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

  

World Spice Congress 2012

An unforgettable experience in our life, it was! The World Spice Congress… We joined this institution just one month back but were fortunate enough to be a part of the prestigious event of the world spice industry. It was our first official tour on rail. Even though it was a tedious journey of almost 30 hours, we three had a gala time in train.  There was one thought that added on to our excitement. All the previous Congresses were ‘all-men’ and it was for the first time the women-power came to the   fore:) . Yes, we were a part of it and that did make a difference this time.

We reached the great city of Pune on the 8^th of February at 5.15am. The cold weather greeted us with all its might. Like Frost said, “the city had withdrawn into itself” and was still sleeping when we reached. After settling the issues with porters we walked slowly to our bus. The floor was really slippery and it was Dhanya who first bowed the city. I had to pull her up at the same time watch my luggage from fumbling down. Laughter came from all sides and poor Dhanya made her presence felt in Pune. Next it was my turn. It happened while I was about to enter the bus. Once inside the bus who would reckon there would be a step? I didn’t, and I fell. But luckily nobody saw that except Dhanya and Aneena.  By 6.15 we reached Hyatt Regency, the hotel where we would stay for the next four days. The grandeur of the hotel by itself was a treat to our eyes.

On our way to Hotel Westin, venue of the Congress

We were to be ready by 9 to go to Hotel Westin, the venue of the Congress. The city haunted me to a great extent. It showcased the two extremes of Indian life which was a real contrast and I wondered how the other areas of Pune are like! The whole city was busy, it seemed. People were rushing hither and thither in search of some thing. 

Within minutes we reached the grand Westin hotel.

The sheer opulence and magnanimity of the hotel fascinated us here too. But there was no time to let ourselves plunge deep in this wonderland as we were right into action preparing to unfurl the curtains of the 11^th World Spice Congress.

I was in the  registration desk for the Indian delegates and was naturally responsible to get everything ready for the next day. Ms Indra, Mr.Bibek Jyothi Roy, Mr.Naresh, and Mr. Biju Shenoy all joined hands together which made our jobs easy. Next it was our turn to get the kits for the delegates ready. All our officers worked in unison, without bothering about their designations to get everything packed. It felt like we were a family on a get together for a family function. Although a bit strenuous, it was a pleasure and a privilege at the same time. Each one in the team was given specific duties to perform the next day and without hesitation everybody happily shouldered their responsibilities. Satisfactorily we went back to our hotel making sure that everything was set for the big event. 

Dr. A Jayathilak IAS, Chairman Spices Board inaugurating WSC

The red letter day finally arrived. The celebrations and deliberations were on! Registration started early that day. With me were Mr.Viren Khora of AISEF, Mr Bibek Jyothi Roy of Spices Board, Mumbai and Dhanya. Everything was in order and the delegates started to pour in. It was with great satisfaction that we enjoyed each and every work that came our way. By afternoon Dhanya and I had to leave the desk as we had to get the stage ready for the inaugural ceremony and to ensure everything was in proper order before the function. The inauguration started exactly on time. Dhanya was the compere for the inaugural session and she did a brilliant job that everyone praised her for her effort. Dr. A Jayathilak IAS, Chairman , Spices Board India inaugurated the ceremony in the absence of Dr. M S Swaminathan who couldn’t turn up due to indisposition. A microcosm of the globe witnessed the ceremony.  There was a record participation of over 200 international delegates from 40 countries and over 300 Indian delegates to make this biennial event a success. The crowd included farmers, traders, processors, exporters and scientists.

The inaugural ceremony was followed by a musical feast. The beautiful blend of Indian classical music, folk song and the western rhythm was so mesmerizing that it took the listeners to a completely different realm of serenity. It was followed by a grand dinner that highlighted Indian spice delicacies. It was also an opportunity for the guests to discuss the future of the industry. After a great time we returned to our hotel.

The second day started off with the business sessions and with that the Congress was in its full swing. Eminent speakers and experts from different parts of the world spoke on topics related to the theme; “Sustainability and Food Safety- Global Initiatives”. They were representatives from Indonesia, Japan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Germany, UK, the Netherlands, USA and Canada.  Need for harmonizing standards, regulatory issues, issues of low productivity and shortage of labour were discussed. The deliberations also highlighted the urgent measures to be taken in the sector so as to empower farmers and encourage better agricultural practices. 

 Dhanya and I felt happy for our roles as links between the listeners and the speakers. We passed on the queries from the audience to the speakers. Meanwhile Aneena was fully engaged with the exhibition. We three could not even meet at the dinner session. Supposed to be with others, talking and mingling with them  our chance to share our experiences for the day got shattered. Thus the urge to pass on the chit-chats gradually subsided and it was reserved for the night when at last we’d be together.

This was the most important day of the Congress as far as we were concerned. Days before the Congress Mr Palanichamy showed the three of us photos of a previous Congress where they performed a skit. We were really amused and wonder stricken at the transformation each official got in their costumes and together urged Mr Palanichamy to do it this time too. But he was not so sure as to how it’d eventually turn out. It was solely with the interest of Mr P S S Thampi (DD, Publicity) and Mr Palanichamy (Editor) that our skit became a reality, a real surprise addition. At 6 o’clock in the evening the makeup man came with the costumes and the drama, if it was to happen, must begin in between the cultural programme that’d start at 7. We were left with just one and a half hour to do the final preparation. The script was not ready, and so was the make up. The only thing that was finalized was the five characters. They did not even know their dialogues let alone the roles they had to act out. But for us it was not at all a problem. Dhanya, the ‘lead director’ was super confident and we three sat together and with the help of a theater person got the dialogues and script ready.

The impromptu skit on stage

The story line gave importance to the role of an effective supply chain in the spice industry with special reference to the theme of the Congress. The play portrayed Vasco da Gama’s great, great grandson’s visit to India for the World Spice Congress and how he got astonished at the transformation that had undergone in the spices sector and the involvement of the Spices Board in it. None of the characters knew their dialogues before hand and they got the ‘idea’ of the dialogues while they were dressing up for drama. The real talent of all these people came up on stage. To be frank Aneena and I were a bit scared as we had no previous experience with all these stuffs. But Dhanya handled everything really well and all confusions were erased. And the ‘just one and half hour preparation’ turned out a success on stage. With instant and extempore dialogues and stage presence the message was well conveyed by the ‘actors’. But then nobody could even guess that it happened on the spot with absolutely no preparation!! The guests really enjoyed the short entertainment and the three of us felt proud to be a part of it.

Now came the last day of the Congress. The business sessions were still on and that meant our duties like the previous day remained. The sessions got over by afternoon and with that an eventful Congress came to an end. The Congress culminated in taking multifarious decisions which were also subscribed by delegates from other spice producing countries. 

Three of us with Mr. Thampi, the organizing secretary and the head of the drama team :)

It was time to bid adieu to the 11^th World Spice Congress. But we (Aneena, Dhanya and I ) have a special satisfaction. Success of the event happened not just in a day but it was the result of days and months of  effort of many who chose to stay behind the curtains.

Revathy