STORYTIME TAPESTRY

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Deepak Morris??™s Weekly Column

? East Meets West

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Oct 27, 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

Congratulations Deepak, you have now made senior writer for Storytime Tapestry.? 

Deepak joined Storytime Tapestry as a column writer on December 29, 2004.?  His work is very much appreciated by the membership and of course we encourage him to continue on.?  Deepak will be publishing his book of short plays in the near future.?  Stay tuned for more info to follow.

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When will you let go?

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I was called to help an old, old man, a neighbour, who suffered a bout of weakness on the commode and couldn??™t stand up. He lives alone, just an unqualified daytime nurse and a similarly unqualified night time nurse to help him. His children are abroad, married, busy with children of their own and their life tensions. He refuses to stay in an Old Folks??™ Home and I can somewhat see his point of view. Homes are still seen as undignified stashing places for people one doesn??™t want.

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Another neighbour, in better health than I, had already tried and fainted from the exertion. I fared no better and narrowly escaped fainting myself. The old, old man had been a strapping Construction Foreman in his younger days and he still retained his impressive height and concomitant weight.

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One would think that the old, old man would jump at the chance to have qualified people help him, but no. He refused to let me call an ambulance. An odd-job man we called came, took one look at the pathetic sight and disappeared, announcing on the way out that he was going to fetch his father, who was fitter than he.

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I called my friend. He arrived in half-an-hour. All this while the old, old man sat on his throne, announcing that he was going to stand up all by himself. My friend and I tried ??“ and failed ??“ to lift the old, old man onto a chair, so we could drag the chair to his bed. All we succeeded in doing was deposit him on the cold, cold floor of the bathroom. Then the ???nurse??™ had a brainwave. She disappeared, thankfully to return with two ???auto-rickshaw??? drivers, men who plied the motorised three wheeled public transport vehicles peculiar to this subcontinent.

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The four of us carried the old, old man, who was naked from the waist down, to his bed.

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As I descended the steps to my own flat, a question lodged itself in my mind and refused to let go: Will I let go, when the time comes, so I can be spared the indignity of being carried, naked from the waist down, by neighbours and strangers?

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And a corollary: When the time comes to let go, will I have the courage to do so?

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I??™m not talking of letting go as in the sense of taking something or doing something to speed me on my way. I do believe that we can, at some point, decide that we are ready for the next adventure. And I think we can calmly and rationally let go. When my time comes, I don't want to dither. I want to go and see what's on the other side.

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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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