suburban bhopal days

Sitting in an internet cafe in the green hills of Bhopal...

On Monday, I arrived in Bhopal, the city in central india where the Naya Theatre is based and my dear friends live. Manoj picked me up at the airport; since I last saw him 7 years ago, he has gotten a wife, a baby son, a car and a house in the suburbs. A family man! Though he continues to run his mime troupe (yes, white-faced mime... it is very avant garde and quite successful in Bhopal) and also teaches theatre at a school. His house is way out of town... very much the Indian equivelant of a new development of townhouses... only with a dirt road and cows and a little tin and brick hut where the caretaker lives. His wife Smita is lovely and also an actress... and completely fluent in English, which was helpful. Their little boy Anhad is extremely sweet... and the house very nice.

I spent most of the next two days at the house during the day time. Unfortuntely, Manoj had to go to work and so I stayed home with Smita and baby. A little boring... but also interesting to just observe daily life and it's much less rushed pace. Smita's parents arrived from Kerala (where both her family and Manoj's are originally from) on the second day... very nice and spent some time in Cincinnatti when their son wrked there. Apprently, they spent each day in the library while he was at work. For 2 months.

In the evenings I went to rehearsal... it was wonderful to see Nageen and all the troupe again! The first night they were rehearsing Habib Sahib's translation of Midsummer NIght's Dream... Manoj made an excellent Puck and the actors who played the mechanicals were fanstastic.... as rural people themselves they totally get the characters. (For those of you who do not know what I am talking about, google "Naya Theatre Habib Tanvir"!)

On Thursday night it was Anhad's big first birthday party. A tent was erected outside of Manoj's house and caterers prepared all sorts of party food: masala dosa, channa batura, dahi vada, chow mein... Archana, a wonderful and vibrant artist friend of Manpj's who I had met before, eventually got everyone (or at least a good amount of people... maybe ten out of the 150 who were there!) dancing, something a bit unusual in India. I did my duty as the star attraction (apart from Anhad) and danced as well!

The next day I left Manoj's house and am now staying with Nageen, which is lovely and feels just like home... but an empty home without the presence of Moneeka and Habib. Nageen is very happy to have me and I wish  could stay longer... but my lans have been made and I leave for Raipur on the night of the 12th by overnight train and then straight on to Jagdalpur the next morning. And then: tribal India! A dream of mine coming true...

x m