When emotions ran high !
When I first discussed the idea of bringing out a Kannada paper with Kumara, he was impressed and straight away we got on the job. We also roped in pari (pareekshith). He too was impressed and he came up with the first piece, after all the discussions. By then kumara had met Mohan sir of Belaku Shishu Nivasa (Orphanage). Belaku were having their 11th annual day on MAY 9th and kumara had accepted to direct a play for the annual day function.
Amar, kumara and I share a common interest in theatre. Our discussions and all the chatting includes football, movies and theatre most of the times. When kumara told me about his plans of directing a play for Belaku, I got interested. And he invited me the next moment to help him direct the play. Without second thoughts I accepted. I also invited Amar, but he was busy trying to get a focus to his project. Amidst all this, the ‘paper’ idea had lost direction.
When we got the opportunity of reaching out to a bigger audience through the play that we were about to direct for Belaku, our focus and energy shifted significantly towards the making of the script.
The first step was to develop a story, which had in it the message we wanted to deliver and still be entertaining. We were clear about the message we wanted to deliver: help Kannada get back its shine. We then decided on the timeline for the story. The story had in it the glory of a kingdom, the cultural celebrations of the recent past and the present state dominated by name, fame and politicians. The story was brilliantly converted into a script by my dear friend kumara, the creative head. With little inputs from my end here and there, he had come up with a beautiful script. It was not complete though.
The time we got was quite less for the amount of work we had planned for. Therefore we did not wait for the script to be completed. We started directing the play mid way through the script. It kind of helped to continue with the script and complete it, as we knew who would suit best to the characters in store.
Now started all the fun; my first day with the kids at Belaku. We took the normal route. After all the introductions and a game of “Tom says……” we gave the kids some dialogues we had written, for them to speak and act. It was a good start. The kids surprisingly became close quickly. And as days passed by, I started to feel at home. It was great fun. And sometimes it became a bit emotional. I was then thanking god for whatever I have got. I have learnt a lot of lessons during my time with the kids. One such lesson was to be strong and be happy with whatever I have been offered and respect my parents and my brother and friends.
Lakshmi, a 7 year old kid adviced me to be happy and smiling always irrespective of the situation I was in, when I had got a bit emotional. What better advice can you get! I can never forget those words she said, never! And I literally started crying when she said that she considered me as her father! To that extent kids had accepted me. I could not reply back to what she had said. My eyes really filled with tears. But I could control it. And while walking back home from practice that day, I started to think on the mistakes I was doing and I made a conscious effort to correct all of them. I then realized how big a responsibility being a parent is and how much my parents have toiled for my well being. I always knew how much they have worked for my well being and I always have respected it, but at that stage it became more prominent and special. Anyway it was not just lakshmi; raveendra, madhu, usha, akshatha, mamatha-akka, vidhya-akka, sk-akka, manja, manoja, sudeepa, surya prabhu, vinoda, basavantha, keerthi-puTTi, venkatesha murthy, lakshmeesha and many others, made the three weeks of my life at Belaku memorable for life. It would be wrong on my part if I do not mention Mohan sir and mamatha-akka for their efforts, in looking after the kids.
And it was not just me and kumara involved. There was chaya, priyanka, pooja, rinita, chetan, lavanya, and vishak who helped us make this play complete in every sense. With chaya, priyanka and rinita beautifying the stage with their amazing work on the properties, and pooja helping the kids out with their dance moves and with vishak providing amazing tunes and background scores for the wonderful lyrics written by lavanya, kumara and I could not ask for anything more. It was a wonderful combination coming together at the right moment. And also the kids co-operated brilliantly except during some instances when it all ran out of control. One can expect it while working with the kids. But one thing is for sure, that the kids enjoyed our company.
It was fun during the practice. At around 5:30 in the evening we were all provided with milk and snacks along with the kids. The ‘ Annapoorne sadaa poorne, shankara prana vallabhe, gnana vyragya sidhyartham, bhikshaan dehi cha paarvathi’ ‘om shanthi…shanthi…shanthi-hee’ ‘anna dhato sukhi bhava’ shloka that we were all reciting before having our snacks, I will never forget it. And also the lunch I had with the kids on the day before their annual day function (it was on May 7th)
Now was the D-day, May 8th. We had earlier spoke to mr achar for the flex banners that we required for the play. He had accepted and he delivered it as expected. So with all the things in place, we set out to ‘Gayana Samaja’. It is a wonderful stage. It was perfect for the kids to perform. It had all the facilities. But for some minor technical glitches, the whole event was a success. Manja (manjunath) despite his illness gave us a brilliant performance to make the show a brilliant success. And i am not able to coin the words here to describe the backstage drama. It was exciting, setting up the properties, marking the positions to help the guys working on the lights (chetan and priyanka) and trying to give the best to make the play a successful one.
And in the end our play turned out to be a major hit. Every one who attended the event praised us, all the donor committee members were very happy with the effort. We too were very satisfied. All the efforts amidst the submission of project works and internals turned out to be fruitful. These 3 to 4 weeks of my life at Belaku had lot of things on offer and I have accepted it all happily, also I do not want to miss any in the future.
I do not know how much I need to thank ‘kumara-the creative head’ for giving me such a wonderful opportunity and giving me some of my life’s best moments. And I am looking forward to working with him again.
Amar, kumara and I share a common interest in theatre. Our discussions and all the chatting includes football, movies and theatre most of the times. When kumara told me about his plans of directing a play for Belaku, I got interested. And he invited me the next moment to help him direct the play. Without second thoughts I accepted. I also invited Amar, but he was busy trying to get a focus to his project. Amidst all this, the ‘paper’ idea had lost direction.
When we got the opportunity of reaching out to a bigger audience through the play that we were about to direct for Belaku, our focus and energy shifted significantly towards the making of the script.
The first step was to develop a story, which had in it the message we wanted to deliver and still be entertaining. We were clear about the message we wanted to deliver: help Kannada get back its shine. We then decided on the timeline for the story. The story had in it the glory of a kingdom, the cultural celebrations of the recent past and the present state dominated by name, fame and politicians. The story was brilliantly converted into a script by my dear friend kumara, the creative head. With little inputs from my end here and there, he had come up with a beautiful script. It was not complete though.
The time we got was quite less for the amount of work we had planned for. Therefore we did not wait for the script to be completed. We started directing the play mid way through the script. It kind of helped to continue with the script and complete it, as we knew who would suit best to the characters in store.
Now started all the fun; my first day with the kids at Belaku. We took the normal route. After all the introductions and a game of “Tom says……” we gave the kids some dialogues we had written, for them to speak and act. It was a good start. The kids surprisingly became close quickly. And as days passed by, I started to feel at home. It was great fun. And sometimes it became a bit emotional. I was then thanking god for whatever I have got. I have learnt a lot of lessons during my time with the kids. One such lesson was to be strong and be happy with whatever I have been offered and respect my parents and my brother and friends.
Lakshmi, a 7 year old kid adviced me to be happy and smiling always irrespective of the situation I was in, when I had got a bit emotional. What better advice can you get! I can never forget those words she said, never! And I literally started crying when she said that she considered me as her father! To that extent kids had accepted me. I could not reply back to what she had said. My eyes really filled with tears. But I could control it. And while walking back home from practice that day, I started to think on the mistakes I was doing and I made a conscious effort to correct all of them. I then realized how big a responsibility being a parent is and how much my parents have toiled for my well being. I always knew how much they have worked for my well being and I always have respected it, but at that stage it became more prominent and special. Anyway it was not just lakshmi; raveendra, madhu, usha, akshatha, mamatha-akka, vidhya-akka, sk-akka, manja, manoja, sudeepa, surya prabhu, vinoda, basavantha, keerthi-puTTi, venkatesha murthy, lakshmeesha and many others, made the three weeks of my life at Belaku memorable for life. It would be wrong on my part if I do not mention Mohan sir and mamatha-akka for their efforts, in looking after the kids.
And it was not just me and kumara involved. There was chaya, priyanka, pooja, rinita, chetan, lavanya, and vishak who helped us make this play complete in every sense. With chaya, priyanka and rinita beautifying the stage with their amazing work on the properties, and pooja helping the kids out with their dance moves and with vishak providing amazing tunes and background scores for the wonderful lyrics written by lavanya, kumara and I could not ask for anything more. It was a wonderful combination coming together at the right moment. And also the kids co-operated brilliantly except during some instances when it all ran out of control. One can expect it while working with the kids. But one thing is for sure, that the kids enjoyed our company.
It was fun during the practice. At around 5:30 in the evening we were all provided with milk and snacks along with the kids. The ‘ Annapoorne sadaa poorne, shankara prana vallabhe, gnana vyragya sidhyartham, bhikshaan dehi cha paarvathi’ ‘om shanthi…shanthi…shanthi-hee’ ‘anna dhato sukhi bhava’ shloka that we were all reciting before having our snacks, I will never forget it. And also the lunch I had with the kids on the day before their annual day function (it was on May 7th)
Now was the D-day, May 8th. We had earlier spoke to mr achar for the flex banners that we required for the play. He had accepted and he delivered it as expected. So with all the things in place, we set out to ‘Gayana Samaja’. It is a wonderful stage. It was perfect for the kids to perform. It had all the facilities. But for some minor technical glitches, the whole event was a success. Manja (manjunath) despite his illness gave us a brilliant performance to make the show a brilliant success. And i am not able to coin the words here to describe the backstage drama. It was exciting, setting up the properties, marking the positions to help the guys working on the lights (chetan and priyanka) and trying to give the best to make the play a successful one.
And in the end our play turned out to be a major hit. Every one who attended the event praised us, all the donor committee members were very happy with the effort. We too were very satisfied. All the efforts amidst the submission of project works and internals turned out to be fruitful. These 3 to 4 weeks of my life at Belaku had lot of things on offer and I have accepted it all happily, also I do not want to miss any in the future.
I do not know how much I need to thank ‘kumara-the creative head’ for giving me such a wonderful opportunity and giving me some of my life’s best moments. And I am looking forward to working with him again.
Comments
2 things caught my mind..
u ve forgotten the 'sahanavavatu' part of the prayer :P
and nange swalpa over agi praise madidiya :P