A Remembering to be Remembered

July 12, 2014

The artistic director of the Aazhi Children’s Theatre Group conducted a week long residency at the ISHA Home School in the South Indian city of Coimbatore. At the residency’s culmination, the children he worked with performed and so did he.  And he brought me along for that week in order to perform with him.  I think that Velu, the aforementioned director, enjoyed the novelty of an American performing with his small company.  The event occurred within just a few hours of our leaving.  Everything was a little slapdash and rapid fire.  During the week I had been a bit of a curiosity as I did very little but walk about the area and enjoy the atmosphere of this woods-surrounded campus.  The performance changed all of that.  The entire school gathered for the event, stuffed into a covered outdoor hall.  We all had a great time together; Velu and I performing a multi-lingual version of an Indian folktale and the audience celebrating the work of the children and have a raucous as Velu and I performed, both on stage and in the audience area.  The congratulations that followed made us late for our trip out.

Four Years Later.  I am once again visiting that same school.  During my first couple of days I am introduced around, remembering some of the people I met the first time and meeting new staff and teachers.  The great joy, however, has occurred in two ways.  First, for a handful of staff and adults, as I was introduced, they apologetically shook their heads saying they did not remember me from my previous visit.  However, when my host said, ‘Do you remember that Sea Monster play?’, their eyes lit up, mouths broke open to a smile and they looked me in the eye with an appreciative nod.  Second, for a few of the children, as I walked by their dorms or saw them in class, their eyes squinted, their heads cocked to the side and them slowly they giggled or laughed as they noted that they remembered the performance.

Finally, although I have yet to experience this first hand, a young girl apparently saw that I was here again. She told my host, Swami, that she still carried around words that I said that have inspired her work in her drama classes.

So, lovely to be remembered.  I will truly remember this remembering.