Ramayana Performances

I wanted to wait until we had seen the all of the scheduled renditions to write a post about the Ramayana performances. First of all, by the time we arrived to India, all of us were encouraged to have familiarized ourselves with the story. To ensure this knowledge was set, the beginning of the second week we had a pre-dinner "Ramayana Party," with a plethora of deliciously appetite-spoiling snacks, in which we all squeezed in to one of the single rooms and attempted to collectively recount the tale from beginning to end. Turns out that is difficult to do in one hour! With everyone having read or taken in different translations, it was really cool to put all the wide pieces together. I read a beautiful copy by Ranchor Prime, the Wikipedia summary and a couple of us had watched a children's animated movie. Anu had heard the story since she was little, so she had a lot of different parts to add, and there was also a graphic novel, feminist interpretation called "Sita's Ramayana" floating around among us.. Needless to say things got a bit rowdy. Which was preferable to any pop quiz I've taken!

All this was in preparation for the puppet show that was coming the following evening. From all of our prepping - which started with Steve raving about it months before the trip - we were ready for a incoherent yet vulgar shadow puppet rendition of the Ramayana. What we got wasn't so far off, but there was no crowded room with children giggling at the swear words in Kannada, nor was it the whole story. Instead we were invited into a room at SVYM and instructed to have fun with it. And fun we had. For about an hour we zoomed into one chapter of the tale, rotating between awe-filled confusion when we didn't know what was going on, and enthusiastic laughter when we figured out which puppet was Hanuman, Ravana and Lakshmana.

There was so much love that went into the show, that the moments of misunderstanding were overwhelmed by widening our eyes at the beauty of the puppets and the sound of the songs bellowed from inside this tent. When we did understand, it was so fun be be raucous and bewildered, playing along with the energy of the show. At the end, the 5 family members rolled out of the tent like a clown car and were greeted with a hero's applause. I would have loved to snuggle up with some KurKure and mango juice and see the whole performance, but that 12-hour endeavor may be for next time around...

About a week later, in the same room, we were treated to a dance rendition of the Ramayana. It was organized by Kripa Phadke, the dance teacher in our group, and performed by four of her current students, and was equally if not more mesmerizing than the puppet show. More scenes were represented, but it was a similar language barrier at first - the Bharatanatyam dance form involves the use of mudras, symbolic hand gestures that, when strung together in context, convey a story. But the level of skill and our now beginners knowledge of the story helped us really hang on to what was happening. There was also a full band accompanying the act (with a killer flautist), lights and beautiful adornments of jewelry and colorful clothing. The dancers gave their all, with facial expressions and full body involvement the whole time. Ravana attempting to lift the bow, the golden deer scene, and Hanuman searching for Sita were among the group's favorite moments.


Words really don't do it justice, so here are some shots from Anu...