Comedown.

Comedown.

Right. So now I'm still at Ninasam - attending a management workshop for the arts that Ninasam is hosting, They're looking at giving artists/arts organisations the concepts and vocabulary (all a bit vague to start out with, but i'm sure once its in thier subconciousness, helpful) to organize and manage themselves more effectively.

The night the play finished was great, I just went into relaxed jelly mode.

I attended day one of the workshop - switched gears, did it suprisingly seamlessly, and it helped me remember all the long term theatre to-do items I have on my list.Second day, I started feedback work with the students from 7am to 9am.

Then, went to attend the workshop. I just couldn't get into it. I found myself listless, un motivated. Went around the campus in the early afternoon and hunted down the students who i found out were doing nothing because of the workshop, and took a class with them. Still have to crack one or two more skulls before I leave here on Monday (Yes, monday people, I fly back to bombay).

But now, its midnight, and I have spent the whole evening absolutely exhausted. I can feel a comedown - like all the energy has been sapped from me.

I have some more feedback to give tomorrow. Have had many good discussions about the content of the play, and the way I've chosen to stage things, or the aspects of the story (and it turns out i've succeeded at planting the seed of an onion with many layers). But I have to now let it grow - so its going to gestate in my head for a while.

One of the things the play did, was to really prompt debate around the question of what would possess Gunadhaya to destroy his work. Many ideas have come up around that: the dichotomy of the court culture vs. the tribals in the forest, the culture of knowledge organisation and management that bhramins (I believe esp. bhramins from the south) practice, though in opposition to that, it has pointed out by the wonderful classical sanskrit and kannada trained Smartha (kota) Bhramin who gave the play its final dialogue - (remember I said it was being done fastidiously and with great deliberation?) that indeed, Vyasa, Kalidasa, Gunadhaya, none of these historical literary giants were bhramin. So for eg. if I were to use his Bhramin way of thinking, that the collecting of knowledge is the be all and end all, the very essence of his life, then it helps build a case for why he burns the stories at the end. But my version of the play also seeks to 'de-arayanize' (yes I know this term has inherent problems), the story as it is in the Katha Pitha, so having him be a bhramin goes against that. Since it is highly likely that he wasn't one.

Anyhow many thoughts, many exhaustions. So I sleep. Wake up at 7 on sunday morning to keep going with the students and their feedback.

Goodnight.