Jalpaiguri Kalakushali

SYNOPSIS

A village lad Nalak in his inner sight sees the prince Siddhartha took birth in Kingdom of Kapilabastu. Siddhartha was brought up amidst the ocean of happiness and prosperity, the feeling of sorrow was completely alien to him .In one beautiful morning when he was enjoying the charm of nature he sees a arrow stricken falling bird dies in front of him . This is his the first experience of death. Then Jorha the representative of old age, death and sorrow appears and takes him into the real world of pain sorrow and death. Bewildered Siddhartha leaves his kingdom and starts his journey in search of 'emancipation'. Nalak also leaves home and joins Siddhartha in his search. They travel together in different places and meet different Gurus, some of them preach the mantra of self- torture, sufferance, and extreme sacrifice while the others show the path of extreme enjoyment but nobody can enlighten them with true knowledge. Dejected, tired Goutam takes rest on the bank of river Noiranjana where they meet Sujata a village woman with her children. Siddhartha eats the Payasam (a sweet dish made of milk) and learns the lesson that moksha can not be earned in empty stomach. Then he starts his austere devotion under the Bodhi Brikhsha. The demons of lust and temptation come to distract him but they fail and Siddhartha attains the Bodhi (true knowledge). Then he starts his journey to disseminate his bodhi among the masses. At this juncture Nalak leaves him and returns to his mother. Both of them promise each other to meet again. After many days Nalak receives a lotus which is floating in his village river. He knows quite well that this is the love of Siddhartha towards him.

DIRECTOR'S NOTE

Abon Thakur is a master artist who paints with his words too. All of his writings for the children are nothing but painting made of narrations. Nalak is not an exception. Here the maestro portrays the bizarre journey of one of the greatest persona of mankind in such a way that readers can easily visualize the scenes one after another like series of paintings. The uniqueness of this story is that the struggle of Goutam Buddha to attain moksha, his sufferings, and pains all are seen through the eyes of a little boy. This makes this tale quite different from the other narratives based on the life of the great preacher. Remaining honest to the spirit of Abon Thakur's narrative we take some dramatic liberties while transforming it for performance. Here the little village lad Nalak becomes the alter ego of Siddhartha and he always remains with him. Nalak constantly disturbs him with his questions about true knowledge and existence of devine power. We try to see Nalak as the epitome of Siddhartha's lost childhood. They fight together with the demons of temptations to attain the Bodhi. When he becomes Buddha and starts his journey to enlighten the mankind the two soul depart. Nalak refuses go along with Buddha and wants to return to his mother. Here Siddhartha bids adieu to his childhood. At the end of the play Nalak gets the lotus of Siddhartha and we realise that Goutam Buddha the Messiah of mankind will never leave his dearest friend by heart. He has to return repeatedly to Nalak who is no one but his childhood which he lost many years back.