Reading Satish Alekars 'The Dread Departure'
Satish Alekar’s ‘The Dread Departure’ (1974), talks about a lot of things, subtle yet poignant. If the stage is to be imagined, it looks like a cluttering of characters - Bhaurao, Nana, Rama, the neighbours, the neighbours acting as a chorus, the body, the soul, the invisible yet present man in ‘suit and sunglasses’; Alekar’s message and storyline, however, is lucid and the boundaries clear. Death is the ‘Mahanirvan’, the original title of the play, the ultimate salvation. Every religion of the world has its own rituals connected with death. The entry and exit of human beings is ritualistically observed. Things that one should follow, observe so that a child’s stay in this world is fruitful or an exit in the form of death does not mar the peacefulness of those who continue to live even after. The text begins and continuously reiterates the Hindu concept of the atman, the soul being distinct, and different from the body and that the body has to be cremated religiously for a di...