Theatre of Relevance performers Created awareness during Navaratri


 

​“कोई नहीं देखता सिक्के की दूसरी बाजु क्या है ?” कोई नहीं देखता, क्योंकि जब मैं देखती हुँ मुझे वो एक जैसा लगता है । This is the most important dialogue from my play “मैं औरत हुँ” because people around us are usually engaged in believing what is actually present or highlighted and never take initiative to explore the other dimensions of the society.

” Navratri ”  the festival of Devotion, happiness, Dance and rhythm is also  the festival of worshiping goddess and her Shakti ( power ) . In our motherland India, we celebrate ” Navratri ” by worshiping the goddess as our mother , but for a while we should wait , think , look into ourselves and rectify our beliefs and actions…Main Aurat Hoon 1

Do we really love , care and respect our beloved women as we do for the goddess ? Girls , women are the creators and should be respected like Goddess , but alas! They are not even  treated like humans, respect is although a different thing… !!!

 

On one hand, we worship Durga during Navratri ( just for the sake of worshiping ) and on the other hand, the same durga walking on the street is being raped, the same durga living in the house taking care of the family and creating the generations ahead is sexually harassed. What a  Hypocritical mindset !!Main Aurat Hoon 2

 

To break this Patriarchal mindset of society we the liberators of art , Theatre of Relevance practitioners and creative performers decided to perform the play written and directed by the internationally renowned theatre thinker and philosopher Manjul Bhardwaj ” Main Aurat Hoon’ in Sarvajanik Utsav Mandals .., for the emancipation of Goddess Durga living in our society…

 

 

 

These Sarvajanik Utsav Mandals celebrate this festival on massive level for the public to enjoy , dance and celebrate…and we decided to transform this festival to create and built a consciousness of social commitment for a constructive cause in the society.

 

For this constructive cause myself  and Komal khamkar proposed and organised 4 shows in Navi Mumbai – 27th Sept 2017 at Seawood , 28th Sept 2017 at Ghansoli and 29th Sept 2017 at Seawood ( two shows ) wherein Ashwini Nandedkar (International performer and TOR practitioner) , Komal Khamkar (TOR performer practitioner), Tushar Mhaske (TOR performer practitioner) and myself – Sayali Pawaskar (International performer and TOR practitioner)  performed and empowered the audience and liberated them from the patriarchal mindset .

 

Theatre of relevance has always inculcated the value of humanity in each and every  practitioner and these practitioners are now committed to make the world better and humane. This process imbibes inclusive vision towards life and becomes universal… thus the insane incident happened at  Elphinstone Road   railway station Mumbai, where 23 innocent people lost their lives. TOR performers involved the audience and with togetherness paid tributes before the performance which then created a pure , sensitive and a positive environment.

By: Sayali Pawaskar