ANSUYA: Shh!
DEEPAK: I need you to … to save me from her.
(Pause.)
Come, let’s go to your room.
ANSUYA: No.
DEEPAK: Come on, yaar.
ANSUYA: Do you really think we should?
DEEPAK: Yes.
ANSUYA: (Getting up to go.) I don’t trust myself. I … I mean, I’m so drunk with all this happiness and …
DEEPAK: (Softly.) Let’s go.
ANSUYA: I can’t believe this is happening.
DEEPAK: (Tenderly.) Everything is going to be all right.
(Exuent and fade. Lights come up on the drawing room. It is two hours later. Rai Saheb and Chitra have returned.)
AMRITA: How was the Club?
RAI SAHEB: (Uncomfortably.) Fine, fine.
(Looks bored.)
I say, I need another drink. (Pours himself one.)
Come on, let’s do something. Let’s play a game.
AMRITA: Oh Bunty, you and your silly games.
CHITRA: Didi, bachche kahan gai?
AMRITA: They were on the verandah awhile ago.
MAMU: What could be keeping them?
RAI SAHEB: What shall we play?
AMRITA: They must have gone for a walk. It’s stopped raining.
CHITRA: (Frantically.) My Deepak! He’ll catch a chill.
RAI SAHEB: Or the cat will catch Deepak.
CHITRA: Ji?
MAMU: Cats are known to have killed people.
CHITRA: Hey Ram!
AMRITA: Stop it, the two of you!
CHITRA: (Nervously.) My Deepak, he has disappeared. That boy will be the death of me.
AMRITA: Calm down, they will be here soon.
MAMU: (To Amrita.) You are too easy going, leaving them alone like that.
AMRITA: Shame on you, Karan. A liberal person like you, talking like this.
MAMU: Anything can happen between two young people.
RAI SAHEB: My dear, that is the fun of being young. What’s in a little hanky-panky …?
(And he gives Chitra a whack on her bum.)
CHITRA: (Giggling.) Rai Saheb! You are naughty.
RAI SAHEB: Come on, let me fill your glass, my darling.
CHITRA: (Slightly high.) Just a tiny bit.
RAI SAHEB: I know, we’ll play charades.
MAMU: Oh no!
(Fade. Deepak and Ansuya emerge on the veranda, looking dishevelled.)
DEEPAK: Hurry, they will be looking for us.
ANSUYA: I love you, Deepak.
DEEPAK: Comb your hair. (Nervous.)
Here, use my comb.
ANSUYA: (Combing her hair.) I don’t want to go in. I want to stay with you.
DEEPAK: What will they think, yaar? I told you we shouldn’t have stayed in the bedroom for so long.
ANSUYA: I love you, Deepak.
DEEPAK: Come on!
(Fade. Lights come up on the drawing room. The seating order for the next scene is important. It is vaguely a circle. Deepak and Ansuya enter. They take positions in a clockwise order as follows: Deepak, Chitra, Rai Saheb, Ansuya, Amrita and Mamu. Mamu will change his position midway, between Chitra and Rai Saheb.)
RAI SAHEB: So, it’s decided. We’re going to play ‘Truth or Dare.’
AMRITA: Here they are!
CHITRA: (To Deepak.) Mere bachche!
RAI SAHEB: (With a smile.) Your ‘bachcha’ is fine. You’re both just in time. We were going to play ‘Truth or Dare.’
AMRITA: For heaven’ s sake, Bunty! It’s a game girls play in boarding school.
DEEPAK: (To Rai Saheb.) How do you play it?
RAI SAHEB: Dinky, Chippy and their crowd play it all the time. We sit in a circle. You are asked, ‘Truth or Dare?’ If you choose ‘truth’, you are asked a question and you must answer it truthfully.
DEEPAK: And if it is ‘dare?’
RAI SAHEB: Then you are dared to do something. And we go round the room; the ones who put the questions go clockwise and those who reply go anti-clockwise.
DEEPAK: Who starts?
RAI SAHEB: You.
DEEPAK: Me? (Laughs.)
All right.
(Turns to Mamu.)
Karan Uncle, Truth or Dare?
MAMU: This is silly! I don’t want to play.
AMRITA: Come on, Karan, it’s only a game.
MAMU: No.
RAI SAHEB: Be a sport, Karan Chand.
MAMU: No.
RAI SAHEB: Then it’s your turn, Amrita.
AMRITA: Me? Must you begin with me?
RAI SAHEB: Yes, we are going anti-clockwise, remember?
AMRITA: (To Deepak.) Then ask me an easy question, son.
DEEPAK: All right, Aunty. Truth or Dare?
AMRITA: Truth.
DEEPAK: Let me think. All right Aunty, what do you want more than anything in the world?
(Pause. Amrita thinks.)
RAI SAHEB: Come on, my dear.
AMRITA: Let me think, Bunty.
(Stark silence. All eyes are on Amrita. Suddenly, there are tears in Amrita’s eyes.)
AMRITA: I … I don’t want to lose this house.
RAI SAHEB: Good! That was a truth. But only half a truth.
(Amrita gets up, wipes her eyes, goes to the window.)
AMRITA: I’ve always loved to look out of this window. God knows, I love this house.
(To Ansuya.)
Your father and I used to sleep in the big room upstairs. I used to wake up, my heart full of happiness each morning. And I’d rush down and look out of this window. Once we were here in January and we were caught in a snowstorm. It was all white outside. Oh, Ansu, it was heaven!
(Pause.)
I wish I could forget the past. If there is one good thing left in our lives, it is this house.
DEEPAK: Aunty, you could turn the house into an exclusive season hotel … just six months a year … and you could still enjoy it the rest of the time.
AMRITA: My dear, forgive me. But I don’t think that you know what you are talking about.
(She bursts into tears.)
DEEPAK: I’m sorry, Aunty, I didn’t mean to upset you …
ANSUYA: Darling Amma, don’t cry!
(Goes to her and embraces her.)
Nothing will happen to this house.
AMRITA: (Weeping.) If only I had looked after things better …
ANSUYA: (Wiping her mother’s tears.) Shh … Amma!
(Turns to the others.)
RAI SAHEB: I say, Ansuya, let’s carry on with the game. It is your turn. Chitra my dear, your turn to ask the question.
CHITRA: I pass.
RAI SAHEB: What?
CHITRA: Pass.
DEEPAK: Ma, ask her a question!
CHITRA: Oh, all right. Haan Ansuya, Truth or Dare?
ANSUYA: Truth.
CHITRA: What do you want more than anything in the world, Ansuya?
ANSUYA: (Matter-of-factly.) I want to go to Bombay.
CHITRA: Bombay? Why?
ANSUYA: I don’t have to answer that. I already gave my ‘truth’.
RAI SAHEB: She’s right. It’s Deepak’s turn.
ANSUYA: No, it’s your turn, Bunty Uncle. You are on my right.
MAMU: (Shifting to the empty chair on Chitra’s right.) It’s all right. I’ll ask, Rai Saheb.
RAI SAHEB: Wait, that isn’t fair! That’s not your position. You’ve moved.
MAMU: It’s your turn to ask a question and it’s also your turn to reply. You can’t very well ask yourself a question.
RAI SAHEB: Oh, very well.
(Pointing to Deepak.)
But let him go first.
ANSUYA: But it’s not his turn.
DEEPAK: (Confidently.) Certainly I’ll go, sir.
RAI SAHEB: (Pointing to Ansuya.) You ask him, my dear.
ANSUYA: But it’s not my turn to ask.
DEEPAK: (Decisively, to Ansuya.) Come on, Anu, I’m ready.
ANSUYA: Oh, all right.
(Pause.)
Truth or Dare?
DEEPAK: Truth.
ANSUYA: DEEPAK, what is it that you want more than anything in the world?
CHITRA: Wait, I know the answer, ji.
RAI SAHEB: Let him speak for himself, my dear.
CHITRA: I’m his mother, after all. I should know.
MAMU: That’s the problem.
CHITRA: What is the problem, ji?
RAI SAHEB: Nothing.
(To Deepak.)
Answer the question.
DEEPAK: Well, I want to be a success at my job.
RAI SAHEB: False.
CHITRA: It’s true!
RAI SAHEB: It’s false.
CHITRA: How do you know?
RAI SAHEB: You can tell he’s lying.
CHITRA: You are calling my son a liar?
RAI SAHEB: Ask him.
CHITRA: Kyon Deepak, was it a lie?
ANSUYA: Was it, Deepak?
DEEPAK: (Hesitating.) Well …
RAI SAHEB: (Triumphantly.) So, False! The turn stays on you.
(Pause.)
Well?
(Silence.)
Well?
(Silence. To Ansuya.)
Ask him again, dear.
ANSUYA: Deepak, what do you want more than anything in the world?
DEEPAK: You, of course.
CHITRA: More than your mother?
DEEPAK: That’s not the question, Ma.
MAMU: Well, in a sense it is. If you want Ansuya more than anything or anyone, then you do want her more than your mother.
DEEPAK: (Laughing.) I’m not going to fall into that trap.
CHITRA: How could you, Deepak?
DEEPAK: Oh, I want you equally, Ma.
CHITRA: Rahne de, rahne de! Just look at him. You know what my fault is, ji? I am too good. Even if I get slapped in return, I can’t stop being good.
RAI SAHEB: (With irony.) You’re good, my dear.
MAMU: Deepak’s had his turn. It’s Rai Saheb’s turn to answer now.
RAI SAHEB: Oh, very well.
MAMU: Are you ready?
RAI SAHEB: (Nods.) Hmm.
MAMU: Truth or Dare?
RAI SAHEB: Truth, of course.
MAMU: Will you take a bribe in awarding the licence to Deepak’s company?
(Stunned silence.)
RAI SAHEB: I say, what sort of nonsense is this? I don’t have to answer this stupid question.
(Silence. He looks around for support.)
Come on, what the hell’s going on?
AMRITA: (Uncomfortably.) Bunty, you certainly don’t have to answer that question. I don’t like this game.
MAMU: He started the game, Didi.
RAI SAHEB: I didn’t think you would start insulting people.
AMRITA: Stop this childish nonsense.
RAI SAHEB: I don’t have to stand this insolence.
MAMU: It’s part of the game.
DEEPAK: Shall we stop the game, sir?
RAI SAHEB: Shut up, boy! You’re out of your depth.
MAMU: Well?
ANSUYA: Bunty Uncle, why don’t you merely say ‘no’ or ‘yes’ and we’ll move on?
RAI SAHEB: But, but … This is preposterous!
MAMU: What’s preposterous?
RAI SAHEB: It’s a matter of principle.
MAMU: What principle?
RAI SAHEB: (Pompously.) Do you know whom you are speaking to? You are insulting the Government of India.
MAMU: Ah … we are high and mighty, aren’t we!
RAI SAHEB: I say, this is supposed to be light-hearted stuff. We’re meant to talk about secret love affairs and fun things like that.
MAMU: You’d like that. You’ll proudly tell us of your sexual escapades. We are not talking of Sunday morning bingo, or ‘elevenses’ with the memsahibs, or cocktails in the Green Room, Rai Saheb. We’re talking of licenses and hard cash!
RAI SAHEB: Steady on, old chap!
MAMU: The hypocrisy of the bureaucrat!
RAI SAHEB: We merely carry out policy.
MAMU: Ah, but ‘we’ love the policy. It gives us the power to have the likes of Deepak grovel before us: ‘Yes, sir,’ ‘No, sir.’
RAI SAHEB: I admit it’s awkward—this licencing business. But someone has to do it!
MAMU: Ah, but it’s such a profitable business!
RAI SAHEB: Enough of this insolence! The answer to your question is “no”!
(Pause.)
All right! It is now my turn to ask you a question, my friend.
MAMU: Wait a minute …
RAI SAHEB: Not my fault that you changed positions. We’re going clockwise, remember?
AMRITA: Stop this game, you silly boys.
ANSUYA: It is Mamu’s turn.
MAMU: We’ve had enough of this game. Why don’t you play something else?
RAI SAHEB: Don’t be a coward, Karan.
MAMU: No.
RAI SAHEB: Just when it is getting interesting?
ANSUYA: Come on, Mamu. It’s only a game.
(Mamu senses the mood and reluctantly agrees.)
MAMU: (Looking at Ansuya.) All right, you asked for it.
RAI SAHEB: Truth or Dare?
MAMU: Truth.
RAI SAHEB: Remember, Karan, if you don’t speak the truth, the turn stays on you. Ready?
(Mamu nods.)
What is your biggest regret?
(Pause.)
MAMU: Er … that … um … that I’m not a good teacher.
RAI SAHEB: False! You are a good teacher.
MAMU: (Protesting weakly.) No … it’s true … I read from the notes I made fifteen years ago. My students don’t care for me.
ANSUYA: That’s not true, Mamu. You are a great teacher.
MAMU: Was.
RAI SAHEB: So, ‘False.’ The turn stays on you, Karan. Don’t lie this time. It’s going to get more difficult, old boy.
MAMU: Don’t ‘old boy’ me.
RAI SAHEB: Ready?
(Mamu nods reluctantly.)
What is your greatest wish?
MAMU: Behold, ladies and gentlemen, before you is the portrait of a failure. No, no … a classic failure. The question is: why do some men succeed while others fail?
RAI SAHEB: We don’t need a lecture, Professor.
MAMU: (Ignoring him.) Take my case, for example: a drowning man …
AMRITA: What are you talking about, Karan?
RAI SAHEB: He’s been drinking?.
(To Mamu.)
Don’t be dramatic, dear boy. Just answer the question.
MAMU: Shut up!
CHITRA: (Unbelieving.) He told Rai Saheb to ‘shut up’!
DEEPAK: Shut up, Ma!
CHITRA: (Hurt.) My son tells me to ‘shut up?’
DEEPAK: Shh!
MAMU: (Continuing as if there was no interruption.) The Question is: Why is Deepak a success and I a failure? A very good question. As a young man, I stood first at the University; I got into the ICS. But I chose to become a scholar and to teach. Because I had ideals and I wanted to pass them on to young people. Today, I could have been a loathsome diplomat, perhaps even a junior ambassador to some minor country. At least, I would have had some respect. I feel cheated.
(Pause.)
What is the moral of the story? Don’t have ideals. Go for worldly success.
(Pause.)
But, surely that isn’t right? When a young person cannot stand the way things are, then he must question the social order. The world is unjust. There is such misery and pain. I wanted answers to those questions. And what did I become? A dusty professor, of no use to anyone.
ANSUYA: That’s not true, Mamu. You created a whole generation of idealistic young people.
MAMU: No, my students only wanted to pass exams. All they did was to copy my lecture notes. Of what possible use is an armchair intellectual to the world? All talk and no action.
(Bitterly.)
The result? No one wants me anymore … except my cat.
ANSUYA: That’s not tru
e, Mamu. You gave me all that’s good in me.
RAI SAHEB: This is against the rules of the game. You can’t help him, Ansuya.
ANSUYA: You don’t understand. He needs me.
MAMU: (Calmly.) Well, maybe that is the way it was meant to be. I sat here tonight on Diwali night, and I watched you, Ansuya. I watched you and Deepak. And I looked at myself. You were looking to the future, I was looking to the past. It finally snapped!
(Pause.)
Tell me, you wise people, what should I do with my life? Should I shoot myself?
RAI SAHEB: Stop being dramatic.
AMRITA: I don’t like this game.
DEEPAK: This is embarrassing.
RAI SAHEB: It is sickening.
(Realizing.)
But he still hasn’t answered the question.
Are you listening, Karan Chand? Answer the question.
MAMU: (Afraid.) I … I’m not going to answer that question.
(The tempo increases.)
ANSUYA: I’m afraid, Amma. Let’s stop the game, Bunty Uncle.
RAI SAHEB: We can’t wait all night, Professor Saheb.
MAMU: No … no.
ANSUYA: I think we’ve gone too far this time.
RAI SAHEB: Well?
MAMU: (Looking at Amrita, then at Ansuya.) I don’t know … do we have to go through with this?
(Turning to Ansuya.)
AMRITA: (Worried.) What is going on?
ANSUYA: I don’t like what’s going on.
RAI SAHEB: Do you know what it is?
ANSUYA: I don’t like it.
DEEPAK: (Puzzled.) What’s going on, yaar?
ANSUYA: (Scared.) Stop the game!
DEEPAK: (Worried.) What the hell, yaar?
RAI SAHEB: (Silencing everyone.) Shh! Answer the question, Karan Chand.
What is your greatest wish?
(Pause.)
Is it for something in this room? No? Then is it for someone in this room? It is, isn’t it? Who is it? It’s not Amrita, it’s not Deepak, it’s not Chitra, it’s certainly not me. Then who is it? Say it, Karan Chand! Say it!
MAMU: I … I … Ansuya, don’t go to Bombay … don’t leave me!
RAI SAHEB: Got you!
ANSUYA: Mamu! What are you saying?
(Everybody starts speaking at once. They make exaggerated gestures to each other throughout the ensuing dialogue between Ansuya and Mamu, until Ansuya’s outburst, when there is a sudden silence.)
AMRITA: What’s this?
RAI SAHEB: Dirty old man! This is incestuous. I always knew it.
DEEPAK: (Out of his depth.) I say, yaar … What the hell’s going on, yaar?
CHITRA: Shameful! With his own niece!
AMRITA: Are you mad, Karan?
Three Plays Page 18