Tuesday, May 3, 2011

30 april-errands and another play

Jo headed off to go climbing this morning, and I enjoyed the rare opportunity to sleep in til 9:30! When I awoke, Nani and I headed to the tailor in Gandhi Bazaar. She had extra sari fabrics and proposed we make them into tops for Jo and I. I'm not sure how they'll look, but it will be fun to find out! At home, I blogged for a while (catching up on the Goa trip) and was still thus occupied when Jo returned. This is also the day the internet died. We ran out of gigabytes on our internet sticks AGAIN! I suppose it's all the Weeds we've been watching, but it's very frustrating regardless.

Shruthi's parents took Nani and I to a jeweler they know, to find me a nosering sparkly enough to satisfy my family. The selection was beautiful, and I chose a small (but slightly bigger than my current one) stud. We paid an advance up front and promised to return for it in 15 days. The making of a thin enough stem to fit in my tiny hole will take time, and apparently the jewelers are very busy because of a festival this week (a new moon festival).

On the way back, we passed a Levi's store offering free shades (sunglasses) with a purchase over 7000 Rs. It's funny how when the purchases are that Western, the prices are pretty comparable with US prices, and not cheaper as one might imagine.

Jo and I got out the chessboard she bought in Savantwadi and I taught her how to play. It was so fun, I haven't played in ages! We had messaged a bunch of people to come to the play at Rangashankara with us in the evening, and eventually Smitha and Ravindra (from Urban Solace) and Srikanta (a colleague of mine from work) agreed to come.

We got in an auto a little later than we should have (I didn't budget properly for time, being caught up in chess!) and were soon stuck in horrendous traffic. The auto driver knew us from having seen us with Peer Khan. I am becoming increasingly aware of the network of auto drivers and their friendships. Peer Khan is a popular figure! Anyways, Ravindra bought our tickets, and all were frantically and futilely texting us to hurry. When we arrived, we dashed out of the auto and up the stairs and made it in literally seconds before the play began.

It was called Necessary Targets, with a cast of 7 women, one foreign (with a pretty good French accent, although I don't think she was French?). I thought it was beautifully put on. It was about two women going to a refugee camp in an unidentified area to provide counseling services to the women there, and the struggles they face.

They push to get the women's 'stories' and there are a number of very important themes raised like the sensationalization of gore and what true care means, and whether it helps to talk about trauma, even the idea of community and nationalism. There was one point that stayed with me particularly clearly. A woman in the refugee camp talks about how what scares her most is that the violent ones were such normal people, and it scares her because it means that the tendency and propensity for such cruelty flows through everyone's veins, in the blood of all people. A few days later, a friend of mine from work pointed me to a TED talk given by Philip Zimbardo about how ordinary people become monsters.

http://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil.html

Very interesting.

After the play, Srikanta helped us find an auto back and we found one for 1.5 times the metered fare (which was fine because it amounted to a mere 50 rupees). By the way, I cried during the play. It was fantastic.


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