‘Lotus Leaves, Water Words’, a reading performance staged at the close of The Hindu Lit For Life used multiple art forms to throw light on the five elements — with special focus on water — and bring certain ecological issues to the fore. Between text readings, dance, singing accompanied by drums and guitar and dramatic dialogues, every part of the stage was taken over, with the performers never missing a beat.
The five elements set the reference for the performance and between readings from Book 3 of Philostratus, circa 220 AD and excerpts from the Rig Veda referencing the Panchamahabhuta , the conversation begins. Bringing concepts like dharma, defined as the balance that must be maintained between all elements, especially in an ecological sense, with readings from Cheran Rudramurthy’s Irangal Paa and the Purananuru .
Satire too found its way into the performance as the actors enacted an excerpt from Kashinath Singh’s Kaun Thagwa Nagariya Lutal Ho , where a bunch of tycoons have captured God and are negotiating with him, in a future where there is a price on everything from the clouds to the sun. “To live, one has to pay the price,” a character proclaimed, and even as the audience laughed, the eerie feeling that this day too isn’t far away was palpable.
A reading from P. Sainath’s column highlighting, in his inimitable style, the water scarcity issues while eliciting a few chuckles also left the audience well aware that the performance had a strong message to take home. Private swimming pools for apartments in a State where villages depend on water tankers for their daily needs, maintaining water and amusement parks in 47-degree heatwaves while the same region sees 15-hour power-cuts, water levels in reservoirs reaching below 15 per cent — the actors brought to the fore issues that we can easily ignore in our cushioned, air-conditioned lives. And what more can we ask for from art than to hold up a mirror in which we can see ourselves?
The performance was written and directed by Prasanna Ramaswamy and featured veterans of the stage including P.C. Ramakrishna, Anita Ratnam, R. Rohini, Nellai Manikandan, Niran Vicktor Benjhamin, Sushila Ravindranath, Anandh Kumar, Revathy Kumar. Special mention must be made of the young Revathy Kumar who sang and danced with equal grace — not an easy task when both require immense effort. Anita Ratnam’s grace and presence on stage needs no elaboration, but must be acknowledged for the beauty she brings to her performance.
Bringing words and text to life through dance, music and dialogue, the production was a fitting end to a festival that celebrated the written word.
