“…smriti ra pathor hoy, ar ke na jane pathorer annya naam manush (Memory is like hard rocks, and the alternative name of those hard rocks is Human)”. – “Dekha” (The Meeting)

I won’t lie but I was afraid when I first came to know about this audio play called “Dekha”. Visting theatre is an essential part of theatre lovers like me. Experiencing the new theatrical experience is one of our best weekend plans. We have so easily normalized the concept of going outside to different places to meet the stage that I was not just sure about the experience of experiencing theatre when stage visits us home. And after experiencing the joy of utilizing technology for one of the supreme forms of art, here I am with my words once again.

“Dekha” reminds me of the plays of Harold Pinter. In some texts and even in life ( if we are privileged enough to consider Life as a Text!) memory acts as a character. In those texts, ‘Silence’ and ‘Pause’ also act enough to have a healthy hold on the plot.

Based on Sudip Bose’s short story “Goynar Golpo” this audio play explores those gaps between our illusions and reality, as well as those blank spaces between our present, which is future-oriented and our past which is a dreamland of our selective memories.

The Invitation (source : https://www.facebook.com/antarranga/)

“Dekha” (The Meeting) is a journey of two friends. One is a shadow image from our past and another is our present image in the mirror opposite to us. They are going backward, traveling together towards the innermost depth of Time.

Victor the shadow from the past, is willing to expose wounds of our time in front of our narrator, who is more or less an alternative self of each one of us. So the journey is planned, plotted, and designed by Victor himself. The very pattern of this journey is surprisingly new to the narrator. He finds himself in an awkward position, within a forgotten world of memory. He is clueless, he defends his privileges of having a present. But he is helpless for he can’t answer any question which is suddenly discovered from the pile of abandoned memories by his own past.

‘Memory’ is the protagonist of this audio play, for ‘Memory’ is the one who controls everything. From narration to characterization, ‘Memory’ is the one who is breaking and making the entire screenplay ( or sound-play as here it is). Memory as a character is feminine here. Which again brings back the essence of Pinteresque qualities. Nandita as an old phoenix rises from the cold ashes of past for one last time just before dying another similar death. Ultimately ‘Memory’ engulfs the shine of each and every everyday illusional ‘right now’ and that journey of going backward extends the time limit of this intimate audio play.

The First Blue ( source : https://www.facebook.com/antarranga/)

The intimate journey of each one of us with our memory is an eternal one. But the journey of team Antar-Ranga is somewhat eternally memorable. “Dekha” (The Meeting) is an extraordinary production which team Antar-Ranga has made without meeting with each other even for a day! I’m amazed after experiencing the way they have used the power of sound and silence. The editing is so amazing that subtle sounds themselves work as an integral part while interweaving the polts and incidents during the entire course of the play. The sound itself provides this audio play with a dreamy quality. An essence of perceiving reality from the comfort zone of memory but also with the uneasiness of unwanted past.

When past haunts our present, or, memory disturbs our regular thought procedure, it also affects the pattern of our daily lifestyle. The new pattern is alien to us and we are no more the person we used to be.With this audio play we can trace back the origin of our delusional ‘right now’ to our fragmentary memory.

‘Dekha” (The Meeting) ends with few words which directly involve the wide range of audience with this audio play.

“…ar manusher khali mone hote thake manush hoyar boro dukkha tar cheye smriti hoye gele valo hoto (we living beings only find our living experience of existence difficult and so, we always feel like maybe it would be better if we were nothing but only memories).”

Along with the synthesis of life with memory “Dekha” (The Meeting) also presents a reflection of the present socio-economic situation worldwide. For me, “Dekha” (The Meeting) was a different sort of memorable experience of listening to the theatre. But as a theatre lover, especially as someone who admires Team Antar-Ranga’s productions, I still look forward to those Sundays when the stage will be again busy at its own place and the members of the Team Antar-Ranga will be busier around the stage.

As far as the rules and rituals are concerned I’ll end this blog with few of my favorite lines from one of my favorite texts-

“Memory is the seamstress, and a capricious one at that. Memory runs her needle in and out, up and down, hither and thither. We know not what comes next, or what follows after…” – Virginia Woolf, “Orlando”

You can mail me your feedback or comments regarding this post at bhattacharya.subarnika@yahoo.com

Happy Reading 🙂