ODWITIO & ANYA PREM Two short plays @Kaala Dibba    7:30 pm, 8 July 2018 ANYA PREM (Hindi 30 Min) A wider perspective beyond the current is not something that comes naturally to us. The current is so pressing, so overpowering that it blinds out the larger. Our current life experiences, our “Smrity”, memories, further force us into judgements. Judgements of good and bad, innocent-guilty, right and wrong, polluted and pure, oppressed and oppressor, privileged – unprivileged, powerful and powerless and so on. A world created based on judgement evokes rage. Life becomes a Ranabhoomi, a battleground, Kurukshetra. Where both sides feel like victims, everyone wants to win and at least one must always lose. How is it possible to love beyond one’s own self and those who I know and believe to deserve my love? How is it possible to elevate love from “Love for one” to “Oneness in love”? The Hindu concept of Darshan provides insight into this. The Bhakta and the presiding deity look into each other in a fixed gaze. This leads to Dhyana, focus. As one engages in dhyana, focus gives way to perspective, attention converts into awareness i.e Dhyana to Dharana. The vision expands to reject the boundary separating the self from the other, the action from the responsibility. This is Darshan. There love has no boundaries. That is when one can free love from the shackles of learnt social relationships to include the world beyond. Extend love from humans to animals, to the environment, to the universe much beyond the self. Only then shall life become a Ranga Bhoomi, a performance on a stage aimed to nourish and comfort the other while deriving nourishment and comfort from their delight, thus realising the essence of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. In “Anya Prem” we explore an intimate relationship between two lives and how the love transcendents beyond the current to a wider universal relationship aimed at social sustenance. Cast: Shahana Chakraborty Crew: Light & Sound – Shomik Ray Costume – Paromita Roy Script – Shahana Chakraborty & Shomik Ray Design & Direction – Shomik Ray ODWITIO (Bangla 45 Mins) If Darwin’s principle of “Survival of the fittest” is to be believed then competition lies at the core of all living existence on this planet. Resultant, the human race is naturally competitive. It goes without saying that the nature of competition has changed dramatically over time from the stone ages till today, but the desire and need to win stays the same. It is true that in a competition one side wins. It is equally true that another loses. Both the results in a competition is equally imperative. No one loves to lose. Apart from the object of contest, the competition is normally associated with social acknowledgement, self-confidence, social standing, credibility and a whole lot of other things that affect the human mind and existence on a daily basis. Hence, the social stakes in a competition is much larger than the actual physical stakes under contest. History and literature has enough evidence of what unbelievable efforts humans are capable to put in to ensure a win. Modern psychologists have made great efforts to convert competitions from “win – lose” situations to “win – win” situations by propounding theories like “No zero sum” in order to reduce the stress of competitiveness. However, the fact remains that, the one who wins – is the winner. And the one who does not, whatever name one may call him by – he is the loser. Shapno Ekhon presents “Odwitio” – an experimental production portraying the conflict between winning and losing. The play is written, directed and acted by Shomik Ray. Cast: Shomik Ray Crew: Lights – Sanghamitra Ray Script – Shomik Ray Design and Direction – Shomik Ray