Everyone has to struggle to survive. A human’s struggle to survive always continues, unhindered. But for a woman, who is burdened with traditions, virtues, rituals of our society, even before she is born, the struggle to survive is far more difficult.
The one who keeps aside her interests, her wishes, her aspirations, her dreams, her vision while she dedicates her life to her family’s, society’s expectations. She is within us. She takes on the role of a mother, sister, wife, daughter in law, daughter, lover, friend for others, without demanding anything for herself. Taking care of home, traditions, values, virtues, family, society, she is seen as the one who is well versed with her duties as a woman. Sacrifice and dedication makes the effigy of a woman. Dedication to society before birth and after. In short, Her life begins in dedication and ends in dedication.
She begins her life listening to someone to tell her about her duties, her virtues, about other people’s wishes and wants, a dedication towards a hollow system of respect.
She has young and pure dreams held dearly near her chest but still has her duties, her responsibilities to get past.
She desires to get a relief from these limitations of her role in a virtuous system, but the society structure is an enclosed box, which sometimes she doesn’t even realise it is, as it’s hard for her to tell the difference between following through life and living a life.
Every such woman’s voice of dedication is ‘Theatre of Relevance – a liberated me, an emancipated me’, (स्वतंत्र मी …उन्मुक्त मी) women’s workshop. These workshops were accomplished in Panvel, Dombivali, Malad and will be organised in Different places in Mumbai, Maharashtra and India soon . International Theatre thinker Manjul Bhardwaj was the facilitator of this workshop, and (TOR Team) Ashwini Nandedkar, Sayali Pawaskar, Komal Khamkar and Tushar Mhaske were co-facilitating as well.
Who am I ?
What are my qualities of which I have been unfamiliar with?
What are my dormant qualities?
To find the real ‘me’ within me
What exactly is my identity ?
To recognize myself…
Manjul Bhardwaj inspired the participants to bring to light these thoughts and questions.
‘You speak, I’ll listen’ became ‘I’ll speak, you listen’… My liberation my responsibility…. My emancipation is universal emancipation… a belief in living as a human being…. I am stuck in a rut of middle class transition… but I am the daughter of Savitri.. my forward stepping foot is paving the future for countless other women…. The liberation from my physical labour is not freedom, I seek for a liberation through which our mindsets, thought processes and ways of looking at me acknowledge me as a human being. This is what the participants learnt from the workshop.
The platform of ‘Theatre of Relevance’ is keen to emancipate the human intellect through the art practice and processes. We the practitioners and performers of TOR are bound to emancipate this half country’s population.
By: Sayali Pawaskar