YPS students pay tribute to Tagore

With as many as 45 children from classes VI to XII on stage,the show had a huge participation,one that the students thoroughly enjoyed. “W look forward to our annual play the entire year and this year was special,as we had a different experience staging stories,’’ smiled the young actors.

Mehta is happy at how Two Strings has shaped up and agrees it was a lot of hard work,for the stories are very different in theme and had to be treated accordingly. Kabuliwala is the story of a middle-aged fruit seller from Afghanistan who comes to Kolkata (then Calcutta) to hawk his merchandise and befriends a small Bengali girl called Mini,who reminds him of his own daughter back in Afghanistan. A series of events lead to events that are heart-wrenching and the story stays with you long after it’s over.

Living or Dead is Tagore’s portrayal on the mental agony of widows in those times. It’s the story of a childless widow who is believed to be dead but is not and walks away from her funeral pyre but doesn’t know whether she is living or dead.

The identity crisis of widows is sensitively and subtly handled in the play. Techniques of narration and story-telling,with enactment of several scenes make the play completely absorbing.

“The students chose the stories they wanted to stage and have put up a great show,with sincere effort,’’ beams Mehta. We agree. Take a bow!