Onto The Stage Slighted Souls And Other Stage Plays

by BS Murthy

  "Dear Divya

  Oh how fate had contrived with my ambition to make you a victim of my pique. What irony that I should've felt robbed by Deva when I was myself trying to loot Sampath! What perversion to hurt you to redress my own hurt. That's the ironic tragedy of my final fall!

  It pains me even more that I failed to give a thought to what Nayak said only a few days back. Didn't he tell someone had felt that life becomes unimaginably confused when we think of ourselves but it becomes very simple when we think in terms of helping others? Now that I missed out on life, what death would hold for me? Why wouldn't it become simpler if I were to erase someone else's shame through it? Won't my end help the two women I had wronged begin life afresh? It would for sure. Isn't the very thought impelling me to embrace death.

  I suggest that you too should see the past in a fresh light. Why feel humiliated thinking about the old fiend who had hurt you. Why not let the pristine soul of the dead Rajiv elevate your life. Well, to begin with, it may seem hard to believe but if you dwell upon the difference, it would be easy to grasp the nuances of it.

  Forget the old fiend and forgive the new soul for denying you.

  Rajiv.”

  [Rajiv hails for Rangaiah]

  [Enter: Rangaiah. Rajiv wants him to deliver it to Divya (mime).]

  [Exit: Rangaiah with the letter. Rajiv paces up and down and ensures that Rangaiah had left the place. He was about to enter the bedroom.]

  [Enter: Ramya and Rau and Rajiv turns back.]

  Rajiv: Ramya, you may relieve Rau as any way I'm going to release you. Well, my trial is over in my court of conscience and I need your pardon as I undergo the punishment.

  Ramya: It's easier asked than given. How is your change of heart going to redress my hurt and her shame? Whatever, I'm at a loss to react to your self-discovery after ruining three lives including yours. I wonder how I can help you rebuild your life when the next fourteen years of it is going to be behind the bars.

  Rau: Not if you withdraw your plaint, I can take up his case to ensure that he walks out a free man at the first hearing itself. Why, his confession to Slesha is worthy of the court dustbin and no more. Any district court lawyer would make out a case of consensual sex given the familiarity the family friendship had bred.

  Rajiv: Oh stop it my friend. I was mad to violate her chastity but I won't be mean to slur her character to save my skin.

  Rau: So be it if you are prepared to spend your life in jail losing your wife as well.

  Rajiv: So what. If Ramya forgives me, won't my penitence in jail make our reunion sublime in the end?

  Ramya: That only means you want me to languish as your chaste wife all the while.

  Rajiv: I'm sorry; I've failed to see it from your point of view.

  [Rajiv goes into the bedroom and locks the door. Ramya and Rau suspecting the untoward frantically knock at the door and plead with him to come out (mime). Rajiv pulls out the revolver from underneath the bed.]

  [Enter: Slesha.]

  [She takes out the bullets from her shirt pocket and shows them to Ramya and Rau. Rajiv comes out of the bedroom and sees the bullets in Slesha's hand.]

  Rajiv: Oh what a life that won't let me die even. Why am I not dying out of shame having been caught in the act?

  Slesha: Why, from the look of you I knew you would push yourself over the precipice and so I had emptied the cartridge.

  Rajiv: If only you could have visualized the impending joy of dying in my face as I clicked the revolver, I'm sure you wouldn't have tried to stop me from dying.

  Slesha: Can’t I feel your misery from the pain I see in you now.

  Rajiv: Believe me, the pain you see is but the loss of that joy. If only you could grasp my soul, you would get the essence of my mind. The thought that my death would make it easier for the two women I had hurt made me rejoice at the threshold of death. But having stopped me from dying, you had only made life difficult for them and me as well. Aren't you guilty on both the counts?

  Slesha: Far from it. You would have died leaving your poor image for an obituary. Why not live to better that before death visits you on its own. As for Ramya, she would've lived in guilt for pushing you over the precipice. With you gone how would Divya have the joy of forgiving.

  Rajiv: By losing Rau and by extension you, oh, how I've missed my life all these years.

  Slesha: By striving to build the castle of despair for you and your spouse ending up in debasing your friend's wife.

  [Enter: Divya with the letter in her hand rushes in with Rangaiah. Rangaiah holds Rajiv's hand as Divya leads Ramya and Slesha into the bedroom and shows them the letter. They talk to each other (mime).]

  Rangaiah: I lost a son when I was still young and can I lose another when I am old. Why didn't you think of me Rajiv babu?

  Rajiv: Rangaiah, what do you expect from a man who couldn’t even think of himself. Thank our Rau's wife that I'm still alive.

  Rangaiah [to Rau]: Rau babu, I want to live in the old days during the last days of my life. I'm glad you've as good a wife as Rajiv babu has.

  Rau: Thankyou for your abiding affection and the good opinion about Slesha.

  Rajiv I'm glad my wife made such a difference to your life.

  Rajiv: Now it's left for your client to remain a convict's wife or not.

  Rau: Let me talk to her.

  [Rau joins Slesha, Ramya and Divya. Slesha talks to him (mime).]

  Rau: Wonder how the play had developed beyond the script! Oh how life came up with a bigger plan than our little one to put sense into Rajiv's wayward head.

  [Rau accompanied by the three women rejoins Rajiv and Rangaiah.]

  Ramya: Isn't it said that to err is human but to forgive is divine.

  [As Divya gives his hand to Rajiv, he embraces Ramya.]

  Rajiv: Thankyou both, it feels like beginning life afresh.

  [Enter: Deva.]

  [Rajiv turns sad all again and others too are surprised. In turn, Deva looks questioningly at Slesha in police uniform and Rau in his lawyer's dress. Ramya begins introductions by holding Slesha.]

  Ramya: Isn't it ladies first? M eet Inspector Slesha Rau my childhood playmate [She

  looks at a surprised Rajiv] and this is lawyer Rau, Slesha's husband and Rajiv's lost and found friend. And this is Deva our family friend.

  Slesha [to Rajiv]: We met only the other day when she came seeking Rau's counsel.

  Rajiv: I take it that you are Godsend to help me pull down my castle of despair.

  Deva [to Rajiv]: Don't I smell the scent of enlightenment. What better time to say sorry to you.

  Rajiv: Deva, you don't know how ashamed I am. [He turns emotional.]

  Ramya: Deva can understand, calm down dear.

  [Ramya leads Rajiv into the bedroom.]

  [Rau and Siesha engage Deva (mime) as Divya looks on.]

  Ramya: Don't make it worse for them with your confession. I've seen to it that

  Divya has kept it to herself. All this drama is Rau's idea to shake you up from your slumber of success.

  Rajiv: Oh, how he made me even humbler than ever.

  [Rajiv and Ramya join the others in the drawing room. Rajiv goes to Rau and Siesha to hold their hands in gratitude and then turns to Deva.]

  Rajiv: Deva please help me treat the Sampath episode as a bad dream.

  Deva: Let bygones be bygones. You may deal with him whichever way you choose.

  Rajiv: No Deva, don't I know now how treacherous success is? Oh, how it changes its goal post whenever one is at a striking distance from it. I envy you for wanting to quit the rat race before it could ruin your life.

  Rau: Why blame success when the fault lies in the way we approach it. Haven't you heard Emerson's success quote that's a hit on the net?

  Rajiv: No, what is that?

  Rau: Among other things, he feels that to know even one life has breathed easier because you've lived is to have succeeded.

  Ramya: Oh, to hear it said itself feels so nice.
r />   Siesha: I'm proud to say he has tasted success many times over.

  Rau: Thank you for your high praise. But that's beside the point I am making. I suggest that Rajiv and Deva join hands with Sampath to help build that fledgling unit to contribute to our country's economy. It's not about the generation of wealth that one should be skeptical about. It is the way the rich spend money that should bother the sane minded. For instance, it's one thing to build bigger and better workplaces and another to do the same for personal ostentation.

  Deva [to Rajiv]: What do you say now?

  Rajiv: Still I would leave M r. Sampath to your care. With Ramya, I would like to find our way for personal fulfillment through social enrichment.

  Rau: Best of luck to all of you.

  Ramya [to Rajiv]: I’m happy you've realized humility is the essence of life.

  Rajiv: And that wife is the scent of it.

  Rau: Why not, if a man is upright in this topsy-turvy world, much of the credit for that should go to his wife.

  Rajiv: On that note, let it be my privilege to propose vote of thanks to the good Samaritans, my eminent friend Rau and his worthy spouse Siesha for the beneficial roles played by them in the drama of my chequered life.

  [Rangaiah and others clap as the audience joins them with Rajiv.]

  Radio Play 1

  A Love on Hold

  SCENE-1

  INT - It’s the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. That winter evening, Sekhar was waiting to receive Pratap, his childhood friend and classmate, settled in the U.S.A.

  SFX - Soundtrack of Airport activity such as the announcements of the flight schedules, the take-off and landing of the aircraft.

  EXT - The exit point of the 'arrivals' section is crowded with people waiting to welcome their relatives, friends or visitors among the incoming passengers.

  SFX - Buzz of the motor cars bringing in more people and the sound of the car doors being slammed. The passengers begin appearing at the exit and those in waiting hail their names. SEKHAR: Hi, Pratap.

  PRATAP: Hi, Sekhar.

  SFX - Buzz of an aircraft taking off.

  SEKHAR: (OFF) Raju bring the vehicle. (PAUSE) M other India welcomes its prodigal son. PRATAP: Let me see what's in her lap for me.

  SEKHAR: What else but love and warmth.

  PRATAP: If only that's in tune with my longing.

  SEKHAR: What you've got to long for here. Why, you never bothered to contact any of us all these years.

  PRATAP: That I'll tell you.

  SEKHAR: Only me.

  PRATAP: Who else is interested?

  SEKHAR: Vimala your old flame.

  PRATAP: She lost her man it seems.

  SEKHAR: That's a year-old tragedy.

  PRATAP: Of my week-long knowledge.

  SEKHAR: How did you come to know about it? I don't know of any you're in touch with. PRATAP: It was by chance that I've heard somebody talk about the tragedy at a gathering. SEKHAR: Oh, your empathy at work. So, it's flattered to be deceived.

  PRATAP: I plead guilty.

  SEKHAR: No need to be apologetic. It's in jest.

  PRATAP: It's just the catalyst. (PAUSE) How's she, the poor thing?

  SEKHAR: She's gotten over it.

  PRATAP: I’m glad to hear that.

  SEKHAR: Our guys at Amalapuram want you there.

  PRATAP: I'm flattered really.

  SEKHAR: Without being so, I’m glad you've made it at last.

  PRATAP: After twenty years that is.

  SEKHAR: It's a long time in our short life.

  PRATAP: Dragging time in a drab life.

  SEKHAR: Be serious; tell me all about your life.

  PRATAP: Want to be done with me here and now.

  SEKHAR: Count on me till you're done with Vimala.

  SFX - It's a roar of an aircraft take-off followed by the sound of a car coming to its screeching halt.

  PRATAP: So, what I see confirms what I've heard.

  SEKHAR: What's that?

  PRATAP: This world class airport and your first rate sedan. Are they not in tune with the 'emerging India' buzz?

  SFX - The car doors are slammed thrice followed by the sound of the speeding car.

  SEKHAR: You deserter, you took the first flight to the U.S. when India was in dire stairs. PRATAP: Why blame me for not wanting to sink in our socialistic mire. Who did foresee then that our own P.V. would clean up the things with his reform broom? Tell me if you know a soothsayer who had predicted. I want to consult him.

  SEKHAR: Is it fora prediction about the U.S. recession?

  PRATAP: Don’t think the U.S. is only about materialism. I'm altruistic in my quest for a zestfilled life.

  SEKHAR: What's up your sleeve?

  PRATAP: You hold the key now.

  SEKHAR: Why did you hold-up all these years?

  PRATAP: What do you want to know first, the reason for my inaction or the cause of action? SEKHAR: Let's get into action...

  PRATAP: In Vimala's reflection.

  SEKHAR: Oh! The old flame still singes.

  PRATAP: It’s nothing cut and dry about it Sekhar. It's all mixed impulses and hazy emotions. My initial impulse was of a childhood friend, I wanted to share her grief. Then my love on hold came to the fore. I've here to explore know not what.

  SEKHAR: In the shadow of her widowhood.

  PRATAP: Has she lost much, you know what.

  SEKHAR: What if and if not.

  PRATAP: Don’t tell me you don’t know how it matters.

  SEKHAR: What if she's balloon like.

  PRATAP: Sadly, it would be a platonic retreat.

  SEKHAR: I know but...

  PRATAP: It's not fair I press you for her statistics.

  SEKHAR: I too don’t see her statistically.

  PRATAP: One competitor less, isn’t it?

  SEKHAR: So you presume she inspires.

  PRATAP: Oh, don’t kill me, tell me ...

  SEKHAR: You can ask my wife, her cousin of sorts.

  PRATAP: Why didn’t you tell that before?

  SEKHAR: It's like the pot calling the kettle black. You didn't think of me all these years and you expect me to remember you had a crush on Vimala which is history now.

  PRATAP: With her too?

  SEKHAR: How am I to know?

  PRATAP: Okay baba, come to the point.

  SEKHAR: She's no less a Liz Hurley herself.

  PRATAP: Oh, you've an update on middle-aged women.

  SEKHAR: Without eyeing them (V.O. a car horn)

  PRATAP: Now I'm full of hope.

  SEKHAR: Is it because I don't eye her.

  PRATAP: What about other possibilities.

  SEKHAR: With a widow you mean.

  PRATAP: Partly right but I'm single to boot.

  SEKHAR: I've heard you married an American.

  PRATAP: We were divorced forages.

  SEKHAR: But still, I've to discourage you.

  PRATAP: Why, she wants to be forever wedded to her husband's memory or what?

  SEKHAR: She's not the one to live in the past any way.

  PRATAP: Then what's the hitch?

  SEKHAR: It's her daughter.

  PRATAP: Why should she be a hurdle?

  SEKHAR: Its emotional stagnation my boy, India is not sexually modern.

  PRATAP: What is she doing?

  SEKHAR: M.B.B.Spre-final.

  PRATAP: I'm glad Vimala would see herself in her daughter as a doctor. What's her name? SEKHAR: Prati.

  PRATAP: (OFF) Pratap and Prati, sound similar, don't they?

  SEKHAR: What are you thinking about?

  PRATAP: Oh, what dreams Vimala had of becoming a doctor? I had a hard time consoling her

  when she missed the bus.

  SEKHAR: Well, I don't know. So you were closer than we thought you were. But still, she may not like to hurt her daughter's future. If she ties up with you, her daughter's marriage would be jeopardized.

  PRATAP: Damn the cu
ltural prejudices. How they make life materially complex.

  (PAUSE)

  SEKHAR: Don’t lose heart; love hath its way, more often than not.

  PRATAP: With your pushing and prodding, hope it leads us to the altar.

  SEKHAR: So that I'll do the decor. Well, I've booked for you in the Krishna Oberoi, but still I prefer you stayed with me.

  PRATAP: It’s okay that way.

  SEKHAR: With my wife and son having gone to my in-laws place. PRATAP: What a shame! I didn’t enquire about Vijaya and Suresh.

  SEKHAR: Understandable preoccupation, isn't it? For the record, Suresh is doing his M.B.A program in the Central University here.

  SFX - Their car drives into the corridor of the Krishna Oberoi. Sekhar and Pratap come out of the car as the latter's luggage was picked up by the chauffeur.

  SCENE-2

  EXT - Sekhar and Pratap and go up to the reception at the Krishna Oberoi and the receptionist allots Room No. 303 to Pratap. The hotel attendant transports the luggage as the friends go up to the elevator. Once out of the elevator at the third floor, they all reach Room No. 303.

  INT - The attendant opens the door and Pratap and Sekhar go in. As the attendant leaves the room, the friends settle down.

  b/g- Sound track of classical instrumental music.

  PRATAP: Oh, what a hotel.

  SEKHAR: They say it's the best.

  PRATAP: To begin the stay with Glenfiddich.

  SEKHAR: Welcome toast from a U.S. citizen

  SFX - Setting the table for a drink and the creaking sound of breaking the seal of Glenfiddich bottle. Clinking sound of glass as the friends set out to drink.

  PRATAP: Cheers to M era Bharat M ahan.

  SEKHAR: Cheers to P.V the P.M. who made it possible.

  PRATAP: Why disjoint the mind M anmohan Sing?

  SEKHAR: What to cheer about him now?

  PRATAP: Why?

  SEKHAR: M eans you're not up to date. P.V's chela is now Sonia's chamcha.

  PRATAP: Politics can wait tell me all about you.

  SEKHAR: Why the protocol of a hypocrite. Let's begin with Vimala.

  PRATAP: Oh, you.

  SEKHAR: Enough of close to the chest, show your love-card.

  PRATAP: Printed in the press of Sarat's Devadas.