Act I: CONTRAST
The living room of Mr. & Mrs. Ray in the heart of Kolkata, the adornment is opulent and well maintained. Upstage center is the couch and the table, upstage right is a giant piano accompanied by a violin. The chandelier and the music system add to the chimera, a large window overlooks the garden.
The staircase leads to the bedroom of Nandita & next to it is the room of her parents visible through the screen light when it is back-lit. There is an exit to the main door and an exit to the kitchen to its right.
The wall clock shows half past six in the evening, music can be heard “purano shei din er kotha” a popular Rabindra Sangeet, playing. Nandita is staring aimlessly out of the window dressed in her kaftans and probably humming along with the tune, occasionally sipping white wine from her goblet. After a while her cell phone rings, the screen shows she receives the call.
Nandita: Hello
Nandini: Nandita, did you lock him up? Please hurry up! We will be there in an hour or so.
Nandita: But that is not fair, why….
(Call gets disconnected. Mrs. Ray enters through the main door and looks at Nandita)
Mrs. Ray: Why have you not dressed up?
Nandita: Can I not meet him just the way I am? Should I remain decked up in jewels and formal all day long?
Mrs. Ray: (rebuking) No, This is not how prospective brides dress up; hurry up change into the yellow sari with red border.
(Nandita relaxes herself on the couch and picks up a magazine to read)
Nandita: Where is Joy?
Mrs. Ray: Your Baba took him out.
Nandita: When will they return?
Mrs. Ray: Not before Mrs. Mukherjee and her son, Rudra leave.
(Mrs. Ray starts rearranging the bunch of roses in a vase on the table)
Nandita: (with a light wave of anger in her voice) He took him out without the grant of my consent! He is my son and I have all the right to decide what is good for him and what is not.
Mrs. Ray: (raising her fingers in a gesture of inverted commas”) do not call him “your son” in front of Rudra. He may take you for a spinster, and now that you are my child, I have all the right to decide what is good for you, No more arguments on this.
Nandita: (Ironically) your daughter expects me to lock up Joy, she expects me to put my son behind the doors all the time.
Mrs. Ray: Nothing wrong with it, and for heaven’s sake do not smoke tonight, she will stay back after her in-laws leave. I will take good care of her now that she is expecting again…
Nandita: (cutting in the middle of her speech) you mean for the third time.
Mrs. Ray: (lets out a shrill cry of pain as a thorn pricks her nimble finger) Aaahhh! (Takes a heavy breath) Do not open that filthy mouth of yours to pollute her mind and add to her troubles.
Nandita: (points her index finger towards herself with an air of sarcasm) I add to her troubles.
Mrs. Ray: She is married; now do not inculcate her mind with rebellious musings.
Nandita: (claps her hands in a rage of anger) Yes, she is married. A mother of two: and still expecting, why? Because she has to have, a son or else they will not grant acceptance and shower her with curse.
Mrs. Ray: Life did not prepare its platter according to her will and you blame us, I blame her fate.
Nandita: now blame it on her astrometry.
Mrs. Ray: DESTINY & DESTINATION are different, my dear. You have all the right to choose your destination but destiny has an upper hand to it, to declare the final say.
Nandita: (Breathing heavily out of anger) you forced her into marriage, because she wanted to pursue her dreams.
Mrs. Ray: What did you just say? Women must dream of nothing except for the well-being of her family.
Nandita: Why did you spend so much on our education when you knew what destiny had in store for us?
Mrs. Ray: A well-educated woman can raise her kids well.
Nandita: Rajiv tricked her to tie the knot; he faked his promise that he would let her chase her dreams.
Mrs. Ray: (sarcastically) He lived up to her expectations did he not?
Nandita: (angrily) do not pretend!
Mrs. Ray: (lowers her tone) I do not pretend, lie or approve of flattery.
Nandita: (raising her voice) she wanted to marry the man she loved but you married her off to a heartless brute to cast off the burden in fear of the SOCIETY.
Mrs. Ray: We did not forbid her from her happiness: it was just not destined to be.
Nandita: (sarcastically) was that convincing enough for you to marry her off to the most eligible bachelor in town, or did u want to cast off the burden?
Mrs. Ray: (sobs) your words do not let me breathe and her silence rips me apart.
Nandita: You mistook Brutality for Responsibility.
Mrs. Ray: You were just a decade and four not mature enough to delve deep into the matter or accept the fact.
Nandita: Had she known how to speak up for herself, you would not have been able to spill doom on her.
Mrs. Ray: (voice fades) you do not know what it like is to be a mother and the bride of a royal household. My intentions, likes or dislikes do not count when it comes to my responsibilities, to which I have to adhere, at any cost.
(The doorbell rings, Nandita exits to her bedroom from the staircase.)
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Part two is here. Please comment about what you think about the current play?