Double Decker
Synopsis
HA-JA-BA-RA-LA
It is a Nonsense tale what a boy daydreamt. The story starts with a boy suddenly waking up from sleep and finding that the handkerchief he placed just beside himself before sleeping has turned into a Cat. The impish Cat starts talking to the boy about nonsense things like Gechodada (a character that is only alluded to by the Cat but never appears in the story, metaphorically criticizing the theory of probability) to show him the way to Tibet and finally disappears over the hedge. Then Kakkeshwar, a raven wearing a clerk’s attire while performing mathematics, enters with a series of absurd calculations. This includes some sums which are purely illogical and fallacious. The boy finds the raven most impolite proud of his nonsensical mathematics. The situation turns hostile when Udhho and Budhho, two dwarf-like creatures emerge to fight over that idiotic sum and start crying over spitting milk. Then a series of characters comes to demonstrate the theme of nonsense on stage. Heejibeejbeej, a creature who imagines very improbable situations and laughs at them; Nyara, a self promoting singer enters to sing nonsense aloud; Byakaran Shing B.A. Khadyabisharad, a goat who delivers academic lectures on non-academic subjects, such as what goats do not eat. The play ends with a trial of ‘nobody’ when a Crocodile and a Jackal become the lawyers of each side and an Owl takes the seat of the Judge. The trail seems illogically logical where having no accused in the witness box the Judge decides to punish Nyara with an imprisonment of three months and also to hang him for seven days.
BARNAPORICHAY
In the centenary of inclusion of his Barnaporichay in our syllabus Vidyasagar resurrects to come back to the mortal world to take a look of his ‘Lesson’ and finds himself dejected as he sees his mother tongue, Bengali has been treated so poorly by the mortals. Being disappointed with the educational system of present days, he decides to teach us himself. So he takes the responsibility of make them a perfect generation not only with his coaching on Bengali language but also with a development of their moral self. Then comes a series of contradictions when he finds everything is going opposite to his Lessons. He tells us not to lie, but the whole world tends to be untruthful; He says us not to fight with each other, but the whole human race becomes violent and quarrelsome; he strongly advises us that stealing is a sin, but a few of us show respect to this advice. Finally, leaving his ‘Bhuban’ [the world] in the hand of these ‘few’ Vidyasagar has to return into oblivion. And the play ends with an expectation of a better World to live in.