Irom in Her Soul :: Irom Sharmila
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Ojas SV, a Pune-based theatre activist :: Pix openthemagazine.com
In the recent months, many people (apart from Manipuris) are supporting Irom Sharmila's cause. They are writing articles on her, against the bias nature of main stream media towards her cause.
One woman who is going around corners of India to educate people of the brutal AFSPA and Irom Sharmila's struggle is Ojas, a Pune-based theatre activist. I have seen her act and the truth is I saw many people wiping their tears along the play.
In an article by Aarthi Gunnupuri, "Irom in her Soul", she writes about Ojas and her struggle to educate people of Sharmila's cause. In the interview like article, Ojas asked why should laws formulated to repress the Freedom Movement influence free India. Ojas SV is a Pune-based theatre activist who has put together a disturbing but powerful play called Le Mashale about Sharmila's struggle.
The article says that she has known about Irom Sharmila for quite a few years, and she wanted to do something to support her cause. At first she didn't know what to do. It was Civic Chandran's Malayalam play Maira Paibi, based on Deepti Priya Mehrotra's book Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and The Struggle for Peace in Manipur that inspired Ojas, and she adapted it into a one-person bilingual play, says the article.
Ojas has put in 107 performances across 15 states, including Kerala, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh since last May. Her sources of finance are private donors and a collection-hat that does the rounds at the end of each performance.
The article records Ojas saying, "People in poorer rural areas are especially giving. I frequently see old, worn-out rupee notes that have been saved up for something special." The article further writes, "Unfortunately, the leader that Ojas idolizes and has worked so hard to support remains inaccessible to her. Sharmila is confined in a local hospital at Imphal, with policemen on guard at all times.
A meeting with Sharmila requires four levels of bureaucratic and political permissions, including one from the Chief Minister of the state." It says, Ojas receives invitations to perform almost every day, and will continue to travel. The article writes that watching her play, the audiences realize, many for the first time, that none of the Northeastern states is mentioned in India's National Anthem.
And for all who can't watch her perform, the play is available on YouTube; just search for 'Le Mashale'. The article says, "It is a disturbing glimpse of the ignored regions of India and proof of the fact that the largest democracy in the world is not uniformly democratic."
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* This article was posted on July 25, 2011.
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