Remembering Love 5

SWAMIJI told me, "I was in a bookshop, flicking through the pages of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the line "i want that indian boy" caught my eye." this had started swamiji's mind ticking. what was the connection here? was it possible to bring out this almost submerged element in the play, and give it a bit more elaboration? was it possible to relocate the action of the play in india? "ket, i want you to write the script."

wow! to tackle shakespeare, the haloed bard of english literature, and represent the story in the way we do things at the temple of fine arts! i was too excited to be scared. if he believed i could do it, i could do it, i told myself. i set to work almost immediately, and finished the adaptation in two weeks. i indianised all the names of the characters, relocated the action in rajasthan where the pomp and glory of martial prowess could match theseus' and hippolyta's background. and the element of parental oppression - easily identified with in the new scenario. the lovers' quarrel and final reconciliation were no problems at all, that being universal.

"let the fairy king oberon be ananga, and his titania, the goddess bhogawati," swamiji said. "puck can be renamed deepak!"

we went into production in march 1994, straight after we had finished odissi odyssey. the performance would be offered on his 60th birthday in april! we worked day and night, in the control room, swamiji choosing music with us. we found ravi shankar's sitar concerto no 1 highly useful. the choreographers worked on the floor from morning till night. umesh, sukhi, shankar, sarasa, and geetha painstakingly created new movements to match the colour of the music. borrowing from past dance sequences, they pushed at the limits of their imagination. the work was feverish. so was the tension. it seemed to be a haphazard way of doing things. but it was exciting nonetheless. at least for me.

since every single dancer who could take part had to be dancing in some scene or other, i had to wait till 10.30 each night before i could work with those who were cast as the group of villagers who would present a play in the king's court. and for the first time, the dancers were given a chance to create and dramatise their characters themselves. with a little help from me. thus far, this had been a neglected aspect of most productions - or at least the approach to drama came from the dance perspective. the oft-repeated court scenes in previous dance productions always required a dignified delivery of lines, and in time, this became the style of delivery for most scenes during the voice recordings.

the drama improvisation sessions helped to free up the voices and characters, and gave many scenes a more natural quality. i believed that it made the performances more accessible for the audience. and being so passionate about the work, i began to throw ideas on costumes and set design at shyamala and sarasa. i envisioned a huge tree trunk, fallen and aged, as the centrepiece for the set. it would delineate the forest immediately. we would do without the painted backdrops. it would be more realistic!

swamiji said no! i was curious. and perplexed.

later on, he whispered to me about krishnamurti mama, the uncle who had been painting backdrops for us throughout the years. swamiji told me that he got the feeling it would be mama's last project. this gave me a new perspective to swamiji's work.

it opened my mind to other existences, other thoughts, other feelings apart from the work at hand. at the temple of fine arts, every production had always been a collective endeavour. each person who came, could volunteer and give of himself in whatever he or she could, and go away feeling that something had been offered. it was swamiji's way of affirming our sense of belonging, our sense of usefulness, and our sense of purpose.

it immediately struck me then, that life is not just the work at hand but more so the work on the soul. this was swamiji's work. he saw krishnamurti mama's need to contribute, even at his advanced age, so that he could continue to feel useful and needed, to feel that he counted in more ways than one. through the work on the production, swamiji gave krishnamurti mama back to himself.

i understood then that swamiji knew how each of us needed to do things for him, so that he could affirm our belief in ourselves. and there was also the possibility that by krishnamurti mama's working on the production, his dedicated service would count for more merit, more punyam, so that he could continue to serve swamiji in years to come.

i learnt then that there is more to life than work - even work done as dedicated service to a guru. there is death. there is hope, and more important, there is love. love so wide and open, it embraces and soothes. it nourishes the soul. there is love.

this is how i remember his love. my swamiji who loves me.