Monika’s Musings: Concert time & Peter Brook’s Mahabharata revisited in NYC

September 30, 2016

30sep_mm_battlefield — Photograph of a scene from Battlefield courtesy www.bam.org

When I decided to move to New York and abandon the many charms of Pune, I knew I would miss my family, my friends, my favourite Pune haunts, my jam-packed schedule, my many causes, my scintillating social life and listening to Radio One. But I made a conscious decision to explore another side. A less known side. A side thirsting for what Pune could not give me: the independent life of a single woman far away from prying eyes. And New York city delivers this with abandon, with élan and with enthusiasm.

In a relatively short period, my palette of activities has encompassed more variety than my twenty-eight years in Pune. This past week alone is a point in case. I started out with a comedy show where two of the six people in the line-up happened to be Indian Americans. On an aside, Vijai Nathan and Aparna Nancherla were the funniest in the night’s line-up of six women and they did not need to rely solely on desi jokes to deliver their brand of humour. My non-Indian friend adhered to my opinion so it was not just a case of me trying to identify with a fellow brown-skinned compatriot.

Central Park hosted the Global Citizen Festival for the fifth year with its incredible line-up of performers. Global Citizen has a membership of millions of people attempting to bring about social change by solving some of the world’s biggest problems. This free festival is now part of a must-do in New York calendar. Helmed by Hugh Jackman and Chelsea Handler, some of the performers at the 2016 concert included Usher, Rihanna and Chris Martin. Priyanka Chopra came on and announced the festival is headed to India on November 19 that the MMRDA Grounds in Mumbai and will include performers such as Coldplay, Jay Z, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif and many more.

One of the biggest thrills of living in the Big Apple is the opportunity to see some amazing concerts. While I thoroughly enjoyed attending concerts by Billy Joel and Coldplay nothing compares to the thrill of watching Adele live at Madison Square Garden. Her haunting voice gives you goosebumps but even better is her self-deprecating Brit sense of humour. She could have given all the women at the comedy club a run for their money. I am hard-pressed to say what I enjoyed more: her commentary or her singing. The irony is I spent all my time laughing at issues ranging from heart-break, heart-ache, chubbiness and despair. So while I did not spend my time jumping up and down like an over grown teenager, as I do at other concerts, I actually gave my back a rest and allowed her voice to wash all over my sensory tract.

Working in the heart of Times Square means I have access to innumerable shows and events. One such show this past week was a free concert at Bryant Park by the New York Opera. Giacomo Puccini is well known for his mastery over romance, having written some amazing love duets. Pieces from three of his popular operas, La Boheme, Madame Butterfly and Tosca, were performed. The ability to be sitting in the middle of the city, under the open sky, listening to the high notes being struck by the singers actually made me pinch myself in disbelief. The cool September breeze heralding the imminent arrival of winter indicated why this was the last of the Bryant Park summer concerts.

Living in Brooklyn is like having entertainment in my backyard. I am surrounded by book readings, concerts, art shows, restaurants and music performances. The Brooklyn Academy of Music or BAM brought back the duo of Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne, with Battlefield. Peter Brook’s iconic production of Mahabharata was premiered thirty years ago at BAM and ran for nine hours. Battlefield is much shorter in comparison with a run time of slightly over an hour. But it is the Mahabharata once again, slightly distilled with a post-war version. Just four actors highlighted the dilemma faced by Yudhisthira after the war and enacted what happened to the protagonists of one of the most epic battles in Indian epics. We met Yudhisthira, Dhritarashtra, Kunti, Vidur, Krishna, Bheeshma and Markandaya. With barely any props and a relatively empty stage, Peter Brooks used the drum beats of the Toshi Tsuchitori, who was involved with the original production, to bring forth his interpretation of the epic. As an Indian sitting in the audience, I resonated with the story. The stories from the Mahabharata are a part of every Indians growing up years. I was filled with pride that someone who is not Indian was compelled by its intensity to revisit the story twice and put it on the world stage. What I found interesting was how much the storyline resonated with the predominantly non-Indian audience: the question of dharma, doing your duty, destiny being inevitable, truth being immutable and the also only form of penance.

And all through the performance, I kept relating incidents back to modern life and how this itihaas holds even in today’s world of violence, destruction, power hungry world leaders and blinded followers. With the eristic game played by Donald Trump and the scepticism faced by Hillary Clinton, will the lessons of the Mahabharata prepare us to face this onslaught. As I walked out, I shudder to think about what destiny has in store for this country.