Act II

The opening act, were the Devas appear, and the evolution between Kali and Kapalika begins. The act ends with Agni, the provider of the gods deserting them.

Act II

(The stage is now set in a jungle in the same full moon night. But this time, the backdrop is upside down " the moon is at the bottom. Trees and rocks stay rooted to the skies. Amidst this there is a clearing. In the clearing we see four characters.

First is a man, dressed gaudily with cheap trinkets. His lips and tongue are red from chewing betel nut. His eyes have kohl that is smeared all about. From his nose, a long elephantine trunk runs down. This is Indra.

Next, we see a woman, dressed in a saree that bunches up heavily at her waist, as if massive folds of it have been tucked in…which is precisely what has been done. Her hair is straggly and she keeps tying it up often even as it gets untied equally often. She has nothing in her mouth, but keeps chewing and spitting the air out. In the place of her nose, there is a swan’s beak with the black ridge on top clearly visible. This is Saraswati.

Now, we have a drunkard. He is drooling and scratching the multiple itches in his body. His speech is slurred, eyes blood red and gait unsteady. He keeps making multiple attempts to get up but fails because he is clawing the air for support as he tries to rise. He has rabbit ears. This is Soma.

Finally, there is a seedy man. His eyes are shifty, his glance never straight. He keeps looking here and there, as if trying to pry everything about. His grin reveals horribly blackened teeth and his arms are constantly fiddling with his arm pits. He has a horse’s ears and tail. This is Surya

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Overall a highly disgusting crowd. They are all frozen when Kali’s narration begins and unfreeze on cue.

 Kali and the Kapalika are at the left corner of the stage. Kali is seated on a boulder that looks very similar to her pyre. The Kapalika is lying on her lap, like a baby, his face pressed to her breast as if he were being suckled.  Kali begins telling the story, not looking at the Kapalika, but looking upwards, while patting his back and rocking her lap, as if she were telling a tale to a very small baby.)

Kali: Once upon a time…there were only five Gods. And they were not what they are now " not divine, not glorious, not wise… just slobs like every one of us…

(Gods unfreeze.)

Saraswati: And then, you should have seen Soma fall flat on his face, completely drunk. Can you believe they actually took fifteen days to wipe his face clean? (All the Gods laugh, except for Soma who is lost and drunk.)

Indra (ponderously): Hmm… I wonder how the stars tolerate all this nonsense. Perhaps they are unhappy with him…

Surya: Ah ah! I know you’ve been eyeing Rohini secretly… Don’t you go that road Indra. Soma might be drunk, but he is a jealous lover. Besides he has enough in him to keep his wives happy.

Indra(apparently shocked): What? What do you mean?  Me, eyeing Rohini. What an absurd notion! And anyways, how would you know he keeps his wives happy?

Saraswati (laughs): The foolish Soma goes to his wives only at the night, cause he knows Surya and his voyeur’s eyes will not spare him in the day. But even at night, Surya has been prying. He hides behind the sky’s curtains and peeps.

Surya (shocked): How do you know that? (Indra is laughing while Saraswati reveals this)

Soma (totally drunk):

Thirty days a phase

Rabbit in my face

Listen to… listen to…(scratches head)…What a funny place…

(He ends the last word with a hiss as he falls down and collapses)

 

(Indra bursts out in laughter, clutching Saraswati’s shoulders for support. Saraswati irritated, promptly pushes him away and gives him a slap. Surya laughs seeing this. Indra sits quiet clutching his cheek.)

 

Saraswati: The neem tree told me.

 

Surya: What?

 

Saraswati: The neem tree told me of your prying. She heard it from the Jasmine creeper. She saw you two nights ago, when Soma was in…(she smiles wickedly) well…in full strength! It was she who told me about Soma’s fall as well. But honestly, I don’t understand how you can go about prying into other people’s lives all the time. I mean, what’s so interesting about it anyway?

 

Indra: Pot calling the kettle black. Don’t we all know how you go around collecting every bit of news about everything that happens here? Why, you were the first to know about Indrani’s pregnancy…even before me.

 

Surya (smiling slyly): No! She was not the first!  

(Soma raises his leg high in the air and drops it down. Surya’s glance keeps shifting to his legs and the dhoti all the time.)

 

Indra: You shameless creep! I can’t believe these are my friends and mates! A peeping prying creep and a gossip monging witch!

 

Soma: Don’t forget me! I come to want as well. I knay the wow! (blabbers some more and goes unconscious again)

 

Indra: And a drunken wretch who cannot recognize his own reflection!

 

Saraswati (Obviously piqued): You forgot your closest friend " the woman crazy pervert, who can’t spare anything feminine…woman, plant, tree…

 

Indra: Oh, but that is the weakness of the truly masculine. He advances amorously towards Saraswati) Don’t you know that? 

(Surya cranes his neck forward to drink in every detail of this propositioning. Saraswati turns her head away. Indra shrugs and turns around to see Surya practically at his face. Soma sits up and cries profusely. They all freeze once more.)

 

Kali: Indra, the ever aroused. Surya, the all prying voyeur. Saraswati, the reservoir of gossip. And Soma, the eternally drunk. Pathetic slobs, every one of them, pathetic slobs, just like everybody else. Actually, every one of them, but for one…

 

(Gods unfreeze. Surya’s face is still close to Indra.)

 

Surya: You know…I am hungry. Are you hungry?

 

Indra: Now that you say it…(pushes Surya’s face away) I am indeed hungry. Where is our food, I say!

 

(Soma sits up erect at the mention of the food. He starts crawling in trance.)

 

Soma: No food! No water! Oh, it’s a damned drought! It burns! It burns inside me!

 

(Soma stumbles in his crawl and falls at the feet of…Agni who has just walked into stage. He is a tall man, with a clear face and ram’s horns on his head.  He sees the prostrate Soma at his feet who’s clothes are astray and shakes his head half in disgust, half in pity.)

 

Agni (angrily): Look at you! Look at you!

 

(Soma looks at himself, from feet to chest, then tries to look at his face by twisting his face and ends up in a huge heap of mess.)

 

Indra: Oh stop your tirade Agni! We are hungry and in no mood to listen to another of your sermons! Where is the food?

 

Agni (throws an empty bag at them): Eat, fill your bodies! 

(The three Gods grab at the bag and draw quick breaths from it in turns. Soma blindly grabs at the leaves and sniffs them. Agni looks on at the spectacle for a few seconds.) 

How can you be like this? Gossip for hours together, eat mindlessly, copulate without thought, sleep with your mouths drooling… no aim, no purpose… How can you call this a life?

 

Surya: What do you mean purpose Agni? We are happy this way. No cares, no worries. We do what we like, when we like. What more do you need?

 

Soma: Yesh! Yesh! What meed do you nore?

 

Agni: Oh yes! Do as you please, indeed! Just like Soma, who is too drunk to ever know what pleases him. Every one of your drunkards, drunk with the mundane! Don’t any of you hear it? The call of glory, the song of greatness…immortality!

 

Surya (stupidly): What’s that?

 

Agni: Think of it Surya. This sky, this massive blue sky with rows and rows of clouds. This is a beehive full of honey. And you could be a golden drop of honey in it! Your glory could feed all life!

 

Surya: Err… you mean I should hunt for everybody?

 

Indra: Is that it? Are you just tired Agni?

 

Agni: No, no! No, you imbeciles. Indra, what I say is, we could rule the skies, demand worship from the earth and soar above all else. Your hand can strike thunderbolts of terror! Soma can charm all creation with his glow! Saraswati, the tresses of your hair can nourish all souls!

 

Saraswati: Are you trying to flirt with me?

 

Surya: Oh, Agni is beyond all that Saraswati! He is lofty in thoughts…so lofty that you need a ladder to reach him! (They all laugh)

 

Agni: Oh, will you never rise above who you are? Don’t you see you are drunk with ignorance?

 

Indra: So what? Ignorance is bliss! And to be drunk is supreme bliss! (Laughs and once again falls on Saraswati, who moves aside deftly. The trio laugh…while Soma sobs uncontrollably.) You should loosen up a bit Agni.

 

Agni: And become like one of you, I suppose!

 

All gods together: Exactly!

 

Agni: I am afraid that is the end. One more minute with you and I’ll either go mad or turn into a beast like you. I am leaving!

 

Saraswati: Leaving? But who will get us food?

 

Agni: Maybe you should hunt for it yourselves! Maybe then you will realize there is more to life than sleeping and fornicating! Maybe then you will wake up! Farewell till then!  

(He walks off stage. The Gods look stunned for a second. Soma gives out a big yawn, stretches himself and then falls asleep. The other Gods follow suit, sitting.)

 

Kali: And thus it was that he went forth, he who is awake when all else sleeps!