The other day, I made an effort to break the monotonous cycle of visiting the same theatre, meeting the same crowd, by booking myself for an adult play (or at least by the title) – 'The Vagina Monologues', a play by Eve Ensler.
A busiest week at work followed by the weekend where I told myself, "I deserve a treat!"
Leaving home at the peak of my usual nap time, I had lunch and then headed to board a crowded metro, changing the track mid-way to reach somewhere closer to the venue at 4 PM.
I felt good about the pain I took and the awareness that I was slightly opening up to new places, people, or even making choices or decisions that could be exploratory. And the same thoughts sometimes make me feel depressed: "What if I missed the train?" Well, my sweet ex-manager used to tell me that "no one is going anywhere, we are all just moving in circles :D," and that is what I would love to stick to!
Okay! Let's get back to the topic. Yes, if given a choice, I would have never signed up for this particular play! Reason being: sheer sensitivity towards the topic, its wild name, and something I won't be able to or comfortable discussing with my family or neighbors, possibly because I might be judged. Or even with friends, but those are limited and away, who would even not be interested to know which play I attended.
In addition, I noticed how one starts to observe the difference of being a tenant in a city versus being a native of that land. And it brings some sort of panic if one has lived a decade plus in that city or also creates this urge to live like a tourist. After all, we are all tourists of our individual journeys of life.
Finally! What made me purchase those tickets for the play – 'The Vagina Monologues'? The detail about the play on the booking platform and it being categorized under the genre of 'comedy'. But more so because it had conversations between women of varied age, and I, being an independent one living in her midlife, would want to understand and approach that topic with ease and grace. Until very recently, it never occurred to me that for women the only constant is change: that of shape, size, being, roles, everything... and I am one who resisted all those! At least what all was in my control. And all of a sudden, there is a life that took a whole upside-down turn, and I find myself questioning, "Who am I now?" But I can say, I am comfortable in the space I am at.
The play had four ladies performing on the stage, each one from a different age, caste, religion – both as the characters of the play and in their real lives. And each segment of the play captured one common theme, but the core lay in all those two hundred interviews the team/director had done with women from various eras: one who survived wars, family abuse; one who found love and felt loved; one who stayed with her stigma until the age of 72 years; one who found love, expression of self in similar gender; one where they were treated as an object of physical pleasure, etc. What surprised me the most was that this has been running in theatre for the last 23 years, and one of the artists was 80 years young! I loved that lady, and she has my deepest respect for this bold and beautiful part she played.
The whole play was deeply engaging and a rollercoaster of emotions, especially for women in the hall, including me! But I had a hearty laugh!
In the beginning, the cast shared a few insights about the challenges they had to face: how, at times, they were let down at the last minute of performing shows; the difference of opinions across different parts of the country; and being tagged as a "disruption to the law and order situation of the place," etc. But the intent they had saw the light of the day. They believed such acts enable lightness around the topic, address issues like rape, abuse, etc., and help with spreading awareness about one of the simple parts of the female body, which is definitely not a pleasure-giving sex object, but something more phenomenal, as capable as a heart – ready to sacrifice, birth a new life, sensitive, and the most ignored by women themselves. The play supports a massive bunch of abandoned women and those who are sexually abused by funding and building safe accommodations, education, and a respectful life for them.
I salute those men and women who took this on themselves, came up with creative solutions, and are investing a great part of their own lives and skills into such a noble cause, in spite of the restrictive and masked society we live in, the duality where people shy away from owning their own true selves!
Wishing them success!!
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