Namak Mirch Aur Lutf

February 15, 2008 | Filed Under Point of View, Theatre & Movies, life's answers 

I saw a play called Namak Mirch at Prithvi last night. It was delicious stuff. Light satire I would call it, something that makes you think about life and yet shows how it is really all funny.

Great performances  by the cast, I hope the troupe keeps performing. A few shows more and the crew will grow in chemistry thereby making it a totally outstanding play.

Post play, when I had a few minutes to myself, I began to think…

If I had the chance to live life again. Will I want to change anything about it?

My father studied Urdu as a child, something that I never did. But Urdu is very similar to Hindi and I realized that with a little bit of effort I could understand it. And so began my relationship with the language. I would read Urdu ghazals and short stories and would love how they would sound to the ears. The language has a rhytm of its own and it really is the language of love. If someone shouts or abuses in Urdu, it’s as sweet as an “How do you do?” (The way the English say it, without any real concern or expectation of an answer.)

I realize all that the English language has given me and understand how it has provided for my living and comfort. I do love it too and yet when I look at people who perform in Urdu, and how they make it seem so extraordinary, I can’t help but feel a little jealous. I could have been them, you know.

You would say, “it’s never too late to start.” But frankly I know I am someone else, a happy someone else maybe. But I think it would be interesting to go back in time, take to the language more keenly so today I wouldn’t be the person in the audience clapping in glee, but rather one on the stage performing. And may be I could write a few things of my own, fight for daily bread, wallow in penury… sigh!

I guess the circle of life has caught up with me, I have loans to pay.

Comments