play ended was same as it was when it began. ;) The cast was as follows:

Sakharam Binder: Bernard White
Laxmi: Anna George
Davood Miyan: Adam Alexi-Malle
Champa: Sarita Chowdhury
Fouzdar Shinde: Sanjiv Jhaveri

The performance was very nice.. well made... professional... compact... and captivating. The audience was mostly non-Indian and therefore, presumably had no exposure to the play or the playwright prior to this.

I have a few observations that I would like to share:

We often feel that the Indian writers and literature, particularly the modern literature, does not get recognition it is due outside India.

One of the popular reasons given for this is that, it (modern Indian literature) deals with the problems that are limited to Indian Context and therefore do not have much of a 'Universal appeal'.

Another reason often stated is that its value is so closely coupled with the language it is originally written in, be it Marathi, Kannada or anything else... that as soon as it is translated it loses its appeal.

Third reason given is that there simply isn't enough awareness about the quality of Indian literature outside India.

This performance of Sakharam Binder, convincingly proved to me that the first two reasons are downright untrue.

If the non-Indian audiences and readers are exposed to the capably translated works of the likes of Tendulkar, G.A. Kulkarni, Khanolkar etc (and this is Marathi alone. There are plenty others in all other Indian languages) I am certain that they will be floored by its content and power. There is no doubt in my mind that the only valid reason for the this lack of recognition is the lack of exposure. They don't appreciate it only because they don't know it exists. The tremendous appetite the West has shown for the works of Salman Rashdie, Zumpa Lahiri, Arundhati Roy et al also speaks to this... (although in my opinion none of these are even close in terms of originality or quality in to the Khanolkars and the GAs.) On a side note, it also speaks volumes of prizes like Nobel and how western-civilization-centric they are.

It was very interesting that during the performance, I could actually feel the original Marathi characters thru the English dialogs. It was almost as if I was watching a Marathi play.. only the language was English.. if you know what I mean. I think it is a tremendous credit to the translators and the actors. The set was also very good. It was a two room house, one small kitchen and the other room. The cabinets in the wall, the khunti on the wall, the chool, all were very authentic. The stage was really small.. perhaps no more than 15' X 20'... but the way they used it was admirable.

Another interesting observation I had, particularly at the beginning of the play, with all those dialogs of complete domination of Laxmi by Sakharam, the abuse, and her total submission... was that it actually made me feel embarrassed... I almost wished there was no non-Indian there... but the feeling subsided gradually.. partly because I was engrossed in the play... and partly because I could see that the audience could actually relate to what was happening... and this made me realize the universality in it... the manifestation of the abuse being shown on the stage was indeed Indian...but it was not unique to India.... the international audience could relate to the similar kind of abuse (spousal...if you could call the arrangement between Sakharam and Lakshmi as 'Spousal' or just between a man and woman) that undoubtedly exists in their countries also.

The New York times review of the play summarized the point about the universal appeal in the following way... this should give you some insight into how it appeared to the non-Indian eye and mind.

"Sakharam's tragedy turns out to hinge on his budding social consciousness, his arrested enlightenment. He can see - almost - an idea of equality and shared humanity that transcends individual appetite, but nothing in his life (including the women) ever encourages him to follow its logic. Like Brecht's Mother Courage, he exploits a corrupt system for personal advantage, then discovers that the price of playing the game is everything he hoped to protect. Unlike Brecht, though, Mr. Tendulkar never judges his protagonist but concentrates instead on painting him with unsettling compassion, perceptiveness and thoroughness. His play deserves to be much better known in the United States than it is."

Lastly, regarding the reference a friend of mine made to my "knack of being at times and places one can only be jealous of"... well.. thanks for the complements... I think we all have been able to get some very enriching experiences and continue to do so... and in case of all of us, I think it involves a lot of 'being lucky' in it... but it also comes from the fact that once we realize that we could not be happy with the mediocrity, the superficiality, the dishonesty of what gets thrown at us... like the majority of the Bollywood movies... we start making efforts to find what else is out there... and believe that there must be something better somewhere... and then we start finding things... The luck... is always a factor... but not for those who don't make that effort.

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Sakharam Binder copyright © 2007 by Sushrut Vaidya. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No changes or edits in the content of this work or of the digital format are allowed. For information, write Sushrut Vaidya at sushrut.vaidya@gmail.com.

Red Sox - The World Champions !!

I am still recovering from the zombie like state I have gotten myself into, in last two weeks, staying up past midnight watching the Sox (or the lovable ‘Idiots’ as we Bostonians call them) make the improbable (even impossible) happen… I still cannot believe it… but the Red Sox have won the World Series!!!

For those of you who are not familiar with this, there are two leagues of baseball teams in America, the American League and the National League. The champions from each of these leagues meet in what is call the “World Series”. To win this is the highest achievement for any professional baseball team in America.

Boston, which is one of the oldest, most loved and respected teams in America had not won this title in last 86 years. You might be surprised why I am calling them one of the best teams if they had not won for last 86 years… well its because the cause for their winless 86 years… believe it or not… is supernatural… or so people think (correction- thought.. I am still getting used to this!). This was because of the Curse… the Curse of the Bambino… It’s the stuff of folklore and the myths.

To know what this curse is (sorry… was), I need to tell you who this Bambino is…

In 1918 the Red Sox won their 5th World Series, the most by any club at that time. One of the stars of the Boston championship franchise was a young player by the name of George Herman Ruth, aka The Babe or The Bambino… who went on to become the greatest baseball player that ever lived… the Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar of Baseball combined into one person, if you may!!

In 1920, however, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee needed money to finance his girlfriend's play, so he sold Babe Ruth's contract to Colonel Jacob Ruppert's New York Yankees for $100,000 (plus a loan collateralized by Fenway Park... Boston’s baseball stadium).

Since then, the Yankees, who had never won a World Championship before acquiring Ruth, have gone on to win 26, and are arguably one of the greatest success stories in the history of sport.

Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox, prior to 2004, had appeared in only four World Series since 1918, losing each one in game seven. Many considered Boston's performance after the departure of Babe Ruth to be attributable to "The Curse of the Bambino." The idea being that it was such a sacrilege to trade such a God like player that they had in Babe Ruth, for money…and that also for such a trivial cause… that the team was cursed never to win the World Series again.

Ever since that year, the Red Sox were ridiculed as a cursed team…particularly by the New York Yankees…their archenemy and the Yankee fans. Since 1918 and until this year, Boston had never beaten the Yankees when it really mattered. They would always have great record in the season and when it came to the qualification rounds (called post-season here) they would lose. Wherever they went, they were treated with the signs of the “Curse”, images of Babe Ruth and signs of “1918,” (The comma at the end being deliberate…indicating the list of championships that has not gone further after 1918. A short for “1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, ...???” )

On the other hand, the Boston fans supported their team with the signs of “Believe” and “This is the year”… never losing the faith.

To put it in perspective, there have been two World Wars, the Great Depression, end of the Colonialism, man on the moon, and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union during this time… and the Boston fans kept the faith… generation after generation… telling themselves.. this is the year!!

Nowhere else was this contrast more evident than when they played the New York Yankees. It’s a tale of two cities… on one hand, Boston, the oldest city in America with its old world values of undying loyalty and faith in the “can do” spirit… which seemed ludicrous to everyone but the Bostonians. On the other hand, New York, the city which cares for nothing but success… equally quick to discard the losers… with their legendary “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” attitude.

The intensity of the rivalry between the two teams could be compared only to that of India and Pakistan. There is so much tension when these two teams play, it’s hard to believe… but you will feel it alright. This year, they had to bring on the police in riot gear, by the dozens, during the American League championship series, when a referee call went against the Yankees. The atmosphere in the Yankee Stadium was so tense that it felt like a riot would break out any minute. To both teams, beating each other seems far more important than winning the World Series… well… almost!

Last year, the Red Sox suffered yet another heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the Yankees in the 7th game in the best of seven series for AL championship. (The only good thing that came out it was that the Yankees still lost in the World Series. ) And this year again, they were down 3-0 after losing first three games in the AL championship series. No team had come back from a 0-3 deficit in the history of baseball...in the fourth game the Red Sox were down in the last innings and it seemed like it was all over…. yet another year….like the 85 in past. But the Red Sox came back… they leveled the game in the 9th innings, won the game in the extra innings and rallied from there to win three more games to beat the Yankees 4-3 to win the AL and enter the World Series. Yankees will now bear the humiliation of being the first team to blow the 3-0 lead forever…and unlike the curse.. it cant be broken!!

And then they went on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, the National League champions, by 4-0… to win the World Series!!!

It’s impossible to describe how it felt!!

Only way to know is to be a Red Sox fan who has kept up the faith a year after year…we believed…. this is the year… this is the year… can you hear the church bells ringing in the small New England towns… and the honking in the streets of Boston? This is the year!!

The pigs can fly…. The Hell has frozen over…the wishes are horses… the impossible dreams can come true… and the Boston Red Sox are the World Champions...!!

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Red Sox - The World Champions !! copyright © 2007 by Sushrut Vaidya. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No changes or edits in the content of this work or of the digital format are allowed. For information, write Sushrut Vaidya at sushrut.vaidya@gmail.com.