Sometimes a well meant and well thought out action is perceived otherwise by the people affected by it. Countless relationships end, not due to genuine faults of one or both of the couple, but due to dissimilar perceptions that start as minor irritants and end in irreconcilable differences. The piquant thing is that when such a long chain of unfortunate events is viewed in retrospect, often it is the presence of minor, trifling episodes that catalyze the bigger ones.
In case you are wondering about the apparent disconnect between the gravitas of the opening paragraph and the seemingly irrelevant title, let me first put your mind to rest by stating that my intention is not to dwell on the unplesantries of life or relationships. Quite on the contrary, I'll write about a funny incident; one that I had heard back in my undergrad days at Kharagpur. However it also illustrates the effects of reasonable actions being misunderstood, but this time, the matter ended in humor and not tragedy.
The person who told me the story was my hall senior, Sripal Meghani. Meghani was active in English dramatics. One evening when we had returned to our Patel hall after a long day of classes, consumed the evening snacks and proceeded to sip tea in the outside courtyard, we drifted into a conversation about dramatics productions in the recent past. That is when he told me the following tale, which I'll say in my own words.
Like other years, that year too, the productions competing for the inter hall English drama competition were being enacted before a packed audience in Netaji Auditorium. The year and hall will go un-named (for reasons not motivated by need of secrecy but rather by my lapse of memory) A crucial scene was being performed, where four people were seated on the stage, facing each other and engaged in an extremely heated and animated debate.
Accordingly to the script, the debate was supposed to gradually trail off to a momentary silence. Then, from the backstage, the recorded cry of a horse would resonate, upon which one of the characters would rise and resume the dialogue. The cry of the horse was in keeping with the story and formed the basis of the ensuing conversation.
The play was proceeding smoothly. The actors dazzled in their vitriolic discourse. The audience followed them with rapt attention. In due course they relaxed the vigor of the words and then fell silent. As the audience hurried to catch their breath, the actors expectantly waited to hear the horse.
Exactly at this juncture, the play veered off the steady course of the script.
There was some electro-mechanical problem in backstage. The cassette player was jammed; nervous hands couldn't disentangle the tapes and as the actors kept waiting onstage, the silence that was welcome and awe-inspiring at first, turned increasingly questionable and fishy. The audience having recovered their composure, began to cast suspicious looks at the fidgeting figures on stage who all of a sudden had become dumb.
Seconds ticked off. The actors cast surreptitious glances at themselves and towards backstage. The situation was rapidly getting out of control. Something had to done fast, else the initial build-up of the play would all go down the drain. Should the actors rely on fate and wait for the damn horse to neigh? Or should the heroics on stage go beyond the confines of the script and the actors take charge of the situation via some brilliant improvisation?
And the latter it was to be. After a few more moments of defeaning silence, the actor who was supposed to resume the dialogue, abruptly stood up. He took a couple of unsure steps forward, steadied himself, cleared his throat and proclaimed loudly, "I think I hear a horse's cry!" and with these prophetic words, resumed the thread of dialogue that was supposed to follow. The audience was flabbergasted and went for a collective 'Huh?' But the ensuing dialogue seemed to make sense and soon they were immersed back in the story.
Given the situation, the actor perhaps made the most reasonable decision. A reference to a horse's cry was essential. But the audience perceived of him as being weird, possibly as a result of having mixed up his lines.
Anyways, that is the end of my story. Sadly I don't recollect, if Meghani had told me about the results of that competition and whether that production or the actor had got any award or recognition for their efforts.
In case you are wondering about the apparent disconnect between the gravitas of the opening paragraph and the seemingly irrelevant title, let me first put your mind to rest by stating that my intention is not to dwell on the unplesantries of life or relationships. Quite on the contrary, I'll write about a funny incident; one that I had heard back in my undergrad days at Kharagpur. However it also illustrates the effects of reasonable actions being misunderstood, but this time, the matter ended in humor and not tragedy.
The person who told me the story was my hall senior, Sripal Meghani. Meghani was active in English dramatics. One evening when we had returned to our Patel hall after a long day of classes, consumed the evening snacks and proceeded to sip tea in the outside courtyard, we drifted into a conversation about dramatics productions in the recent past. That is when he told me the following tale, which I'll say in my own words.
Like other years, that year too, the productions competing for the inter hall English drama competition were being enacted before a packed audience in Netaji Auditorium. The year and hall will go un-named (for reasons not motivated by need of secrecy but rather by my lapse of memory) A crucial scene was being performed, where four people were seated on the stage, facing each other and engaged in an extremely heated and animated debate.
Accordingly to the script, the debate was supposed to gradually trail off to a momentary silence. Then, from the backstage, the recorded cry of a horse would resonate, upon which one of the characters would rise and resume the dialogue. The cry of the horse was in keeping with the story and formed the basis of the ensuing conversation.
The play was proceeding smoothly. The actors dazzled in their vitriolic discourse. The audience followed them with rapt attention. In due course they relaxed the vigor of the words and then fell silent. As the audience hurried to catch their breath, the actors expectantly waited to hear the horse.
Exactly at this juncture, the play veered off the steady course of the script.
There was some electro-mechanical problem in backstage. The cassette player was jammed; nervous hands couldn't disentangle the tapes and as the actors kept waiting onstage, the silence that was welcome and awe-inspiring at first, turned increasingly questionable and fishy. The audience having recovered their composure, began to cast suspicious looks at the fidgeting figures on stage who all of a sudden had become dumb.
Seconds ticked off. The actors cast surreptitious glances at themselves and towards backstage. The situation was rapidly getting out of control. Something had to done fast, else the initial build-up of the play would all go down the drain. Should the actors rely on fate and wait for the damn horse to neigh? Or should the heroics on stage go beyond the confines of the script and the actors take charge of the situation via some brilliant improvisation?
And the latter it was to be. After a few more moments of defeaning silence, the actor who was supposed to resume the dialogue, abruptly stood up. He took a couple of unsure steps forward, steadied himself, cleared his throat and proclaimed loudly, "I think I hear a horse's cry!" and with these prophetic words, resumed the thread of dialogue that was supposed to follow. The audience was flabbergasted and went for a collective 'Huh?' But the ensuing dialogue seemed to make sense and soon they were immersed back in the story.
Given the situation, the actor perhaps made the most reasonable decision. A reference to a horse's cry was essential. But the audience perceived of him as being weird, possibly as a result of having mixed up his lines.
Anyways, that is the end of my story. Sadly I don't recollect, if Meghani had told me about the results of that competition and whether that production or the actor had got any award or recognition for their efforts.
