Onto the Stage - Slighted Souls and other stage and radio plays by BS Murthy (ebook reader web TXT) 📖

stole the money?

Muthyal Rao: God knows that but don’t we know the widow’s stole is in Shaukar’s hands? [Laughs.]

Shaukar Suryam: And the money under my wife’s pillow. She was to send it to her brother but forgot to tell me about it. It’s as well she didn’t part with it for that gambler would’ve squandered at the races.

Papa Rao: Now that Shaukar Saab had galloped with the widow, what if his brother-in-law got stranded in his tracks.

Papi Reddy: If not for the brother’s turn to the tale, surely it’s tabloid stuff. And that would’ve made Shaukar Suryam a household name.

Muthyal Rao: That is if our Shaukar is prepared to spend some time behind the bars. Well, don’t ever spread it, it won’t help any. Now let’s turn to the press Papa Rao Patel.

Papa Rao: There’s disturbing news from West Bengal dora.

Shaukar Suryam: Isn’t West Bengal too far away to disturb us any way.

Papa Rao: Don’t they say what Bengal thinks today the rest of India thinks tomorrow, and that’s my worry.

Rami Reddy: What’s it any way?

Papa Rao: Well, it took place only the other day and God forbid 25 May 1967 won’t be a red-letter day.

Muthyal Rao: What for is all this buildup, Papa Rao Patel? Why don’t you tell us in a nutshell?

Papa Rao: You know, well who would’ve ever known, Naxalbari is a small village in West Bengal. As it happens all the time, there was a dispute over an assigned land between a landlord and a peasant. And again, as is the case all over, the landlord got the peasant thrashed by his goons. That was on 2nd March, but on 25th May the story took a different turn with an unpalatable twist to it. Led by the ultra leftists, Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal, the peasants of Naxalbari revolted against the landlords and usurped their lands. What’s worse, vowing to take this revolutionary opposition to every nook and corner, the Maoist duo gave a call to the downtrodden to join the movement in numbers.

Muthyal Rao: Even then, I’m not the one to lose sleep over a storm in the Naxalbari teacup. After all, haven’t we seen the so-called Telangana Struggle fizzle out before? Why not move on to something more relevant.

Papa Rao: Maybe you’re right after all? Well, our sarkar says it’s going to distribute banjar among the peasants.

Rami Reddy: Won’t it make some welcome news?

Shaukar Suryam: Our Patwari must be out of his wits to say that dora.

Rami Reddy: What would moneylenders know about land grabbing? How long would it take us to relieve them of their pattas?

Muthyal Rao: That’s true. We can look for better times then. But how are we to believe the politicians?

Papa Rao: They also plan to propagate family planning among them.

Papi Reddy: Why isn’t it a sensible measure? Won’t that cap the scum?

Shaukar Suryam: Papi Reddy Patel seems to miss the point here. What if that picks up amongst them? Won’t we be short of women pandering to us?

Papa Rao: That’s true; Shaukar Saab has some foresight after all.

Muthyal Rao: Why, won’t that shrink his customer base as well? What a double jeopardy it could be to our Shaukar. But then, there is no need to worry as things won’t change in a hurry, if at all they change.

[Enter: Anasuya.]

Anasuya: Dandaal dora.

Muthyal Rao: Why, any problem?

Anasuya: I seek protection for my daughter dora.

Papi Reddy: Well, what’s the matter?

Anasuya: Dora, my sister-in-law and her husband are forcing my daughter to wed their son.

Papa Rao: What’s the objection? After all, isn’t it the custom?

Anasuya: But the custom in my family is to get her married to her maama that is my brother Saailu.

Muthyal Rao to his henchman: Bring Yellaiah and Mallamma to the panchayat.

[Exit: Henchman.]

Rami Reddy: How old is your daughter?

Anasuya: Patwari-ji, she has just now matured.

Shaukar Suryam: Won’t it be in the know of Papi Reddy Patel as well?

Papi Reddy: Why poke your nose into my affairs. Did I ever enquire about her EDD, you know who.

Muthyal Rao: Oh, stop it. [Turns to Anasuya.] What’s your man’s take on this?

Anasuya: He’s coerced by them into agreeing dora.

[Enter: Henchman with Mallamma.]

Mallamma: Dandaal dora.

Muthyal Rao: What about Yelligadu?

Mallamma: He’s gone to town dora.

Muthyal Rao: Yeme Mallamma, Anasuya complains that you’re fiddling in her family matters.

Mallamma: Dora, my son was betrothed to Renuka at her birth itself. Now it’s my vadina who backtracks.

Muthyal Rao: Yemey Anasuya, is it true?

Papi Reddy: Whatever, we may restrain the Yellaiahs to keep away from the girl.

Mallamma: Dora, how can Papi Reddy Patel decide for the panchayat even before Anasuya replies?

Papi Reddy: Yeme Mallamma, aren’t you talking like a panch. Don’t you know it’s the parents who decide whom the children have to marry? Now the panchayat decides that none from Yellaiah’s family should take things into their hands.

Mallamma: How come dora fails to stop Papi Reddy Patel from hijacking the panchayat.

Papi Reddy: Oh how dare you? Don’t we see you’re thrashed and then thrown out of Rampur?

Mallamma [in all fury]: Dora, they say panch is parameshwar but here I see the Satan in collusion.

Papi Reddy: You dirty bitch. [He spats on her.]

Mallamma: Orey Papi Reddy. [She leaps up to Papi Reddy but drops down holding her chest in pain.]

Papi Reddy: Won’t it serve you right, you upstart. It does no good for the dalits to be angry. Realize that.

Mallamma: Orey luchchaa. [Getting up with some effort, she pounces upon Papi Reddy.]

[As Mallamma tries to throttle Papi Reddy, Anasuya tries to restrains her. In the end, Mallamma collapses as Papi Reddy Patel pushes her away.]

Rami Reddy: Looks like she’s dead, maybe, it’s a massive stroke followed by a mild one.

Papa Rao: Thank God, she didn’t have a sickle in her hand. Now I can imagine the peasant fury at Naxalbari.

Muthyal Rao: Papa Rao Patel, forget about Naxalbari, surely its one headache less in Rampur.

Shaukar Suryam: More so for Papi Reddy Patel. Oh, the way he’s rooting for Anasuya! Dora, don’t you see some daal me kaala in this?

Papi Reddy [Recovers his composure]: Why not you go and please yourself with that just widowed.

Muthyal Rao (Gets up): Let’s go.

Rami Reddy: Where, to Maisaiah’s widow.

[All laugh as they exit and Mallamma lay on the floor.]

[Enter Yellaiah with a bag in hand, and seeing Mallamma, he rushes to her.]

Yellaiah: Oh Malli, why did you desert me? Now how am I to live without you? [Lying over her body Yellaiah wails inconsolably.]

[Enter: Narsimma, Sarakka, Yadagiri, Maisamma and other villagers as the curtains are slowly down.]

 

Scene - 5

[Curtains up: Standing near the well of the downtrodden, Narsimma peeps into it.]

[Enter: Renuka on tiptoe, and blindfolds him.]

Narsimma: Don’t I smell my Renu from a mile. [He clasps her hand that blindfolds him.]

Renuka [Pushes a sweetmeat into his mouth]: See how my success in Matric tastes.

Narsimma: [Taking her into his arms.] But I’m for sweeter things from a sweet sixteen.

Renuka [Coyly]: Po baava. [Coquettishly] As if I’m holding you at the threshold. You can smell me from a mile but won’t move an inch into my life. What a buddhu you are baava.

Narsimma: Buddhu or badiya you would only know after we wed. But don’t you feel the pull of my love from the pulse of my heart?

Renuka: [Puts her ear to his chest.] Well, now if you don’t pull me into your life, my mother would push me out of it, and baava that would be the end of me. [She sits morosely on the wall and looks into the well.]

Narsimma: Don’t you know Renu that lovers never die. Ask Romeo - Juliet, Salim - Anarkali, Heer - Ranjha etc.

Renuka: Do you want us to go their way or what, to live ‘happily ever after’ only in the hereafter.

Narsimma: Don’t lose heart Renu; we’ll make it a unique baava- maradalu saga in Rampur itself.

Renuka: With Saailu as villain, don’t you know my mother has her own script. Oh, the very thought of wedding him is so scary. [She looks into the well.] Well, if ever the push comes to the shove, like aththa, I too would jump into their well.

Narsimma [Holding her]: Why don’t you have a thought for me Renu? Don’t you know I live with the hope of living with you? If you die, it would be the end of me as well. [He peeps into the well.]

Renuka: Oh, baava, how you keep me in the trisankhu swargam.

Narsimma: Bear with me, I’ll find a way out.

Renuka: I don’t see any way out but to elope, and now is the time. If not. [She mocks to slip into the well]

Narsimma [Catching her by the waist.]: Do you think I didn’t think about it?

Renuka: Baava, I suspect my mother has a secret agenda. We’ve no time to lose now.

Narsimma: Oh, if only Sarakka were married and I’ve my degree on hand. Then I would’ve left this god-damn place with you and my father. But if we run away now, my father and sister would be hauled over the coals by your mother. Leave aside Papi Reddy Patel, she would have the full panchayat to back her on that score.

Renuka: Don’t I foresee that? But I don’t want to lose you at any cost, and that’s my dilemma. Oh, God, I’m going mad.

Narsimma: Even if our fears are liars, still our move puts a full stop to my studies. How my mother lived and died dreaming about my being a B.A.

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: More 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: Maybe, 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: Maybe, 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: Muthyal 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.]

Muthyal 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