Kala Meda Bhes

Ajoka stages plays to celebrate the centennial of International Women’s Day.

LAHORE:

‘Kala Meda Bhes’, is based on a real life incident that took place in Sindh years ago where a woman was exchanged for an ox. The play is set in a village in Cholistan desert, where drinking water is scarce and the powerful and exploitative ‘pir’ (spiritual leader) controls the only well.

Allah Wassiha has two wives. His second wife brings an ox in her dowry and becomes his favorite for it. Wassiha uses the ox to bring water from the next village and sells it at an economical price. This disrupts the steady stream of Pir Khooi Shah’s income — he controls the only well in the village and sells water at an exorbitant price.  Once his economic worries are put to rest, childless Wassiha goes to the Pir in search of a miracle to rectify his barren state and to ensure the safety of his livelihood (his ox). As luck would have it the Pir gives him poison which he feeds the ox. Once again he’s back to being both poor and childless. Desperate for a solution, he gets convinced by a ‘maasi’ (an elderly village woman) to exchange his wife for an ox; of course she knew of a man (Ditta) who had an ox whose wife had recently died.

Ditta is considered insane, is busy day and night digging a well outside the village. The Pir tries to refrain Ditta from digging the well but, Opera, an outsider, convinces him to keep trying. Ditta succeeds in finding fresh water; meanwhile Pir comes and takes over the well telling him that it is a miracle that his well has been shifted from his place to another. Ditta is very dejected and one night goes to his well where the Pir’s guards kill him. Later Pir, who feels threatened by Opera, says it was Opera who killed Ditta and then the vendor comes and reveals that it was Peer who murdered him. The entire village turns against the Pir forcing him to flee.

The aridity of the desert is juxtaposed against the bareness of the protagonist Sundri and water against fertility. “The reality of deprivation, misery, lack of basic amenities and the immoral exploitation by the venerated is presented in the play. Individual and community problems have been woven with inherent human resilience in a celebration and affirmation of life,” Ajoka’s Creative Director Madeeha Gauhar said talking to The Express Tribune.

The play was appreciated by several foreign delegates who are in Lahore to attend an international conference on women and politics.

The second day of the celebrations was marked with the performance of a play Dukh Darya. The play is based on the true story of an Azad Kashmiri woman who was arrested in Jammu for illegally crossing the Line of Control and gave birth to a baby girl in a prison in India. Her return to Azad Kashmir with her daughter was made possible by a campaign by Pakistani and Indian human rights groups. The play has been translated and published in India and has been performed all over Pakistan and India. A book launching ceremony by Shahid Nadeem, who authored the play, was also held. The book was launched by veteran journalist and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Secretary General IA Rehman.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2011.