Gama Junior scouting for spices in Indian coast

Bright red and pure white garments. There were caps and head gears and even a sword and a gun. One of them was an apt costume for a Portuguese man, the other a farmer, next a trader and finally the costume for a King and his attendant. Even the make up man with a Marathi moustache was ready on his chair to get his prey metamorphosed. But we were yet to decide who the characters were! The time left for the show was just an hour.

 

On Feb 10, 2012, the Revel Room of Hotel Westin Koregaon Park in Pune, India had strikingly contrasting elements in it – computers, pamphlets, documents and costumes for a drama. The age old proverb says, Actions speak louder than words. No wonder there is so much fascination for movies and theatre even in today’s busy life. Here, a serious conference is going on – the World Spice Congress 2012 and the venue is Hotel Westin, Pune. There is not even a single person among the officials who is not busy. But they decided to choose the genre drama to pass on a message related to the theme of the Congress “Sustainability and Food Safety”.

 

Finally the actors were pinpointed. Mr Palanichami ( Editor )– who brought up the idea of doing a skit, Dr P.S.S. Thampi ( Deputy Director, Publicity),  Mt Devananda Shenoy (Assistant Director), Mr VS Naresh [ Assistant Director) and Mr Ranganathan. Now that the actors to play the roles were decided they needed to know what they had to do on stage. But none of them could assemble together as all of them were busy with the various assignments of the Congress.

 

The outline of the skit was anyhow planned and discussed earlier but the script was not yet ready. There were three girls who were part of the department of Publicity as PR trainees. They constantly got stuffs to write including press releases. This time it is the script for a play. The young minds were thrilled to do the task at hand especially when they heard that the officials from Spices Board were to be seen on stage role-playing characters who were on their mission to spread the theme of the Congress.

 

They sat together and began, “ Darbar of the King His Highness Veerendra Varma. The attendant came running announcing the arrival of a Portuguese visitor to the Palace..” The event manager, Mohan was watching this and he, a veteran in theatre joined them. Powerful dialogues found expression in the paper. Yes, now the script was ready. But a glance at the clock made them panic. It was already 6.30. This has to be staged at 7.00 pm. The main character, Dr. Thampi was nowhere to be seen. The others started changing themselves to the character.

 

Three of the trainees started explaining the context and the read out the dialogues while the make up man was at work. With cornered eyes and stiff countenance facing the groomer the ‘actors’ obediently listened to the script like children shaping ears to a story. Fifteen minutes left for the performance. Making his presence known Dr. Thampi finally in the Revel Room keeping aside all other matters for the time being. One of the trainees explained the whole story to him. He had the naughty expression as if wild thoughts were roaming around his head which were to be spurted out soon.

 

It was done. All the five characters were now in their costumes and they knew the story and the contexts. Whether the performance would be a success was still a question among the spectators who witnessed the 11^th hour preparation. But the team was quite confident except an unavoidable anxiety as to how it would be like. 

 

We were waiting behind the stage, as a beautiful dance form of Punjab was being performed. We arranged the chairs for the King and the visitor to sit. The funniest part is that we had to borrow the dancers’ costumes to decorate the King’s Chair. Finally, impromptu, it was time to stage the play. 

Vasco da Gama's grandson visits India to attend the World Spice Congress. On seeing the variety of spices and feeling the aroma, he decides to source spices from the local State. The King was informed of his visit by the courtier and as the Gama get escorted to the Royal court, discussions span on the variety of spices and its qualities.  Gama got introduced to a farmer and a trader. Their expressions dismay Gama since they could  speak only the local dialect. However the interpretation by the King in English makes the facts clear. The King makes Gama understand about the varieties, value additions, quality certifications and website etc.  Gama was not happy with that and insists on identification of farmer and the trader and the processor who handles the merchandise.  The King assures that it could be done. 

The climax.

Moved by the diversity and the colour of India, Gama expresses his desire to marry from India. But the King retorts and ask for his traceability, to ascertain whether he  has a wife already in Portugal.

Dhanya