The Empress
Page 2
Shipping cargo to the trading posts.
So far from home, we serve the throne,
Kala pani no more will I roam.
If I ever make it back to the jewel in the crown,
I’ll bless them all from solid ground.*
RANI, a young 16-year-old ayah enters. She is dressed simply in a sari and has two young English children with her. The children scamper about the deck getting in the way as the lascars work. RANI chases after the children playing hide and seek but they evade her.
RANI:
Ek, duy, teen, char, paach…Pookee! I’m coming to get you! I can hear you! You’re giggling! Where are my babies? Have they fallen in the sea?
HARI:
Will I see you later?
RANI:
I’m not sure when I can get away.
HARI:
Even brats need to sleep.
RANI:
Hari!
HARI:
See you here?
They’re here Rani! Look!
RANI pretends she can’t see the children.
* Lyrics by Dom Coyote
RANI:
Where? I can’t see them anywhere! Where are my babies? Oh no! (Fake fear.) I hope they haven’t fallen in the sea!
DADABHAI enters with a young Indian man (GANDHI at 18 years old) in tow. They converse and watch the lascars with interest. The young GANDHI looks shy and nervous whilst DADABHAI is bright, confident and sprightly.
Bless ’em all, bless ’em all;
The Tindal, the Kasab and all;
Bless all the ‘Sparkies’, they’re all round the twist;
Bless all the pursers, and their limp wrists!
If the engineers can get us home,
The ‘Kala Pani’ no more will I roam;
’Cause you’ll get no promotion, this side of the ocean,
So cheer up, me lads, bless ’em all!
The ship’s SERANG (Asian Captain of the lascar crew) enters shouting orders and waving a large stick (laithi) around.
SERANG:
Lascar buggers. Get your backsides into it! The Captain wants to see this deck sparkly – shiny!
SERANG waves his laithi (thick bamboo stick) around menacingly at the lascars.
SERANG kicks one of the lascars hard (HARI) in the backside.
SERANG:
You good-for-nothing lazy scoundrel Hari. It’s a wooden deck, not one of your dirty whores. You’re supposed to be scrubbing, not caressing it! Anymore tomfoolery from you and I will make you climb the foremast without the ladder.
HARI quickly scrubs harder. The SERANG is directing another group of Indian and Chinese sailors as they put up banners and flags around the deck in celebration.
SERANG:
Captain Ingram will be up here in ten minutes to inspect. Get this place looking like a ballroom fit for her Majesty the Queen! You hear me?
The LASCARS all murmur.
SERANG:
What?
HARI:
Will the Queen be coming here?
SERANG:
How will the Queen ‘be coming here’ idiot – fool? Is she going to fly like a bird from the moon?
I am saying make it fit for the Queen or the Captain sahib will be asking the cook to cut out your liver and fry it up with onions and your shrivelled little bollocks for breakfast.
LASCARS:
(Altogether.) Aye, aye Serang Sir!
SERANG spits on the floor by where HARI is scrubbing. HARI daren’t stop but scrubs the floor where SERANG has just spat. SERANG exits.
SONG:
There is the ‘Old Man’, he’s counting the days
’Til they will let him retire;
There stands the Chief; he’s gnashing his teeth
All the coal that he’s bought just won’t fire.
But there’s many a ’prentice just starting his time,
There’s many a fool’s just begun –
That’s signed with ‘Scots Navy’ for four years of slavery,
Out here on the Hooghli run.
Bless ’em all, bless ’em all;
The Tindal, the Kasab and all;
Bless all the ‘Sparkies’, they’re all round the twist;
Bless all the pursers, and their limp wrists!
If the engineers can get us home,
The ‘Kala Pani’ no more will I roam;
’Cause you’ll get no promotion, this side of the ocean,
So cheer up, me lads, bless ’em all!
’Cause you’ll get no promotion, this side of the ocean,
So cheer up, me lads, bless ’em all!
RANI looks calm and savours the sun. She stands to one side and looks out to sea.
HARI gets up from his scrubbing and approaches RANI gingerly. He waves a small flag at her.
HARI:
For the Queen Mem Sahib. They say that she is so fat, she can’t move. Always dressed in black and scowling like this.
HARI pulls a bloated angry face.
RANI:
How do you know? You ever met her?
HARI:
No. But I have seen pictures. So much money and so miserable.
RANI:
What is England like Hari?
HARI:
Cold.
RANI:
I know about the weather. I have shawls with me.
HARI:
And it rains a lot. Whole place is covered in thick, thick fog. Their buildings are big and very grand, like the ones in Calcutta. And the people are very strange.
RANI:
How?
HARI:
They like to look down at us from a great height.
Sometimes they can’t even see us.
HARI holds out an apple for RANI.
RANI:
Where did you get that from?
HARI:
Last stop in Italy.
RANI goes to take the apple but HARI holds back.
HARI:
For you, not those horrible brats of yours.
RANI:
They’re not horrible.
HARI:
They are…baby monsters. Always squawking. They need a good thappar (slap).
HARI raises his hand and slaps imaginary children.
RANI:
Stop it Hari!
RANI laughs and takes the apple. She rubs it on her sari and bites into it.
RANI:
Hmmm…
HARI watches RANI munching happily.
HARI:
Will you marry me when we dock?
RANI:
Don’t be silly.
HARI:
Why silly?
RANI:
Because you probably have at least three wives.
HARI:
I don’t!
RANI:
I know what you sailors are like.
She offers HARI a bite of her apple.
HARI:
I am not like the others.
RANI:
You are too young.
HARI:
I am not! I have sailed the seas many times… like Sinbad. You need a man to protect you.
RANI:
I can look after myself.
HARI:
Of course you can.
RANI:
Just watch me.
RANI laughs. HARI watches her laugh with admiration.
HARI:
When I fall asleep, I think of you laughing.
RANI:
Stop it.
HARI:
Marry me.
RANI:
I have a job.
RANI looks out to sea. HARI looks at RANI wistfully.
An Indian man (ABDUL KARIM) takes a turn on the deck. He is proud looking, and dressed well. As he walks the lascars move out of his way. RANI and HARI watch him approaching.
HARI:
(Whispers.) Viceroy’s man. Very stuck-up.
ABDUL KARIM pauses, salaams RANI.
ABDUL:
&n
bsp; Abdul Karim from Agra at your service Miss.
RANI
Rani Das…
ABDUL:
Is this sailor boy bothering you?
RANI:
No, I am fine…
ABDUL:
(To HARI.) Get back to your work lascar…
RANI:
No really, thank you. There is no need to be concerned – he is my friend.
ABDUL:
How have you found the voyage over?
RANI:
I was a little sea sick to begin with. It’s my first time ever on a boat.
ABDUL:
Mine too. That storm just before we reached Aden…ohhh…I thought I was going to die.
RANI:
Yes! The way the ship swayed from side to side. The children in my charge suffered terribly. Poor little things.
ABDUL:
You must serve them well Rani.
RANI:
They are my darlings.
ABDUL takes out a silver compass and looks at it and then out to sea. RANI looks at it intrigued.
RANI:
Oh! That’s beautiful…what is it?
ABDUL:
A compass.
RANI:
I’ve never see one of those before.
ABDUL:
It belonged to my father. Look, you place it flat on your hand and the magnet inside it connects to the earth’s magnetic force. North, south, east, west.
RANI:
The hands are swinging ’round…is that north?
ABDUL:
Yes, which is the direction of our destination.
RANI:
How clever!
ABDUL:
May Allah keep you safe and shine his blessings upon you.
RANI:
And upon you too.
ABDUL:
Shukria.
HARI does not like the look of ABDUL.
ABDUL:
A word of advice Miss Das – you should choose your friends more carefully in future.
ABDUL gives HARI a dirty look and then moves on.
HARI:
Bloody cheek. Might be all dressed up like a fancy peacock but he is still a lackee to the white man.
The SERANG reappears behind HARI, grabs and twists his ear and leads him away from RANI. HARI cries out in pain.
HARI:
Aaagghhh…aaahhh…
SERANG:
And you are lackee to this black man. Lazy arse… get back to work or I will send your skinny little body down to hell to work in the boiler room.
The SERANG gives HARI another good kick and HARI scurries back to his bucket.
DADABHAI NAOROJI is speaking loudly to GANDHI. RANI can’t help but eavesdrop.
DADABHAI:
What is scandalous, undemocratic and therefore un-British is that the Indian population pay the taxes but have no voice in the government of India.
GANDHI:
This is the work you have been undertaking for the East India Association?
DADABHAI:
And cataloguing the gradual impoverishment of our country. All our resources are steadily drained out through European pay-packets.
GANDHI:
When you put it like that Dadabhai…
So we need reform the system. And to get some representatives in the Imperial Parliament.
DADABHAI:
Precisely. But in that respect, I have failed to gain a seat. According to Lord Salisbury it is because an English constituency is not ready to elect a ‘Black man’, to represent them.
GANDHI:
(Shocked.) He called you a black man?
DADABHAI:
He did.
DADABHAI turns an sees RANI.
Ahhh…Rani… How are you this fine morning?
RANI:
Excited to be finally nearing land.
RANI does namaste. GANDHI shyly returns the namaste.
DADABHAI:
We have been watching with interest the work of our fellow Indian sailors. Tell Rani what you have to say on the subject Gandhi?
GANDHI is too shy to speak.
DADABHAI:
Speak up my dear fellow. You must have more confidence in your opinions.
GANDHI:
From what one can see, the lascars are treated with utter inhumanity by the Head Serang.
DADABHAI:
And yet, without all their efforts, we would have been lost at sea.
They all turn and watch the lascars at work.
RANI:
They work so hard…
DADABHAI:
Have you noticed that the English sailors seem to have an easier time of it?
GANDHI:
It is most unjust.
DADABHAI:
Spoken like a true lawyer Gandhi.
GANDHI:
A lawyer in waiting Dadabhai.
DADABHAI:
Study hard young man. And for goodness’ sake, you must speak up. How are you going to represent anyone with that quiet voice of yours?
RANI:
Is that what you are going to do in England Mr Gandhi? Become a lawyer?
GANDHI:
That is the plan. But also I wish to be an English gentleman – learn to dance, to play the violin, to speak French and to improve my English.
DADABHAI:
With all those skills you’ll be quite the socialite – Gandhi the dandy!
GANDHI:
Oh no, I made an oath to my mother not to partake of meat, wine or women.
RANI:
I will be standing in the same city as the Queen of England. Somewhere, she will be close by, breathing the same air. Imagine that?! Can I visit her?
DADABHAI:
I don’t think so. The Queen is rather hidden away from everyday people.
GANDHI:
I trust you will be taken care of in England?
RANI:
I am in service to a very kind lady and gentleman. I will be looking after their children.
DADABHAI:
Bless you my child. I pray you are treated well by your employers and that you will get a chance to educate yourself as you wish. Education is the only path to freedom.
The SERANG drives the LASCARS to work harder. We end the scene with the lascar song from the beginning of the play.
SONG:
If the seas can get us home,
Kala pani no more will I roam;
’Cause you’ll get no promotion, this side of the ocean
So cheer up, me lads, bless ’em all!
SCENE 2
It is night time. We are on the moonlit deck of the boat and RANI is sat with HARI reading by the light of a hurricane lamp. The stars are out and the sea is calm.
RANI:
(Reads.)
Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.
HARI reads falteringly.
HARI:
I closed my lids, and kept them close, And the balls like pulses beat; For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky Lay like a load on my weary eye, And the dead were at my feet.
RANI:
You are reading very well.
HARI puts down the book.
HARI:
He shouldn’t have killed the albatross.
RANI:
Do you like the poem?
HARI:
We navigate by the stars and the winds but I understand this poem. It is terrible to be lost on the sea in a mist.
HARI gets up and paces.
RANI:
Have you ever thought of making your living in England?
HARI:
I tried it once. Became an apprentice with a carpenter. Used to be good at carving wood. Made chairs with my grandfather back home. But no, it didn’t work out.
RANI:
If you learnt your letters, you could get a job as a clerk.
HARI laughs long and hard.
RANI:
Why are
you laughing?
HARI:
Because I am stupid with letters.