To the Point

Nov. 12

The current ‘batch’ (as they are referred to) of National School of Drama students (20 people primarily in their early 20’s) are enrolled in a one year certificate program during which multiple instructors offer a multitude of classes (yoga, movement, voice, make-up, mask-making, costuming, acting, acting for children and on) that fill the students’ entire day, Mon-Sat, from 8 am to 8 pm. They are housed, by gender, in two different locations that are walking distance from the main facility. They eat all of their meals at the school. On their one day off a week (which isn’t always a day off), many of them hang out together because they are not from this town (Agartala), although a couple of them are from not too far away.

I watch in awe their camaraderie. To spend that much time so closely together with such a small group and remain such a tight-knit unit amazes me. Given that they are always at the school, and given that I see them currently for 5+ hours a day, I have yet to witness any issues between them. I say witness, which I haven’t, though I know they do face tensions, although how often I am unsure. But I am not interested in discovering what issues may arise between them, so much as intrigued (inspired?) by the kind of skill or set of behaviors that seem to avoid confrontation or interpersonal issues.

Please forgive me if I stumble into sounding like I am stereotyping or drawing too simple assumptions. It will happen only because of my naiveté and lack of experience with growing up in this place. But I am fascinated by human nature and by learning from these personal life experiences, so I find myself analyzing to best understand.

I am a blunt person. I find it hard not to express my frustration at situations. And that bluntness is often accompanied by strong emotion (both negative and positive). What fascinates me is the bluntness of many people here. If there is something that seems amiss, people don’t mind pointing it out. And I find that many people here relish that bluntness. Some people WANT to hear others respond honestly. And the bluntness isn’t softened with encouraging or kind words. It’s just straightforward. It isn’t insulting or sarcastic, mostly. Just straight talk, TRUE straight talk (since the term ‘straight-talk’ in the US often seems like an excuse to attack others).

The collaborative nature of this group I now work with inspires me. I pause every so often to wonder at those relationships and to watch how what seem to me as potential encounters appear simply to be taken in stride. I don’t believe that group members are deliberately ‘being nice’ in order to preserve their working relationships; ‘for the good of the group,’ so to speak. It strikes me as something that most of them have grown up with, a sense of how to exist within a group dynamic that kind of naturally defaults to the good of the many over the ego of the individual.

I am not sure I am expressing myself well about this subject. I am sure some of you family people recognize this need. But I feel as though in a more Western setting the preservation of group sanity sometimes necessitates that people actually DO express their frustrations and emotional reactions, as opposed to not letting the emotional part take over.

And then, during the pause in finishing this blog, I encountered a crack in the veneer. A difficulty between a couple of the students I am working with. But it simply reaffirmed my supposition; it was a challenge for me to recognize the issue was there. The collaborative spirit overcomes the issue, but the issue continues to lurk below the surface. Now I wonder if I should step in to address the ‘lurk,’ or allow the collaborative to work it through on its own.

I will learn.