On a sultry Saturday evening many summers ago in a small room in Chennai 2 Software engineer trainees after doing their laundry drenched in sweat are standing at the terrace adjacent to their room. Their abode resembles an oven thanks to the unrelenting sun.Barely, a month back they were in the comforts of their home in God’s own country with dreamy eyes proud of the fact that they had been campus recruited to one of the biggest Software Companies of the country.The excitement was palpable because it was the first time that both of them were to leave their respective homes to live on their own. But nothing prepared them for what was going to come upon them when they landed at the headquarters of the Software major. The grueling training months includes the class room training from 9-6, Monday to Fridays. At temperatures close to 40 degree Celsius with absolute humidity levels touching 90% we were expected to turn up in formals along with a tie in tow. Saturdays would be spent on laundry and Sundays would be reserved for church and sleep. In the midst of such a demanding schedule during your early 20’s it is quite difficult to maintain sanity.
Among many things like eating Kerala food or hanging out with our very own malayali gang,what kept us going was the impromptu enactment of Malayalam movie scenes by my roommate Srijith featuring his favourite actor. With my limited world view until then I was quite astonished to realise that there were people like him who analyze each of these movie scenes with a great amount of detail. I was pretty impressed with his commitment to what he did to mimic his favorite actor .Let us not discount the fact that all this effort is just for a 1 man audience.This was something which was way beyond my comprehension, you call that passion I guess .For someone who is already homesick all this evoked a deep sense of nostalgia.It also helped me appreciate the Malayali way of life which so far I had taken for granted.
For the first time in my life I was able to identify myself as a Malayali. Spending 15 years in Kerala I had never had this feeling of belonging. It has to be noted that I spent a good part of my childhood in Madhya Pradesh where my father was posted as an Indian Police Service(IPS) Officer. As an 8 year old in my initial days in Kerala I still remember how I missed roti and dal. How odd I felt that no one spoke Hindi? How difficult it was to pick up Malayalam . Later in life when I ended up living in Delhi and Bombay I had no qualms of getting adjusted to new food habits or language . Thanks to this exposure early in life I was able to fully embrace the Mumbai way of life where I lived for 8 years.
Now coming back to Srijith naturally being from the same state and also encountering similar tumultuous times during our Training days we developed a very strong bond. We still remain thick friends even though we only met a couple of times in the last 12 years.
Fast forward 2020 in the midst of the Corona lock down Srijith invites me for a zoom session to one of his performances with his group “First drop theatre “. He has been part of this theatre group for more than 2 years now. I just dropped in to see my friend in action after so many years.
Photo credits: First Drop theatre
I am in for a surprise because I was expecting a conventional theater setting where there would be a play and the actors would follow the script. The team turns this very concept in its head and the art of storytelling takes a 360 degree shift.Here the feelings and emotions shared by the live audience forms the basis of the act. The actors on their part would quickly improvise on the spot and present to the audience an act based on the inputs shared.My fascination didn’t end there. Here the spectators are not mere observers of the act but rather are very much part of the narrative. This was a totally new experience for me as this is the first time that I have been exposed to this innovative concept called Playback theatre. When I walked in before the show we were just a bunch of strangers but at the end of it feels quite unique to have a connection with a number of people in the audience .
Photo credits: first Drop theatre
It was a deja vu moment for me once Srijith started his performance and I was taken back in time to the terrace in Chennai many years back.I admire his persistence to follow his passion in acting and I am proud to say that I have played a tiny part in this journey. Here is wishing you and the entire team of First drop theater all the very best to scale new heights on your field.
If you are more interested in Playback theatre you can find more details in the below link.
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