There are things in your life that leave indelible impressions on your mind.And for me,it has been,in fact quite recently,been an image.Images do tend to have this kind of an effect on me.Like the image of a beautiful woman or a virtual window by the sea. But this one-Ahhh,words fail to describe it -and I wish I only had a digital camera to capture the surreal moment.
There is a stage-a drama stage.There is a golden hue over the heads and bodies of those who stand on it.And they stand not discolored.No,the image is neither a sepia,nor one of the decaying black and white's of the British era.Instead,imagine them decked in color.From head to toe.Slight shy laughter of the girls dressed as chambermaids and the boisterous ones of the Venetian lords.Of the lascivious looks of the suitors of the fair Portia and herself,walking onto stage,to guffaws at the topless man in the unfortunate skirt.There are the jokers,brandishing shiny swords in black boots and colored faces.The merchant of Venice sits close to the stage,exhausted after the,in character, generated spite,looking on unamused.And lo,there is also a fat judge.He inspires comedy,for his stockings are stubbornly sliding down his legs revealing fat chunks of fleshy thighs.That bring laughter doesn't it? But no,laughter is no relative of this image.It is a thing of muted beauty,this image,and as purists let us continue adorning it, shall we? Then my dear friend deck the background with black,and let colorful ribbons hang down its folds forming chinese alphabets.Place a table and the three caskets,gold,silver and lead and let them shine in all their glory,as if reasserting their importance("We are the cause of all controversy,us gold,silver and lead.We wont be relegated only to a play!" they declare) Then the icing on the cake.Let the air fill with a soothing cool touch,airing the sweaty parts of my body as I sit,nay lie down,and look upon my comrades in color at the very same place that I stood,quite some time back,while they prance and joke around,unaware of a new audience.
Imagine the golden hue shining bright and dim,as the lights boy plays havoc with them before the next performance.And imagine the gay spectacle of relieved and tired faces (and the judge pulling his stockings up) dissolving and fermenting in the play of lights.Like Antonio Salieri in the face of Mozart's music,I watch enthralled.And I claim unabashedly,like Antonio Salieri in the face of Mozart's music.For my amazement,sheer appreciation of the dancing colors in front of my eyes,was no less.Slowly,the people on stage come down resting beside us,now in turn becoming a new audience;leaving the patronly dais to its new children,pouring onto it from backstage.
Sidenote:This was after the first performance of the play "The Merchant of Venice" at Alliance Franchise,on 13th April '07.