Given the cheers and claps from the audience at Salar Jung Museum Auditorium here on Sunday, not many would believe that the artistes, who performed on stage were amateurs and more so that they were IPS trainee officers from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA).
For the first time, 28 trainee officers from the academy performed a play ‘Ek tha gadha - Urf Aladad Khan’ for general public .
Written by Padmasri Sharad Joshi, ‘Ek tha gadha - Urf Aladad Khan’ is a popular play and the audience enjoyed the performance of all artistes, specially the Nawab role enacted by Dev Ranjan Verma, Juggan’s character by Joyantha Chakraborty, Kothwal role by Anand Sharma. It was tough to single out the best performer among all the artistes. “Though we had performed this play earlier in the academy, we were bit nervous performing in front of general public. But in the end, we all did well, given the hectic schedule and limited time for practice,” said Dev Ranjan Verma. The 2011 batch has created a history in SVPNPA by enacting a play and hope this continues for the years to come, he added.
It is for the first time that the SVPNPA has taken up an initiative to introduce the IPS trainee officers to serious theatre.
The objective was to make the officers experience and understand the human sentiments and emotions. It is now mandatory for all the trainee officers as part of their training to participate in cultural shows, dramas, music, literature and other art forms.
Rehearsing for their passing out parade on November 2, the trainee officers had very little time but they came up with a wonderful performance.
“Their performance will be assessed and included in their final assessment”, said Vikas Narayan Rai, Director of SVPNPA.
Governor E.S.L Narsimhan, who graced the occasion, complimented the trainee officers for their performance. “It is this sense of humour that will make things easy during tense situations. Try to maintain this good sense of humour all through your career,” said Mr. Narsimhan.
