STORYTIME TAPESTRY

Deepak Morris??™s Weekly Column

 East Meets West

June 30, 2005

To continue with my vision of a world tapestry of love and understanding of cultural values throughout the world, every Thursday we will be graced by the artistic vision of Mr. Deepak Morris, a wonderful playwright and friend from Prune, India. 

His plays have been preformed in front of audiences in Toronto, Canada

Everything Same Same

By Deepak Morris

Copyright ?© Deepak Morris 2005

(Sunday morning at the PRADHAN household in Pune. PRADHAN is seated at the dining table, reading the newspaper and sipping from a cup of coffee. His wife, SHEILA, can be heard in the kitchen, off, rattling pots and pans. PRADHAN reads for a while, then rustles the paper and harrumphs)

PRADHAN    Huh! Satan worship, no less! What is the world coming to?

SHEILA          (As she enters, wiping a dish. She always speaks calmly, as if she is used to PRADHAN??™s outbursts) No doubt it is coming to something bad, going by your reaction. And what is Satan worship?

PRADHAN    (Lowers the newspaper and glares at SHEILA) Satan, woman, Satan! The devil!

SHEILA          Ah, Shaitan??¦ why didn??™t you say so in the first place?

PRADHAN    Satan is not Shaitan. He is a foreign devil. (Reads the paper again, then, still looking at the paper) Hmm... He lives in Mendocino, CA.

SHEILA          Wow! I never heard of a devil who lived in a medicinal chartered accountant. Last year Sita Kaku was telling me of a devil who was living in her daughter-in-law, but they got it exorcised (She starts wiping the table, chairs, etc.)

PRADHAN    (Almost roaring) Not the devil! The doctor! The Satan worshipper??™s father

SHEILA          Oh they give doctorates to chartered accountants now?

PRADHAN    Where the devil did you get chartered accountants from?

SHEILA          You said he was a CA

PRADHAN    (Roars again) I did not! (As he continues, RAHUL, their teenaged son, walks out sleepily to see what the noise is about. He looks at both of them sleepily, then collapses on a chair at the table) I said they??™re from Mendocino, CA. That??™s California!

SHEILA          Okay, okay, no need to shout. What is this medical CA??™s name?

PRADHAN    He??™s not a CA, I tell you, he??™s a dentist. And his name is Raoul

SHEILA          Look at that! Is he an Indian doctor? I heard there are lots of Indians who??™ve become doctors in the USA

PRADHAN    How on earth did you get Indian from that? I said his name is Raoul

SHEILA          Yes, Rahul. Just like our Rahu Baba

(RAHUL rouses himself at this and glares at his mother)

RAHUL          Don??™t call me Rahu Baba. I??™m 16 years old

PRADHAN    Will you let me tell the full story? This doctor Raoul is worried because his son is a Satan worshipper. It says here that he and his wife Chloe are considering sending the boy for psychiatric treatment

(RAHUL puts his had on his folded hands and goes to sleep)

SHEILA          (Sits on one of the chairs) First of all, what kind of woman would agree to have a name like Klo-wee? Didn??™t her father object when her husband wanted to call her Klo-wee?

PRADHAN    Arrrgghhh, woman! in the West the husband doesn??™t change the wife??™s name. That??™s the name her parents gave her

SHEILA          You mean her father wanted to call her Klo-wee? Maybe he was angry that his wife didn??™t deliver a son. Look at Rahu Baba. if he was a girl would you have called him Klo-wee?

PRADHAN    Once again, woman, in the name of all that??™s holy, LET ME FINISH

SHEILA          Okay Baba, finish your story about Rahul the medical CA and his wife Klo-wee

PRADHAN    (Glares, then reads aloud from the newspaper) ???The parents expressed worry that young Chip would sacrifice Thor, their dog, in his Satanic rites???

(SHEILA stands up)

SHEILA          All this is beyond me. And I still can??™t see why they should be so worried. They should take their son to Kalyan Baba. He??™ll get rid of the Shaitan

(PRADHAN throws the newspaper down and stomps off in disgust. SHEILA rouses RAHUL and pushes him back toward his bedroom. Then she begins folding the newspaper neatly and wiping the table. SITA KAKU??™s voice is heard off. She is an old woman)

SITA KAKU   Sheila! Oh, Sheila. Kai ga? What news?

SHEILA          (Still wiping the table, calls back in answer) Oh, nothing much, Sita Kaku. My Mister is all upset about some Indian Medical CA in the West whose son is making chips out of a sore dog

BLACKOUT

Deepak Morris

rhapword@yahoo.com

* * *

Founder of Rhapsody Theatre, author, playwright,
actor and director Deepak Morris has been
associated with Theatre and Communication all
his life. A Master of Commerce from Pune
University, Master's Diploma holder in
Management from The Institute of Management
Development and Research (IMDR), Pune, and
Diploma holder in Computer Studies from the
National Computing Centre, UK, Deepak
combines a passion for theatre with professional management techniques
to deliver consistently well staged theatrical
performances. An accomplished actor himself,
Deepak has won numerous awards for acting and
debating, including the "Best Actor" award at
the International Year of the Youth Drama
Festival in Pune and the "Best Male Newcomer
Award" in 1997 in Dubai, U.A.E. Having acted
in numerous productions in India and Dubai,
Deepak began writing and directing his own
plays on a regular basis in March 2001. To
date, he has written several one-act plays
and skits and his group, Rhapsody Theatre,
has staged no less than 13 plays in three
years, a record of sorts.

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