Onto The Stage Slighted Souls And Other Stage Plays

by BS Murthy

  Renuka: Don't I value your feelings for her and cherish her memory myself. In a way, didn't she die trying to avert my fate? Now it's up to you baava to see that she didn't die in vain. Let not your misplaced sentiment make me a living dead.

  Narsimma: M ore than my sentiment Renu, it's my conviction that's inhibiting me.

  Renuka: What is it baava that overrides the fate of your beloved?

  Narsimma: Don't you know how I swear by dalit education. What's the use of preaching without practicing?

  Renuka: Oh! Life is not for tagging to theories baava; it's about grabbing its moments.

  Narsimma: M aybe, I'm too young to be realistic about life.

  Renuka: It's nothing but escapism baava, and that's going to ruin my life. [She looks into the well over her shoulder]

  Narsimma: Don't you see that I'm powerless now to protect you? Let's see how your life itself protects you.

  Renuka: You don't need any crystal ball to see what my future portends, do you? [She looks into the well.]

  Narsimma: Don't I know what my future would be like without you.

  Renuka: Why, I’ve an idea. [She jumps down to the ground] Let's elope with mavayya and Sarakka in tow. We three will toil to keep you going.

  Narsimma [Excitedly.]: Why couldn't I think of it myself Renu? Is it that I love you any less?

  Renuka: I know you love me more than you realize. Well, your wooly ideologies seem to be the bane of my life.

  Narsimma: M aybe, it's possible. But Renu, if there's a way of not losing you, do you think I'll ever lose you?

  Renuka: But baava, God forbid what if it's a foiled bid.

  Narsimma: Why do you think so? As you've buoyed my love, I'll fly you to the moon itself. All said and done, it's better to try and fail than never to have tried at all.

  Renuka: Just in case, don't forget that I live in the hope of being your wife before I die.

  Narsimma: If ever I lose your love, I know it would be the end of my life. Well let's plan for our life together.

  [Narsimma and Renuka talk in undertones. Curtains down]

  Scene - 6

  [Curtains up: M uthyal Rao, Papa Rao, Rami Reddy, Papi Reddy and Shaukar Suryam sit on the dais of scene - 4 with a couple of henchmen standing guard. While Yellaiah, Narsimma, Renuka and Sarakka stand accused, sitting on the floor are Maisamma, Yadagiri, Anasuya and other villagers.]

  M uthyal Rao: Papa Rao Patel, let the panchayat begin.

  Papa Rao: Hahn dora. Abetted by Yelligadu and Sarakka, Narsigadu tried to elope with Renuka. All were caught red-handed while leaving the village at the dead of the night, last night.

  Renuka: Dora, as my mother fixed my marriage against my wishes, it's I who goaded them to take me away.

  M uthyal Rao: Keep quiet, no one called for your sanjaayishi.

  Narsimma: Dora, Renu is my betrothed, and my aththa is the spoilsport.

  M uthyal Rao: Narsiga, why didn't you approach the panchayat then?

  Narsimma: Dora, you know how Papi Reddy Patel takes sides.

  Papi Reddy: Narsiga, how dare you accuse a panch?

  Yellaiah: Dora, please pardon me and bless the children.

  Reddy: Wah Yelliga wah. Blessing the runaways, what a precedent it sets.

  Yellaiah: [Bows his head in silence]

  Muthyal Rao: Yera Yeiliga, why abet your son, don't you know elopement is a crime in Rampur?

  Yellaiah: Hahn dora, but Anasuya is the cause of it.

  Yadagiri: Hahn dora.

  M aisamma: Dora, bless the children and may God bless you.

  M uthyal Rao: M aisamma, sadly it's all too late now. Had any of you brought the issue before the panchayat, we would've addressed it suitably.

  Narsimma: Is it so dora?

  Muthyal Rao: Well, now that the crime is committed, it's the punishment time. What the panch have to say?

  Papa Rao: What's there to disagree dora.

  Papi Reddy: Dora, we might note that Yellaiah's family members are habitual offenders.

  Shaukar Suryam: Weil, didn't Maliamma attack Papi Reddy Patel in the panchayat itself. If not for that stroke of luck and for lack of a sickle, God knows where he would've been now.

  M uthyal Rao: It's five lashes each to Narsigadu and Yelligadu, and two to Sarakka.

  Renuka: Why leave me out dora. Let me also share their fate.

  M uthyal Rao: What makes you think you're let off scot-free; your turn would come any way.

  [Taking cue from M uthyal Rao, his henchman was about to lash at Narasimma. Even before Narsimma could take the blow, Renuka rushes to him and takes it herself. While other henchman holds Renuka, Narsimma, Yellaiah and Sarakka are whipped as directed.]

  Muthyal Rao: As Renuka tried to elope with Narsigadu, the panchayat prohibits her from marrying him.

  Papi Reddy: And for having shamed Saailu, she should be his slavish wife.

  Renuka: Dora, is not history repeating itself. Don't you see Papi Reddy Patel hijacking the panchayat all again.

  [Instinctively Papi Reddy gets into a protective posture.]

  Narsimma: And yet dora says we should've approached the panchayat.

  Anasuya: See his audacity dora. I'm afraid he may frisk her away before the wedding.

  M uthyal Rao: When is that?

  Anasuya: It's day after tomorrow dora.

  Muthyal Rao: Then, till Renuka's marriage is performed, Yelligadu and his children may be confined in the banduldoddi.

  Rami Reddy: Dora, with strayed cattle for company?

  M uthyal Rao: So be it Patwari. Won't that serve as a lesson for the others?

  [Exit: Yellaiah, Narsimma and Sarakka led away by the henchmen.]

  M aisamma: [As she exits.] Oh, if only M ailamma were alive.

  Shaukar Suryam: We would've kept round the clock vigil at our well. What do you say dora?

  M uthyal Rao [Frowns]: Go jump yourself.

  Papi Reddy: Why so dora, hasn't he got better things on his hands?

  Rami Reddy: Better we focus on Narsimma for hurt cuts both ways.

  [Curtains down.]

  Scene - 7

  [Curtains up: Narsimma is at the reading table in his room in the Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes Hostel. Enter: Srisailam, his friend and fellow inmate.]

  Srisailam: Hi, how're you still here?

  Narsimma: [Doesn't respond.]

  Srisailam: Don’t you know M adanna is expected?

  Narsimma: Is it in tow with Charu M ajumdar and Kanu Sanyal or what?

  Srisailam: It’s no joking matter you know, the People's War Group.

  Narsimma: What else is it? Don't they think bashing up the peddollu is going to solve our problems? And they call it revolutionary opposition, my foot. Let them go to hell with their naxalism, and better we mind our studies.

  Srisailam: All said and done, is he not your langotiyaar?

  Narsimma: If not why did I put up with that Majumdar's 'Historic Eight Documents' for so long?

  Srisailam: I don't know why you're so cut up with him.

  Narsimma: Why should I not be? You know he is of IAS stuff. Oh, how I did my best to convince him that as a District Collector he could have made a difference to the downtrodden. Besides, won't a bright dalit boost the morale of our folks? If only you knew how I begged him not to put all that on the naxal line. But he spoiled it all for him and for us as well. Hasn't he become a fugitive already?

  Srisailam: So be it. He's already the darling of the downtrodden and a high-up in the PWG .

  Narsimma: Why forget even a dalam bears his name? And he wants me as his deputy. It's as if he's making me the Vice-President of the nation.

  Srisailam: I’m sure you've declined to pursue your god-damn studies.

  Narsimma: You leave me to my studious fate and tell me why you're eager to join the gang.

  Srisailam: Why, do you feel we're not oppressed enough to be aggressive?

  Narsimma: If a few of us bash up a few of them, do you believe that would end our ordeals?
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  Srisailam: It may not be the end but surely it would be the beginning of the end.

  Narsimma: Why, your revolutionary opposition is sure to invite their retaliatory repression. Won't the cycle of violence stymie our struggle?

  Srisailam: So what’s your prescription to our ailment? Bear it all through life waiting for death to end it.

  Narsimma: Why, didn't Baba Saheb pave the path for dalit progress through education? Maybe, the journey is long, arduous even, but it surely gets us there. But these Charus and Kanus are leading us astray. I'm convinced about it.

  Srisailam: No denying Ambedkar M arg leads us to the dalit country. But we need M ajumdar's musketeers and Sanyal's sepoys to guard our convoys, don’t we?

  Narsimma: M aybe, but what about the oppressors from our own ranks?

  Srisailam: What a weird thought it is, oppressors among the oppressed.

  [Enter: M adanna on the run.]

  Narsimma to M adanna: You know I’m not a game for it.

  M adanna: Oh, you shut up, and find a way out for me. I'm on the run now.

  [Exit: Narsimma even as M adanna gets under the cot.]

  Srisailam: I too want to serve the cause anna.

  Madanna: Well, Narsimma would lead you to my hideout. Let's meet tomorrow if I'm not nabbed now.

  [Enter: Narsimma, and lets M adanna slip away from the window.]

  Srisailam: After this can you miss the heroism in naxalism.

  Narsimma: Oh, what a rendezvous it was with your idol.

  Srisailam: And he showed me the green light.

  Narsimma: He himself being on the run that is. Well, who am I to stop you, any way?

  Srisailam: Show me the way then.

  [Even as Narsimma whispers into Srisailam's ear, there is a knock on the door. And Narsimma opens it. Enter: Two Police Constables and they search the place]

  Police Constable (1) to Narsimma: Where is Madanna?

  Narsimma: Constable Saab, he left the hostel long ago.

  Police Constable (1): Where is he is now?

  Narsimma: Saab, I've lost touch with him

  Police Constable (2) [Pushing Narsimma.]: Chai beta, once in the lockup, surely you would sing a different tune.

  Police Constable (1) [Pushing Srisailam]: Chai, turn bhi chai.

  [Exit: Police Constables with Narsimma and Srisailam. Curtains down.]

  Scene - 8

  [Curtains up: Badly bruised Narsimma and Srisailam lodged in the Police Lockup.]

  Srisailam: Though I was sure you wouldn't, I was worried that I might spill the beans. M aybe, it's the confidence that you won't let out that let me hold out. Oh, how these bastards beat us to pulp.

  Narsimma: Oppressors among the oppressed, is it still a weird thought?

  Srisailam: Not any more, but do tell me whom you had in mind before my eyes were opened by these brutish cops.

  Narsimma: i didn't tell you what my aunt did to her own daughter. Oh how she got her daughter married to a pimp of her brother. God knows how my poor Renu is putting up with that Saailu. Hope his last threads of decency hold him from pimping for his own wife.

  Srisailam: Oh, how sad. Can't I understand your hurt at losing your sweetheart?

  Narsimma: And to add insult to injury was that banduldoddi. I didn't tell you about it either. How our family was hauled up there for three days. Now this lockup has only opened my old wounds. Oh, how sickening it feels.

  [Optional - Projecting a pre-shot movie dip showing Yellaiah, Narsimma and Sarakka in the banduldoddi with cattle for company.]

  Srisailam: Agreed that your aunt is an oppressor herself though from the oppressed lot. But delve deeper and you see the source of her callousness is her closeness with her own oppressors. If we eradicate the poison that is feudalism, then that would defang our own snakes in the grass.

  Narsimma: Maybe what you say could be true. But how would you explain the brutality of the men of our ilk simply because they don the police uniform?

  Srisailam: Isn't it a good reason for you to strengthen M adanna's hands?

  Narsimma: As I told you, I don't do anything that spoils my studies, more so as I've lost my Renu. But when they call me 'Narsiga', I feel like cutting their tongues for that.

  Srisailam: You need a knife for that, don't you? Let not the silly degree hold you in bettering the dalit lot of as a whole. Seize the moment and be M adanna's deputy.

  Narsimma: You may demean the peddollu with a gun but that won't make you dignified either. It's by being well educated that we force them to give us our due, though grudgingly in the beginning.

  Srisailam: Sure you score. But the other side of the dalit coin bears Majumdar's facsimile.

  Narsimma: Well can we call both heads and tails at the same time. M aybe, for the dalit good, we need some brainstorming and a little arm-twisting as well. But the question is one of division of roles. If not my temperament, surely my circumstance, rules out any revolutionary role for me.

  Srisailam: Well said. Let some of us pick up guns while others stick to their studies. Seems we need them both to uplift our folks. Be glued to your books as I arm myself. Know this lockup has only steeled my resolve for revolutionary opposition.

  Narsimma: Honestly, I'm no less bitter about the cops. M aybe, a little maalish at some joint might soothe our bodies if not our souls.

  Srisailam: That is, if they don't have more of an interrogation. Well, won’t that earn them more of our ill-will?

  Narsimma: We'll know right now. Don’t you see that cop coming to us?

  [Enter: Police Constable (1) and opens the lockup.]

  Police Constable (1): It'sover for now, but mind you; we'll keep an eye on you.

  [Narsimma and Srisailam come out of the lockup.]

  Srisailam: Hope, a homely dasara would lighten this a little.

  Narsimma: Having gone through hell, why not we've some fun at our place.

  Srisailam: I would've loved to, but you know where my heart is pushing me to.

  Narsimma: Well, let's see how long I can hold out at this rate.

  [Exit: Narsimma and Srisailam. Curtains down.]

  Scene - 9

  [Curtains up: Papa Rao Patel with the day's daily on the dais of scenes - 4 & 6.]

  [Enter: Shaukar Suryam.]

  Papa Rao: Aayiye Shaukar Saab

  Shaukar Suryam: Patel garu, I thought I was late.

  Papa Rao: Well isn't that the privilege of our dora, not of the patels and the patwaris. Lo, here he comes.

  [Enter: M uthyal Rao.]

  M uthyal Rao: What's the news Papa Rao Patel?

  Papa Rao: Dora, it's all about annalu and their atrocities.

  Shaukar Suryam: Oh, how difficult they're making life for us these days. You know my brother-in-law in Burugupadu, they told him to move out or else. It seems they don't want moneylenders any more.

  M uthyal Rao: What is their dora doing there, hatching eggs?

  Shaukar Suryam: Whatever it is, he's shifting to Nizamabad.

  M uthyal Rao: When lions are on the run, it's the rabbits that chase them, don't they?

  Shaukar Suryam: When in dilemma one should go by our proverbs dora. Isn't it said that it's better to kick around than kicking the bucket.

  Papa Rao: Thanks to dora, our ilaaka is out of their bounds, at least for now.

  M uthyal Rao: Where have Rami Reddy Patwari and Papi Reddy Patel gone?

  Papa Rao: They went to Warangal dora.

  M uthyal Rao: Why, to spy on their keeps. [He laughs heartily.]

  Papa Rao: That's the problem with keeping a woman dora, one has to keep an eye on her forever.

  Shaukar Suryam: Our dora has to thank his forefathers for saving him the bother.

  M uthyal Rao: What do you mean by that Shaukar?

  Shaukar Suryam: Why, didn't they make it your privilege to have the lowly brides in their nuptials beds? With bride a night, where's the need for you to keep any, much less keep an eye?

  Papa Rao [aside]: The women he takes to
bed could be his half-sisters and most of the lowly youth must be his bastard sons. But here comes an exception.

  [Enter: Narsimma bearing the bruises.]

  M uthyal Rao: Yera Narsiga why those bruises, were you caught picking a pocket or what?

  [Narsimma proceeds ignoring them.]

  M uthyal Rao: Lamdiki, have you turned deaf?

  Narsimma: Dora, I'm Narsimma, not Narsiga. And, I'm a college student, not a pickpocket.

  Papa Rao: Osos, if Inter-pass Narsigadu is Narsimma, then what would be Narsigadu the graduate?

  Shaukar Suryam: Weil, Narsimma Saab of Rampur, won't he be?

  Papa Rao: Dora, the way the sarkar is pampering these, one day we may have to call him Narsimma Sir.

  M uthyal Rao: Bhosdike, if you're Narsimma, what to say of Yelligadu thera baap?

  Papa Rao: Dora, it has to be Yellaiah garu, no less. Why doubt that?

  Narsimma: Papa Rao Patel, be it a patel father or a dalit father, father is a father.

  Papa Rao: Naayaala, don't forget your aukaat. If Yellaiahs and Pullaiahs are Yella Raos and Pulla Raos, what's the use of being a dora, leave alone a patel or a patwari?

  Narsimma: B.A. is bound to change my aukaat but many patels may remain anguthachaaps.

  Papa Rao: Banchut, what audacity, mind you, you would pay for it.

  Shaukar Suryam: Well, was it not Gandhi who brought things to this pass. How he turned these lowly against us saying they are harijan. It's as if we are devil's descendents.

  M uthyal Rao: Why blame Gandhi who's dead and gone. Isn't it the sarkar that feeds their egos with free food and all, that too with the taxpayers' money? And the irony is they prefer to be referred as daiits, whatever it might mean.

  Papa Rao: Dora, how are the naxals any better? Don't they extort money from us to turn these against us?

  M uthyal Rao: Well said Papa Rao Patel, this naxal extortion is a damn good business without investment. What about joining their gang?

  Shaukar Suryam: Dora, if only we're young enough to take a little beating in the woods, then maybe, it's not a bad business line at ail.

  Papa Rao: Any way, Narsiga, better keep off from the naxal hawa or else you would come to grief in the end.