Work in Progress

Shekhawat in the coveted
cop's uniform

With drama rehearsals now dominating all proceedings (ref post of January 11) of the Club, we are being treated to surprises every other day. Lines are being memorized even as the script is overhauled and the casting remains work in progress and actors have to be put through the paces… and there is a little over a month left for the big day to descend upon us.
But all is not lost. Through all the challenges and ongoing confusion, there are sparks of joy and robust humour that have kept our spirits up. And the prime

Yusuf Rassiwala (l) marks his return from Bhopal with a box of gajak

movers in this brilliant theatre of the absurd are Shekhawat and writer-director Bijoy Gupta.
Shekhawat, as is well known (ref post of January 3), has appropriated the lead role of ‘Inspector Zalim Singh’ simply because he wants to don a police officer’s uniform onstage – as he did last time. Never mind he cannot memorise his lines to save his life. And yet, he insists on spouting whatever he has learnt to all and sundry, in total disregard to Gupta’s standing instructions.
“Every evening, when nobody from the Club is in the Garden, he gets a group of fawning oldies to surround him and he reads out the script,” Gupta revealed. “They keep applauding him with wah-wahs. But not for once does he give me credit for the script. He pretends he is the author!”
Shekhawat’s behaviour has got Gupta’s goat and he is now looking for ways to replace him. When a suggestion was made (jokingly) to rather turn Shekhawat into a ‘deaf cop’ – if only to spare him the agony of remembering his lines – Gupta put his foot down. He wants to give Shekhawat an ultimatum to mug up or move out!
After that, what? Nobody knows. The plot thickens.

Lt Col Angad Singh (rtd):
Rehearsals for the Annual Day function are on. However, a lot of hard work and effort must be put in. Lots of sweat is required to be sweated before we can say with confidence that everything is in order and we are ready for the final assault. Lets hope that with collective effort we are able to achieve the result.