Onto the Stage - Slighted Souls and other stage and radio plays by BS Murthy (speed reading book .TXT) 📕

and God forbid a let down.

Narsimma: Now wish that God wills our Madanna’s release.

Renuka: Won’t I pray for that any way. More so as that saves the kid and the Home Guard.

Narsimma: Oh, how it feels when you can’t pin hopes on prayers even. I experienced that when I was powerless to prevent your marriage. Well, it can never be described, and God forbid one can only experience it. And now, all my power seems inadequate to secure Madanna’s release.

Renuka: Oh really, how helpless life makes us to save our beloveds. Given my newfound zeal to serve our folks, now I’m coming to fathom your the then obsession for graduation. If not for my urge to further my vision won’t I wish to die if I were to fail you?

Narsimma: You failing me, forget about it. Can you do that even in your dreams Renu?

Renuka: But baava, its nightmares these days.

Narsimma: Why lose your nerve and tie my hands at this crucial moment? Are we not equally passionate about our mission?

Renuka: Why am I not here to strengthen your hands to fight for our folks? But are you not bloodying your hands more and more. Oh, don’t I find them slippery to hold even, leave alone lending support to you. Why not we rescind from violence and put some substance into our struggle baava?

Narsimma: Why not, let’s first secure Madanna’s release, and then we’ll have a full house to discuss. Didn’t Madanna himself hold you as the conscience keeper to the dalam?

Renuka: I’m relieved baava. Now won’t I pray for Madanna as much as for Raja and his escort?

Narsimma: Let’s see what the sarkar has up its sleeve. Hope it’s not a case of Renu proposing and the regime disposing.

[Curtains down.]

 

Scene – 18 

Voice Over: In spite of its repeated threats to kill the kid, the dalam failed to secure Madanna’s release, and a cornered Narsimma carried out the threat. In a swift move that followed while the Greyhounds captured Sarakka, the police had eliminated her in a fake encounter thereafter. And this hardened Narsimma’s attitude towards the men in uniform even more, and he began raiding the Police Stations and blasting their patrol jeeps at will. In time, when the police claimed to have killed a fleeing Madanna in an encounter, he in rage went on a rampage. And that made him the most wanted in the land with a reward of Rupees two million on his head. Outraged by his revolutionary aggression, Renuka was wont to advocate the course of political opposition to further the dalit cause but a cynical Narsimma wouldn’t change tack. In the end, Renuka threatened to leave him, and the dalam, but to no avail.

[Curtains up: Narsimma and Renuka are in the hideout of scenes – 12, 13, 15 & 17.]

Renuka: Baava, do you realize what this day means to us?

Narsimma: Why aren’t we still a year away from the seven year itch?

Renuka: Oh no, but why there’s no word about it all day.

Narsimma: You know how I’m bogged down to blow up that big fish.

Renuka: What a shame, six years over and we haven’t added.

Narsimma: Why hasn’t the reward on my head got multiplied?

Renuka: It’s no time to joke as we’re at the crossroads of life.

Narsimma: You know that’s the sacrifice the revolutionaries have to make.

Renuka: But still we’re human with human wants, aren’t we?

Narsimma: True, but there is no way we can be parents.

Renuka: What’s that we’ve achieved after all the self-denial?

Narsimma: Don’t you see the changes around? Now nobody dares demean the dalits.

Renuka: Maybe, but they still remain poor, don’t they?

Narsimma: Do we have a magic wand to make them rich.

Renuka: Now I am sure they remain poor as long as we’re around.

Narsimma: Renu, don’t you sound reactionary?

Renuka: So be it. Until we vacate the stage, no entrepreneur would ever step onto it, and unless industry goes rural, the village poor remain poor. And I’m sure about it.

Narsimma: What if we give up arms, won’t the peddollu rule the roost all again.

Renuka: Why don’t you realize, it’s as farmhands that dalits are at the landlords’ mercy. If only the villages are industrialized, won’t the landlords lose their grip over the peasants?

Narsimma: Since when are you in the pay of the capitalists? [Laughs.]

Renuka: Jokes apart, let’s seek amnesty and work differently.

Narsimma: Well, as you know, I’ve crossed the Rubicon, not once but twice.

Renuka: And I crossed it when you had put that innocent kid to death. You don’t know what a dilemma I was in then. I was obsessed with the idea of saving his life, and I racked my brains as to how to go about it. It even crossed my mind to kill you and others to let him live. But then, I realized your life was more valuable to the dalit struggle.

Narsimma: Oh, really! That’s my Renu I’m proud of. But you too know that was the most difficult sentence I had ever pronounced.

Renuka: It’s the one death that came to haunt me ever since. How poignant his death was for he died crying for his mother. It was then that I realized how paramount motherhood is to a woman’s life.

Narsimma: Is nursing the dalit cause any less paramount to you as a woman. And as for death, as we chose to live by the sword, we shall be prepared to fall by it. But still a revolutionary never dies in vain. Won’t his death stir others to carry on the struggle?

Renuka: What about the deaths we had caused, can we live without remorse? Unlike that kid, can we face premature death without fear, and a sense of betrayal by life itself? Oh, how he died without fearing death. Maybe, he’s too young to grasp the import of life, leave alone death.

Narsimma: Won’t death ensure that we don’t live long enough to suffer on that count.

Renuka: Why not we take solace in building lives instead of destroying homes? I’m sure it would help our souls. Let’s begin paving the dalit political way to power.

Narsimma: Want to join politics that last resort of the scoundrels.

Renuka: As we’re no scoundrels, won’t we make a difference to the politics?

Voice Over: Greyhounds, Greyhounds.

[Narsimma tries to rollover with Renuka who resists.]

Renuka: Baava, let’s surrender. [She raises her white dupatta.]

Narsimma: Lets run Renu; it’s no time to vacillate.

Renuka: I’m fed up with this life baava. Let’s give up ourselves.

Narsimma: Won’t I prefer to die in a real encounter than in a fake one.

Renuka: I’ll see that you’re not harmed. I’ll stake my life for that. [She rolls over him suggesting a protective embrace.]

Voice Over: Run for cover, they’ve neared us.

Narsimma: Chalo, have you gone mad or what?

Renuka: Won’t you stay back for my sake..

Narsimma: Come on Renu, it’s not the way to force the issue.

Renuka: Don’t say nakko, baava. I want to love you and live with you.

[Sound of a hail of bullets and approaching foot steps. Renuka holds Narsimma tightly in her embrace even as he tries to wriggle out.]

Renuka: I want to bear your child baava.

[But as the Greyhounds come near, Narsimma wriggles himself out of Renuka’s grip and tries to drag her but she continues to hold him. In the end, he manages to escape and the Greyhounds go after him in hot pursuit. A crestfallen Renuka sits still on the ground.]

[Enter: Captain Ranjit Kapoor of the Greyhounds as the gun shots cease.]

Captain Kapoor: Sorry Renu-ji, he’s dead.

Renuka: Oh, what about others?

Captain Kapoor: Well, they all escaped.

Renuka: Oh, if only I could have prevailed over him.

Captain Kapoor: We understand your hurt and appreciate your sacrifice madam.

Renuka: Did he have any last words for me?

Captain Kapoor: He begged us not to harm you in any way.

Renuka: It’s a consolation that he died without feeling let down.

Captain Kapoor: Don’t we know Renu-ji that you’ve chosen it as a last resort.

Renuka: Oh, if only I was able to persuade him. But what to do when he was so distrustful of you guys. See how fake encounters discourage change of heart.

Captain Kapoor: That’s sad indeed, but Renu-ji we too are human, after all. Given that we’re senselessly targeted, no denying that we too tend to be insensitive. Don’t think that I’m trying to justify the fake encounters. I’m only putting them in the proper perspective.

Renuka: How I wish his death makes both sides introspect.

Captain Kapoor: I’m sure this poignant tale would. Well, I’ve orders to free you.

Renuka: Thanks for keeping your word. [She pauses as if to know his name.]

Captain Kapoor: I’m Captain Ranjit Kapoor.

Renuka: Well Captain, I’ve better things to do than rotting in the jail.

Captain Kapoor: And those two millions will be yours as well.

Renuka: Are you implying that I betrayed my man for booty?

Captain Kapoor: Oh no, Renu-ji, don’t we know, you chose to risk his life to end his mayhem.

Renuka: Well, that’s the only solace I’ve to my sense of loss.

Captain Kapoor: Just reconsider Renu-ji that money may be handy to help the needy.

Renuka: True, but won’t that demean me in my own eyes?

Captain Kapoor: Hats off to your sensitivity madam.

Renuka: Thank you Captain. Better use it for the needy families of the policemen who died at his hands. At least, that should give some solace to his lost soul.

Captain Kapoor: It’s praiseworthy really. But don’t say no to the rehabilitation package.

Renuka: It’s not my rehabilitation that’s on my mind now. Captain, it’s the cause of dalit good that rules my heart. I’ve realized that fugitives can’t improve the dalit plight from their jungle hideouts. If only we take the fight into the political arena, we’ve the numbers to boot. Where my man failed with his naxal bullets, I shall succeed with the ballot papers. I want to ensure that I haven’t sacrificed my man in vain.

[Captain Ranjit Kapoor, in attention, salutes Renuka, and it’s the final-curtain.]

 

 

Men at work on Women at work

Dramatis Persona

,

Men at Work:

Naveen (40) Materials Manager, Bricks & Bats Ltd.

Nayak (55) Manager, HRD, Hares & Hounds Ltd.

Rakesh (50) Managing Director, Hares & Hounds Ltd.

Sunil (35), Assistant Manager, Personnel, Hares & Hounds Ltd.

Gopal (55) Assistant, Marketing., Hares & Hounds Employees Union

Balram (35) Inspector of Police.

Sanjay (40) General Manager, Marketing, Brims & Dregs Ltd.

Kumar (35) Assistant Finance Manager, Skins & Hides Ltd.

Diwakar (50) Finance Manager, Skins & Hides Ltd.

Bhagawan ( 45 ) Lawyer.

 

Women at Work:

Navya (30) Naveen’s wife and Sanjay’s P.A at Brims & Dregs Ltd.

Rachana (26) Navya’s friend and Kumar’s Assistant at Skins & Hides Ltd.

Rekha (59) Company Secretary, Hares & Hounds Ltd., who with Navya and Rachana starts MAWAW, Movement against womanizing at workplace.

Nritya (21) Navya’s sister and Nayak’s Stenographer at Hares & Hounds Ltd.

Preeti (26) Personal Secretary to Rakesh at Hares & Hounds Ltd.

Margaret (45) Manager Personal, Hares & Hounds Ltd.

Ramya( 40) Deputy Manager, Finance, Hares & Hounds Ltd.

Divya (25) Receptionist, Bricks & Bats Ltd.

Anasuya(35) Maid servant of the Naveens

Mithuna: Accuser of Naveen sans appearance.

Children at play: Ranjan (7) and Nrupa (5), son and daughter of Naveen and Navya.

 

 

Scene - 1

[Curtains up: Drawing room of the Naveens. Nine chimes of the clock (not in the scene). Naveen is seen solving the The Hindu ‘crossword’. The telephone in the hall starts ringing.]

Navya: [Not in the scene.] Naveen, are you there?

Naveen: Very much dear. [He goes to answer the call.]

Naveen: It’s Naveen here. [Pause] Wait a minute [Closes the mouthpiece.] Navya, Rachana is on the line for you.

[Enter: Navya from the kitchen portion (left side of the stage) and takes the receiver from Naveen.]

Navya: Hi, Rachana.

[Naveen goes into the master-bedroom (left side of the backstage)]

Navya: You are mistaken, Nritya is expected only tomorrow. [Long pause] Why not, we can meet in the evening.

[Navya disconnects the phone. Naveen comes into the hall with a briefcase in one hand and shoes in the other.

Naveen [Wearing the socks]: What’s the matter?

Navya: Rachana wants to bring her friend’s auntie Rekha on some important business.

Naveen: Bet, if not Amway its Gold Quest to lure you into becoming an Independent Business Owner. See how they network. Rachana became your friend after being