Delhi Notes

The Prime Minister and his wife thoroughly enjoyed watching the Punjabi play and mixing with the host of old friends who had turned up to meet “Inder and Sheel”. It was a distinguished set, many of them Lahore old-timers who had made new lives for themselves in the last half-century, and the sense of camaraderie was as evident as the nostalgia. “Does this remind you of something?” Gujral murmured to an old friend.

The Friends of Gujral (FOG) present included H.Y. Sharada Prasad, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Pran Chopra, Jag Pravesh and Gopal Gandhi. Others were Himachal Som and Divyabh Manchanda of the ICCR, and playwright Reoti Charan Sharma. There was much hobnobbing and, at the end of the performance, the Prime Minister solicitously presented his warm cap to Madeeha Gauhar, director of the play, as she ventured outdoors to see him off.

A Pakistani counterpoint

Zain Ahmed, a young Pakistani theatre artiste was in the city a little while ago, approximately at the same time as the ICCR Ajokha. One thought it would be interesting to see how Zain reacted to Ajokha and how his work fitted in with the whole theatre scene across the border.

Unlike our own incestuous theatre wallahs, Zain showed a marked reluctance to speak about his compatriots who were performing for whatever Delhi has by way of high society. While he seemed to have problems with the approach Ajokha have taken (a-back-to-our-roots-with-our-fresh-perspective kind of thing…) he said that with the small number of theatre groups working in Pakistan it was imperative that each of them establish a distinct identity.So Zain and his group, the Daastan theatre circle, stretch their repertoire to include plays in English, Urdu and Punjabi. They react to immediate issues and produce plays which seek to focus a distinctly post-modern spotlight on a society that seems to live in separate centuries; the 15th in interior Sindh and late 20th in Clifton, Karachi.

It is this fractiousness in the reality that confronts them that is reflected in the diverse approaches that the various theatre groups take.

This time around, Zain was here for a friend’s wedding, maybe next time we will get to see one of Daastan’s productions. Incidentally his last play was called `Popcorn’. It dealt with Nawaz Sharif’s recent ban on pop music on TV. Apparently it was quite a success with zany dances and khichdi dialogue. And all the while he was circumventing official disapproval, dodging censors and making a serious point about power, responsibility and the democracy of taste.

From khaki to denim

Fifty years after Independence khaki is what policemen still wear or so one thought. Those visiting the police headquarters on January 1 came back a little wiser.

The police had pitched two tents right inside the headquarters. One hosted the annual policemen’s gathering. Listening to the proceedings one was left with no doubt that a new era had dawned and khaki would no longer be a grim reminder of our colonial past. Never again would it be associated with corruption or brutality.

The other tent was host to a `Grand Sale’. Jeans — name any popular brands and they were there on the shelves. Of course, they were a cheap buy. Some sold for Rs 200 less than the market rates. The happy policemen bought ’em and wore them in droves. Journalists, never to be left behind in such matters, were there too, lending a helping hand.

But the next day at the PHQ, khaki was back all around. Some things never change.

Credit to the tiger

Feel for tigers? Buy plastic. Earlier this week, the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature and Citibank got together to launch an affinity card to help save the tiger.

The card makes for an arresting sight with the striped beast’s visage emblazoned on it. And if the looks were not enough to convince the environmentally conscious, concerned individuals like Dr S.P. Godrej and Julio Robeiro pitched in to tell the gathering about the vanishing thousands and how this card would help save the tiger.

The break-up goes like this: When you register for a new card or renew one, 17 per cent of your costs will go into the WWF’s tiger kitty. Add to that .001 per cent of the amount you actually spend while using the card.

Card-holders will get benefits like 10 per cent discounts on WWF-India products and invitations to wildlife camps in India and abroad, seminars and talks on environmental issues and one-day outdoor activities.

As for the bank, before cashing on the tigers it had been wooing and influencing college students (read IIMites) by offering ATM cards at slashed prices.

`Chachi’ makes it big

Chachi is the hottest name these days. Thanks to actor Kamal Hassan’s Chachi 420. Many in the Capital are even using Chachi to mint their bit of money. They are selling Chachi ki chai at small-time tea-stalls and Chachi ki khichdi at dhabas.

Recently, a couple had a taste of the Chachi mania in Connaught Place. A eunuch would just not let go of them. He kept showering choicest blessings on them saying that she was like their Chachi and so should be rewarded accordingly. The hapless couple could not help but smile at the `original’ idea of extorting money. Eventually, they had to part with a hefty sum of fifty bucks!

A colleague’s father, on the other hand, had another incident to narrate. He had gone to buy commodities from a ration shop in Patparganj. There, he was amused to see the shop-owner’s wife being addressed as Chachi by the neighbouring shopowners and customers alike. A blackboard outside the store had the following words: Aaj Chachi hai. When asked, the lady smiled back and said: “Cha kafull form chawal hai or chi ka matlab chini. Yeh to pados ke bachchon ki gadbad ki hui hai.”

— Contributed by Yana Banerjee-Bey, Gautam Babbar, Joy Purkayastha, Ritu Raizada