From one soul to another...

What is it to be a child again?

It must be about still believing in loveliness, still believing in love, still believing that the angels and fairies reach out to whisper in our ears, still believing in beauty and peace in the heart and soul. It’s about still having the spirit, cleansed by baptism, still intact and untainted within us. And it’s about innocence and about purity.

I once told a friend that the soul is the purest and most beautiful thing in the world; and we keep picking up grudges and bitterness along the course of life and stain our souls. Children still have that purity we were born with, still intact in their souls. Our show at Makkala Jagriti was indeed special. It was the day we denim clad urban cowboy souls made a difference to a lives of a lot of little souls. It was when the show was judged not by ticket sales or sold-out signs but by pure enthusiasm, heartfelt appreciation and innocent admiration. It was when we discovered the true power of theatre; of reaching out and connecting. From the stage to outside it. From one soul to another.

My one thought was when we asked the children what they wanted to be when they grew up. Some said doctor, some engineer, some actor….. One day, they might just become that; or may become something better. The thing is we might just never know. We might just never meet these little guys again. But what we do know is that for that one day, we were all together in that room and we truly and really connected. And I don’t think either of us will forget that in a hurry.

The most distinct thought in my mind was Neeraj asking a child (Suleiman Khan) what he wanted to do and Suleiman said that he wanted to be an actor, a hero and Neeraj put a cape around his neck and did a Superman. I think it brought the house down. Now Neeraj and I have one thing in common : Kannada language doesn’t know us so we place Kannada up there with Greek, Latin and Malayalam (Score: Raj-1, Neeraj-0; I know mallu! J). But without knowing Kannada (or vice versa), I think Neeraj did a great job. And of course, the other actors were brilliant their unique ways; the other guys from the heart-touching club (actors) being Tanvi, Abhijit, Chetan, Sudharshan, Vishal and the MC Ashish. We volunteers were lucky to have experienced anything like the act these guys put up that day. Kudos to Madhu, Nandhini, Ranji, Sumit and Gopi for making all this happen.

They say that the remainder of a year will be a reflection of the first act you do that year.

This year should rock!!!

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This entry won the Best Review for a Show by Yours Truly. This show was at Makkala Jagriti, an NGO based out of Bangalore (http://www.makkalajagriti.org). Yours Truly is a Bangalore based theatre group specializing in various formats of interactive, improvisatory and participatory theatre.

More details at: http://ytnewsletter.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/alternative-definitions/