Deepak Morris??™s Weekly Column

? East Meets West

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Sept 29, 2005

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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.? 

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

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Love from the Gulf

By Deepak Morris

Copyright ?© Deepak Morris 2003-2005

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(NILOUFER, young, well dressed, is in her flat in Pune. Sound of a doorbell. She Goes to the door and opens it)

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NILOUFER

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Oh, hello Sheetal. What can I do for you?

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(SHEETAL enters. She is dressed in an ordinary salwar kameez)

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  SHEETAL

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Please??¦ brother letter??¦ you read? (Shyly) In English

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NILOUFER

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Yes, of course, I??™ll read the letter for you??¦ Let??™s go into the light so I can see better, okay?

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(She moves closer to a lamp and SHEETAL follows. NILOUFER motions her to a seat and sits down herself)

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  SHEETAL

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Sorry to trouble

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  NILOUFER

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Oh, it??™s no problem at all??¦ Sorry about your mother??™s death??¦ please accept my condolences. She was with your brother in Dubai, right?

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  SHEETAL

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No, with father

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  NILOUFER

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Oh, with your father? (pause) And your brother stays separately?

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  SHEETAL

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Mummy Daddy sharing flat with other married. Brother staying bachelors

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  NILOUFER

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(Puzzled, then fitting the pieces together)

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Oh, I see??¦ your parents were sharing the flat with another couple and bachelors stay separately??¦ Has mummy??™s body arrived?

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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  SHEETAL

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Yes??¦ letter come in coffin also

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NILOUFER

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(pause) The letter was with the body in the coffin? (uncertainly) Er??¦ I see??¦ (then, resolutely) Okay, I??™ll read it out to you. You really should learn to read English, you know, now that your brother is doing so well in Dubai??¦ There are good private institutions that teach English nowadays??¦anyway, this is what the letter says:

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am sending our mother's body to you, since it was her wish that she should be cremated in the compound of our ancestral home. Sorry, I could not come along as all of my paid leaves are consumed. My boss is a bas ??“ (stops reading suddenly) er??¦ a Bahraini, so he is not allowing me to come even on humanitarian grounds. Otherwise my job is going well. There is lots of stationery in the office, so my nephews and nieces will soon be getting all the pencils they need. Also I will be sending writing pads, erasers, sharpeners, etc. for them. So please tell them not to buy anything.

My room-mates Ashok, Raju, Arjan, David, Sammy, Joseph, Mohan, Mathew, Dilip, Deepak, Vikas, Rajan and Raghu helped me pack the coffin. We did it on the weekly holiday, since that is when everyone is home. Otherwise, as you are aware, we hardly get to talk to each other because of our shifts. We only have time to wake up the people from the other shift so we can get the beds when we come back from our shift. Mohan has got his family visa, so he will soon be leaving us to share a flat with another two couples. We already have someone who is waiting for his place in our room.

Dad is feeling a bit lonely now that mummy??™s not there, but he does not want to leave his government job. Now that he is alone he will be able to move into the free staff dormitory, so he will save money on the rent as well. We can re-paint our ancestral home next year.

But I have not forgotten you, my brothers and sisters. You will find inside the coffin, under Mom's body, 12 cans of cheese, 10 packets of chocolates and 18 packets of Badaam. The cheese is Kraft cheese, best in the world, they say. Chocolates are assorted kind and Badaams are from Gulf. Please divide these among all of you. I know I can trust you to divide them fairly, as Mummy always taught us to do.

On mom's feet you will find a new pair of Reebok shoes (size 10) for Mohan. Also, there are 2 pairs of shoes for Radha's and Lakshmi's sons. Hope the sizes are correct. If not, you can sell them through Rashidbhai. He will help you to get a good price for them and you can divide the money. You can do pooja for mummy from part of the money also. Her soul will be happy if you do so.

Mom is wearing 6 American T-Shirts. The large size is for Mohan and the others are for my nephews. I hope they are studying well. Just distribute the T-shirts correctly please. Last time there was an argument about which shirt was for whom. This time I have written the names on the labels. The 2 new Jeans that Mom is wearing are for the boys. The Swiss watch that Rema wanted is on Mom's left wrist. The gold bangles on her right wrist are for when Rema gets married. Please keep them in the safe.

Shanta Aunty, Mom' s wearing the necklace, earrings and ring that you asked for. Please take them. The 6 white cotton socks that Mom is wearing must be divided among my teenager nephews. Mom is also holding two cassettes. They are both of devotional songs. You may give them to our older aunties if they would like them. Please tell Arjun that I did not find the Michael Jackson cassette he wanted. I will try again and send it later if I find it.

I wanted to send a small computer for Sanji also, but there was no more space left in the coffin. Please distribute all these uniformly and if anything more required let me know.

Our Dad is also not keeping well nowadays, I can send all required things when
our Dad also .... Since Dad is larger built than Mom, I would probably be able to send the laptop computer and a CD player.

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Love from me and Ashok, Raju, Arjan, David, Sammy, Joseph, Mohan, Mathew, Dilip, Deepak, Vikas, Rajan and Raghu.

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Love from the Gulf,

Anand

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Deepak Morris

rhapword@yahoo.com

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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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