of Dreams and Laughter

I just finished a production with the Madras Players and Just us Repertory called Rural Phantasy. I can't begin to describe the incredible joy that this production engendered for me. The initial reservations looked to be quite insurmountable and I wondered what in the world was i doing? It took a lot of convincing and a lot of midnight rambles on the parapets of my terrace to finally figure out that i wanted to do this play. Initially there werejust two factors that absolutely impelled me to take part in this:
a) T.M.Krishna-whom I revere, adore and place second only to my guru. The man can sing and boy does he know it.
b) Gowri akka...that is what she is to me now but before i met her I adored The way she wrote and had heard enough and more about her talents and her genius. Add to that the fact that she is steeped in music was enough to pull me in.
Looking back on those early days, I can see how reserved and cautious I was. There...I can almost hear the rest of the gang saying,"Namboodri, you! cautious! hah!"Their voices echo in the inmost recesses of my mind, I do not think they will ever go away. I don't think I want them too.
So i gave it a shot and fell in love...with the most amazing bunch of people i have ever met.Eclectic would describe them to the T...different walks of life,different age groups and none of it made the slightest difference at all.I, the eternally hungry one, just sat on the sidelines, munching away on channa bun and puff, and watched them enjoy themselves. That, to me, was the most astounding phenomenon i had ever seen...a whole bunch of people just enjoying themselves.It didn't matter if you had a rough day or had fought with your better half, everyone seemed hellbent on making you smile.
There was Andrea wafting all over the place as if a puff of air would blow her down and then you saw her wolf down those deliciously sinful, ghee laden sweets Ramnarayan uncle got us from Grand Sweets. Sundar usually waltzed in on her arm doing his own version of the St.Vitus hop. I heard thunder one day wondered how it was going to rain on a fine, humid Chennai day when Mathi comes thumping in on his brute of a bike. I have a serious crush on the bike.
Karthik would walk in, moving to his own version of 'Zombie'...he added depth to the term Dead Man Walking or should I say Stoned Man Walking?
The women were the highlight of the day. All of them were equally gorgeous and equally bright. They were graceful,delicate and... oh boy!I can hear the howls of denial flying in from the ether and crashing into my head here...as i was about to add, the craziest bunch of women i have ever met.We have had some downright crazy times together...Manasi, remember our inside joke on vaadyar saar and the unmentionable part of his life? That , I must add, was all thanks to yours trulyi.e.moi
For me , the most unforgettable experience was watching vaadyar saar bob up and down, and up and down and back again while he walked around in the dances. Whatever he might say, he is not an execrable dancer, he is merely deplorable. He should have been a vaudeville performer...he is that good.
The people-they are the ones who made this come alive for me. Without them, i don't think this play would have worked. But then, I am just a wriggly,sqiggly infinitesimal part of the entire 'ensemble' and what i know about theatre would fit into the smallest stitch, at the end of the little toe of a baby's sock(just so that you all know too).
I miss them and miss them terribly. Now i know why they call it withdrawal symptoms. We all wander down our chosen paths, now to meet and now to part. One of those turns was this play and now i wish it were the road instead of just part of the way.