Waiting for Godot

I was in New York this past weekend. I have always wanted to see a Broadway show although most of the "big" shows make it to Toronto. This time I chose Waiting for Godot (Written by Samuel Beckett, Directed by Anthony Page). I had read the play before and seen its menial creation in Marathi. So, this time I was interested in watching a contemporary treatment to this classic play.

The Roundabout Theatre Company presented the tragicomedy with a focus on the comic aspect of it. Just as I believe that beauty is an essential part of art, I believe that entertainment is essential part of any type of creation especially performing arts.

I believe this version of the play achieved the most. The presentation seemed completely honest to the script without making it sound heavy and unnecessarily deep. I agree with the director that the script itself calls for humor. Humor in its most simple and factual form. To me the most profound and humorous line was in the end, "We'll hang ourselves tomorrow. Unless Godot comes". How many times have we felt like dying during a period of depression and never actually coming to doing it!

The play itself is of course genius because of the way it is written and like one of the actors said during the discussion that, it seems more and more true as you get older. It is not realistic, but it is true.

I loved the fact that it was treated exactly as the script demanded. If you have read the play, you will know that after a while you start thinking "What the... !" And you laugh at yourself and then you continue reading out of curiosity to find out who is Godot! That is the beauty of the creation.

Apparently when Samuel Beckett was asked who Godot was, he had answered, "If I knew it, I would have put it in the play", without hiding behind pretense or heaviosity! :) This was very clear in this creation because they have not tried to make anything more of it than already is. It was presented in a very factual, down-to-earth manner which I enjoyed.

Although the second act is the repetition of the first act it is the genius of the playwright that makes it not only bearable but also entertaining and in fact adds to the humor. The utter senselessness of our being that sometimes seems to be stuck in habitual and ritual chores, driven by hope, is what I saw in the play.

I would like to end this impression with the following lines, that I feel sum up the play well... "... you see the whole country of the system is juxtapositioned by the haemoglobin in the atmosphere because you are a sophisticated rhetorician intoxicated by the exuberance of your own verbosity.... " My Indian friends would remember this famous line in Amar, Akbar, Anthony. :)

Crossing the Fine Line

Reference: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090507/entertainment/entertainment_germany_ethics_exhibition_people

I feel, there exists a fine line between what can be called art and what not. To me, anything that makes you want to throw up, cannot be art.

Although I can understand that to a scientist or a biologist or a medical student, an opened up real human body might be beautiful. However, I feel that kind of appreciation of beauty by a scientist must be accompanied by respect and reverence towards the creator etc... Otherwise it borders on perversion.

It seems as though something in these brains that create such “art” must be a tad askew!

I have always heard about Body Works – the exhibition by Gunther von Hagens – and every time I tried to make up my mind to go see it, simply out of curiosity, my mind has discouraged me to do so.

I am simply not into dead bodies, I guess.

Metro and BRT in Pune

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Pune/Activists-question-4-FSI-for-metro/articleshow/4487521.cms

This news item irritates me because, I feel the activists are opposing simply for the sake of it, without reasoning. And then, the plan hasn't even been approved yet! Stop opposition so, things move forward. I have been hearing about monorails and metros and what not for Pune for 10 years now. Doesn't anybody get the urgency behind these projects?

I can think of different uses for the FSI.
1. Parking - the city can make some money from these parking spots.
2. Parking
3. Parking
4. Washrooms
5. Washrooms
6. Washrooms
7. Food courts
8. Some basic shopping

The Autorickshaw Strike and My Mom

I remember a time when the rides in auto rickshaws in Pune were a pleasure. It seemed very easy... you just waved your hand and he would take you wherever you wanted to go. I even remember the time when there were those noisy two-seaters and when the change to a three-seater quieter rickshaw seemed like a luxury.

My mother has always been highly dependent on the rickshaw-wallas. She even claims that sometimes she is not even sure whether or not she told him where to take her and he seemed to have known where to drop her... I am sure, it was just a matter of the unerring habit she has formed over the years.

The rickshaw strike has affected her the most, because she does not drive. She was complaining about it the other day, to me. She said, she has to walk everywhere in the scorching heat, since her banks are only open during the day time.

Although I totally understand the frustration of the people dependent on the rickshaws, I feel that the illusive auto has lost its charm. The drivers have become increasingly rude and obnoxious. I don't understand why they hang around the so called official rickshaw stands if they don't want to do business.

One driver once complained to me because I had my grandparents with me and I had asked him to around the traffic light. He was complaining because it was a one way street and he would have to come all the way around the block to stand in the line of other rickshaws. I fought back by refusing to get off the rickshaw untill he had dropped us off where I had wanted him to. I was mad, because he expected the 80 year olds to walk all the way to save him a minor inconvenience. What a pain!

Somehow I feel a devilish pleasure, when I hear about their hardships due to strike and that they have to resort to shenanigans like giving rides to people on their bikes.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/auto-drivers-ply-cycles-scooters-to-cut-loss/454431/