Parthi Update - January 13, 2008

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Sunday, January 13, 2008 VEERYAANJANEYA - fitting finale It’s 3 pm in the afternoon and all actors have assembled in the hostel dining hall for their make up. I could see that it was a marathon of sorts for the costume and make up boys who were busy shuttling between different actors as the number was pretty huge. Since it was also a mythological drama, it was all the more difficult to cover 48 characters in a span of 2 hours. At 5 pm, the drama was scheduled to begin but many of us were still caught up in hostel. Swami promptly arrived at 5 pm and was greeting by an empty stage with 2 trees as sets for the first scene. He asked where the boys are. Someone told Him that the boys are coming and requested Him to begin the drama at 5.30 pm. Swami was upset. Meanwhile, an elder person requested Swami to bless and inaugurate the tennis court where an official match was to be

held between India and Phillipines. This upset Him even more, as He was eagerly waiting for the drama. Some unfortunately fortunate teachers had the chance to listen to Swami’s music for 10-15 minutes. Finally, at 5.15 pm, the drama began. I was among the last batch of boys to arrive in mandir. As our car, entered the gate, we could hear the introduction of drama. One senior brother remarked, “Hey, that’s your drama.” We rushed inside the bhajan mandir where all characters and make up boys were waiting. We sat there calmly rehearsing the dialogues and getting final make up touches. They were probably the most nervous, funny and stupid emotions I’ve felt in my life. As I sat in inside the bhajan mandir, I could hear loud applause on many occasions. It gave us confidence that the drama was progressing well. I was in the final scene and when I entered the stage, I was marvelled by the sets, having seen them for the first time. As I mentioned

before, the sets were ready only in the last minute. Everything went on well with Swami’s grace. After the finale song, Swami was in tears. He called for the scriptwriter of drama and materialized a chain for Him. Obviously, it was the script and dialogues that won His heart. Later, He got up and called Rama, Lakshmana, Sita and Hanuman. He asked each one of them, “What is your name? Where did you come from?” He materialized a ring for Lakshmana. Later, He sat down and called each group belonging to their particular scenes and sat for photographs. Everyone, right from the lead roles to the costumes and sets boys, got the opportunity to feel the divine touch and get nice photographs. Each group would go and speak with Him a few words. One boy asked, “Swami, how is Your health?” Swami replied, “My health is very good. Your drama is extremely good!”Some asked as to how was their scene, the sets, etc. He said He was very happy with

everything. “I am very very happy” was the common reply to everybody. The lights were bright, our smiles even brighter. Swami returned back to Yajur mandir after aarati at around 7 pm. It was a night filled with pleasant memories that many would cherish and hold in their hearts for decades to come. Labels: drama, sports meet VEERYAANJANEYA - Behind the scenes The biggest smiles can be found in Kulwant Hall these days. And they are contagious too. So I suggest please do visit here as early as possible for, such blessed moments are rare to find. Ratnahara Veeryaanjaneya (Brave Hanuman) was an event where the excitement, joy, and hard work of hundreds of students reached a pinnacle. It was the title of our drama given by Swami Himself when He asked Prof. Anil Kumar to announce in Hill View stadium on January 11

evening after the sports meet presentation. He called Mr Anil Kumar and told Him, “Announce that the boys are putting up a drama tomorrow evening. It has script, dialogues, acting, costumes and sets that has never been seen before.” That was indeed an apparent exaggeration, we felt, since we had a long way to go in preparing sets and fine tuning dialogues. Many mouths were gaping wide open in shock when the announcement was made. After the sports meet, we assembled back in the college auditorium by 8 pm. Our teacher in charge briefed us of what exactly happened on the stage, which made Swami to prepone the drama from 15th to 12th. It seems He had mentioned about the drama to a few VIPs and told them to watch it on 15th. But many of them had planned to return back by 13th Jan. Realising this, Swami had decided on this step. But our Sir told us that, if Swami can choose to put us into soup, He will also make sure that we somehow come out of

difficulties and succeed in our efforts. Besides, it was not the first time He was doing this. By 8pm, our readiness was something like this: sets were 50 % complete, dialogues and acting needed to be refined by 20-30%. Besides, a new Rama and Lakshmana had to be found for the last scene since the original actors would not be able to change into new costumes for the scene on time. So we had 2 pairs of Rama-Lakshmana. We bravely went ahead with the preparations, knowing that our eyes would be rarely rest for the next 24 hours. You could find people practicing on all corners of the college. The drama troupe had 48 members. Back in the hostel, the number of people working on sets had more than doubled. Other boys in our hostel had realized our predicament and everybody came forward to help in any manner possible. All said, “This evening’s presentation by our campus was a big hit. Now, we’ll make sure no efforts are spared to make tommorow’s

drama a superhit.” That was great bonding. Between scenes we could catch forty winks; the boys slept on the steps, some in the foyer, some beside the stage itself. We returned back to the hostel at 3 am. The next day began pretty soon and we were back in auditorium by 8.30am. After a full rehearsal with the final drama CD (with dialogues and songs) that was made ready only last night, we proceeded to the Kulwant Hall for getting a feel of the stage. This time, the stage was facing Gopuram Gate (as opposite to the usual Portico), since Swami had insisted on this setting in the previous drama. Even in Kulwant Hall, the boys didn’t waste time to nap in between scenes. Some leaned against the walls in upper portico whereas some were resting right inside the verandah. I really got as nice nap here before I was woken up to vacate and allow the sevadal people to clean the place. We had neither seen the sets nor our

costumes, hence we were getting ready for a very suspense filled evening, both for the devotees and ourselves. Courtesy: http://parthiupdate.blogspot.com/