If you're wondering what in the world this post is about, let me explain. It all started sometime last week when I got a mail from my friend in Chennai, about an English play by a group of guys who were college mates of a colleague of his (confusing :)?). They called themselves 'The Rebelz' and this was to be their first production according to the mail. Like a lot of other mails I keep getting during the day I glanced through it and relegated it to my Outlook PST to be perused at a later time. Well, as usually happens, I forgot all about it till a frantic mail from my aforementioned friend appeared one evening in my mailbox. He asked if I was willing to come with him to the play. Being my usual procastinating self and not wanting to commit to anything, I replied 'I'm coming as of now'! Pat came the reply, 'Better tell me yes or no, I've got to book tickets!'. Hmmm...Now that he put it that way, I had to make a decision, hadn't I? With some reluctance, I gave in and said that he could count me in. I hardly venture out during my weekend trips back home and so I guessed this would be a nice way to spend some time with friends. Plus, I didn't remember being to an English drama in a long time...that is, since that one time in Calcutta when my english teacher at school packed us off to see a performance of 'A comedy of errors'! I sincerely hoped then that I wouldn't regret my decision...and I am glad to say now that I didn't:)
I must say the day of reckoning came too soon for my liking! It was 11:00 in the morning and I was lazing around, in that particular mood where one feels content with the world, waiting to tuck in my lunch. Thence came a call from a friend I knew in my school days, disturbing my reverie. With not much of an introduction this guy, Shiva, asked me if I would be coming...Pretty open ended question you'd think! Well, those were my exact thoughts then and I wasted no time in voicing them. He said, 'Don't you know...There's a get-together of our class mates from school today at 12:30!'. It seems there was a mail on that in our groups which I had, not surprisingly, not seen. Not wanting to miss out on this occassion to catch up with my buddies, I said I'd be there. He agreed to pick me up from some place that we decided on and ended the call with a stern reminder to be on time! To keep up that promise though I'd have to gobble my lunch, get ready and get to that place in pretty quick time. Doesn't sound like much does it? That's probably 'cause you don't know that finishing a meal in anything less than a half hour, for me, is a challenge akin to learning to play the Violin (which incidentally I partly managed to do!). How I made the rendezvous is another story that I shall tell you another time but suffice it to say that thirty minutes after than the scheduled time, I was standing sheepishly in front of my friend trying to ignore his looks that said 'I knew you'd be late'. Wasting not a minute more, we sped off on his scooty to an eating place (can't think of a better word) called 'Dhaba Express' where we mates from school generally hold our 'get-togethers'. The details of the meet would not interest you readers (assuming there are more than one, of course!) though I'd be more than happy to full you in on them in a separate post. I saw a couple of faces there which seemed totally unfamiliar to me though the feeling wasn't mutual as it later turned out! When it was time to leave, the two faces I alluded to, each in turn said 'Bye Akshay'...Well, I found myself in quite a peculiar situation there! What do you say to someone who supposedly knows who you are whereas you on the other hand didn't know about their existence till that moment!! I had to think quickly and it struck me that honesty would be the best policy (sounds clichéd I admit...but effective nonetheless) to adopt. Summoning all my courage, I politely told them I was sorry but I didn' know their names. Thereupon followed the introductions and I was finally able to place one of the names! I recalled that this person was my competitor at school in the only subject I felt I was ever any good at...English! I said as much to her (Oh! Did I mention that both those 'faces' were of the opposite gender?!) and that led her to exclaim, 'I'm glad atleast you had something good to remember about me'. There you had it...a fair ending to a rather awkward moment if I might say so myself! On that note, we all said our ta-tas and bye-byes and sped off on our own separate ways. Me and another friend of mine, Karthik, decided to hole up at shiva's house. The play (almost forgot about that, didn't we?!) was at 6:00 and I still had some time to kill. We spent some time at this guy's house, talking about our school days, lamenting our present plight and fantasized about future glories! The time soon passed in these idle pastimes and it was almost time to head for the play. I was to show up at my friend Aravind's house where the chief instigator of this whole plot, one Mr. Nagarajan would also be present. Karthik dropped me off at my destination and without any more fuss the three of us took off.
Much to our collective relief we arrived at the scene well before time. My stomach was already grumbling by that time and fortunately the other two also concurred. We decided to skip across the road to an Adyar Bakery outlet that caught our eyes. It was in the basement of an apartment building and something about the place touched a chord of familiarity. It was then that I realized I'd been to this same apartment complex some time back to see off a friend travelling to the U.S! Fancy me, stumbling into the same place again! That thought however was quickly pushed to the back of my head as more immediate requirements took priority. There wasn't much by the way of food available and so we settled on a veg. puff each...after all, beggars can't be choosers! I don't know what it was but I suspect it might've been all that bike riding I did during the day that made me decimate the stuff in record time. Thus, having satiated our hunger we trudged back to the venue of the play
When we reached back there were quite a few people milling about. We stood there along with all those people for some more time till the doors to the auditorium finally opened and we could settle in. Looking around I could see a decent crowd had turned up on the occassion. After a few minutes, the lights dimmed and it was time atlast for the real thing. The story was about an indian software professional, Sam (a business analyst actually) who's been in the US of A for the last few years. As one can expect his lifestyle involves the usual vices of life in america. He juggles more than one girl friend at a time and there is a scene in which he is confronted by one such girl who's just found out he's been pulling the wool over her eyes. He keeps getting calls from his father back in India which he never attends...Such is his life. One fine day he hears from a college friend of his, Sri, informing him that he's in town and would like to meet up. When Sri does arrive there is a comic moment not unlike the ones in Charlie chaplin movies, where they go around in circles, unaware of each other till they bump together with a start! Sri also unwittingly happens to be a witness to the showdown between Sam and his ex-girlfriend that was alluded to earlier. There's a nice touch of comedy in the form of a rapper friend of Sam's,Murgi, who's real name turns out to be a rather tame 'Murugesan'. His sense of alarm when he gets a call from his patti (grandmother) is nicely portrayed and his conversation about 'getting the murungakai from the terrace',etc. though clearly exaggerated (and a jibe at the Iyer community:)), did have everyone in splits!
Sri and Sam spend their time reminiscing and talking of college days and their conversation eventually drifts to more serious topics. Sri talks of a girl he loved while at college, his 'true love', and recounts the last time they met and how they parted. Sam, being the guy he is, rubbishes his friend's sense of romance and his concept of love. Sri, though a little offended, tries to explain to Sam and also conveys his disapproval of the lifestyle he leads. During their chat, they are interrupted many a time by calls from Sam's father, which he cuts off without a second thought. When Sri asks him why, we (the audience, that is!) are presented with a flashback, where a younger Sam returns home late one night and tried to sneak in, only to find his father up and waiting. There follows a battle of words between the two where the father scolds him for being so irresponsible and the works. The scene ends with Sam rudely telling his father that when he gets a job, he'd pay back all the money spent on him! The stage cuts back to the present, where Sri then asks about his mother, Sri almost breaks down and remembers how he was having a good time at a pub while his father desperately tries to contact him to say that his mother was seriously ill. In the morning, he reads a message from this father that informing him that his mother had passed away. Sri then proceeds to leave and the two promise to get together soon. A few days later Sri again drops in and with him is his 'true love' (whose name I forget!). Sam is quite surprised and also a bit delighted at this turn of events. There is a very cute scene here, when Sam walks out to get some refreshments and happens to intrude on the couple gazing into each others' eyes, as he walks back in. Sam eager to know what happened, gets to know how the two bumped into each other after all these years, in the same place, almost as if by divine intervention. After the two take his leave, Sam sits down quietly and looks back at his life, his girl friends, his attitude towards his father, Sri and his lost love. Englightenment dawns of him and he picks up his phone to talk to his father. Thereupon, the curtains come down to signal the end of what was a very beautiful play...a very slickly directed one too!
So, that was it about the 'Phantom Parody'. If you ask me why they named it so,I must admit I still can't figure it out! The best thing would be to ask them yourself...Visit them at http://www.rebelz.in. As enchanted as I was with the play itself, what really delighted me was the fact that here was a bunch of people, who despite holding down full-time IT jobs, had the conviction and the attitude to go ahead and pursue their dreams. Hope it inspires our lot!
