Stumbling onto a play

A couple of days back, I was rushing to Rangashankara to catch a friend’s play. The theater has a strict entry time restriction, one that I hadn’t fallen foul to in almost 10 years of the watching plays there. This time though it looked like I would be late.

I hurriedly searched for parking and then walked upto the front gate, half expecting someone to tell me the show had started. The security at the gate saw me walking towards the place and enthusiastically asked “Theater ga?”(For the theater), I replied with the affirmative. He signaled with spinning hands asking me to hurry “Banni banni, almost shuru aythu“(Come come, it has almost started). I sprinted to the counter, picked up my ticked and then dashed over the stairs and just as the usher stripped my ticket of its stub, the final buzzer went off. I had just made it…

I rushed in and tried to locate a suitable seat before the lights dimmed. I found a nice spot slightly off center. As I sat down, I realized the theater was almost full, good for my friend I thought. Two minutes later I was seriously confused what was happening

The play being performed was a different play. I thought I was watching an Kannada adaptation of a Tagore play and this seemed like a Kannada adaption of a German children’s play(Titled “Gumma Banthu Gumma“). Thats when it hit me, I had the dates wrong!

It had been a long time since I had been to a play without any idea what was in store. I cherished the serendipitous moment and decided to sit back and enjoy the play.

The play was absolute riot. The audience was filled with children and they were absolutely loving the play. They interacted with the actors and screamed answers in the middle of scenes. The actors relished the interaction too, encouraging it at times.

It was a odd sort of an evening for me, from rushing to catch a play to realizing that I had missed the play by a day to stumbling onto this gem of a performance. All in a day’s work I guess.

(Day 5 of The Beautiful Project)