How does a community in Eastern India, 2,000 plus a few decades ago and now down to 350, hang on to its culture? Tenaciously? Tenuously? Both, according to Yezdi Karai, longtime member of the Calcutta Parsee Amateur Dramatic Club (CPADC). The Club has been putting up a Gujarati play each year for the last 114 years on Parsi New Year, notwithstanding the Great Depression, World Wars, border conflicts and now the pandemic. Their show on August 16, 2021 had Cyrus Madan and Ratan Postwalla curating an hour’s playlist put together online, recorded with two cameras and a sound crew, then assembled and edited by Urvaksh Mogrelia. "Somewhat different from the folks who first performed for CPADC in 1908,” Karai noted. Streamed on Facebook, the show has had over 600 views in two days.
The Club now takes on for its annual plays anyone willing to commit the time to rehearse and act. Karai noted that "many traditions have passed us by… Some of the older members remember auditioning or being understudies in the 1970s for a role.” Gujarati scripts are transcribed in phonetic English for the predominantly non-Gujarati-speaking actors. "Only four of the pool of CPADC members who are willing to act can read the language…. The rest of us adapt and are driven by the desire to keep the tradition going,” noted Karai. "We even have a Bengali, Indrani Anklesaria, the daughter-in-law of one of our best actor-directors, the late Darius Anklesaria. She keeps the family flag flying each year. A Gujarati speaking Bengali? Yes. Yes. That’s why CPADC can never be extinguished.”
Top: Cyrus Madan (l) and Yezdi Karai regale viewers;
Above from l: Indrani Anklesaria, Tehnaz Punwani, Ratan Postwalla, Pervez Kaikobad
The New Year show began with a montage of pictures from stagings down the years, tuned to the lyrics and vocals of Kaizad Gherda and Dilnaz Irani singing American Pie adapted to "CPADC Pie.” Noshir Wadia, was felicitated for completing 50 years as a member. Longtime members Yasmin Kapadia from Calcutta and Khushnum Aibara from Zurich dredged up memories that included wading through floods for rehearsals and receiving appreciative tomatoes hurled by the audience. Both mentioned the tradition of "nasta (snacks) before rehearsals.” A five-minute tribute to the British comedy sketch Two Ronnies had Madan and Karai "reading the news in plummy and squeaky English accents,” noted Karai, who sent a detailed write-up to Parsiana.
The evening’s signature performance was an abridged 45-minute version of Bolti Bandh (Speechless), a Phiroze Antia drama, replete with the stereotypes of a cynical housekeeper (played by Darius Panthaki), a racing-fanatic householder Nariman (Pervez Kaikobad) and obsessed-about-her-daughter’s marriage mamma Tehmina (Tehnaz Punwani). Indrani played Mani, the "cool” daughter devoted to green-shirted Captain Tarapore (Malcolm Tarapore). While Tehmina wants Mani to marry the orthodox, somber-looking Mugaseth (Ratan Postwalla), the "bolti bandh” moment for Tehmina arrives when Mugaseth pops the wrong question.
As noted Karai, "There is someone always willing to give it a go and get you to laugh.” How long does CPADC see itself sustaining this tradition? "The last Parsi alive in Calcutta will render a soliloquy, we can be sure of that,” he commented.