Fefu and her Friends

I've been part of the FOH (for those of you theatre-illeterate people that stands for Front Of House) crew for "Fefu and her Friends" directed by the OH-SO talented Tracy Holsinger the past few days. I've set up the chairs, stacked them up again, switched on lights, and ushered a group of the crowd around. I've thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Talking about the play itself - the octa-women (I'm coining my own words again) cast is super-talented. I have drawn some favourites though - Karen's performance is mind-rivetingly raw and plays her part with such painful beauty, it is just amazing. I've never seen Ruwanthi act before and I don't know her personally, but I like her acting very much. It's very personal and watching her doesn't even for a split-micro-mini second remind you that you are watching her actually act - it's very realistic and AARGH! I can't put a finger on it nor can I think of words to describe it. Even Ruhanie - she has such a heap of charisma and such a wonderful stage presence - it just makes you smile to watch her at it especially when storms on stage - in full charge of her surrounding with that ever-so memorable line - "Do you think about genitals all the time?"

The lighting provided by Ryan Holsinger aka The Light and the music were just brilliant not forgetting Akhry's BRILLIANCE at making wonderful things like this happen.

The setting - Barefoot, me thinks is the best possible choice for this play - as it is promenade theatre after all. It's almost as if - Barefoot had been made specially for Fefu and her friends. It draws just the right atmosphere, the ambience, a slight personal and privy touch.

I guess what I've been ranting about all this time just boils down to the fact that the combination is one made in what I call "The Land of RIGHT".

The play most interestingly is set in 1935 - and many, many years later [do the math people] in 2005 - women haven't changed. The play itself is an extremely provocative statement about women to this day.

The play primarily deals with 8 women; their relationships with men, other women and with each other. And even today - the manner in which women are connected to each other and men are completely different. I admit men are less complicating and even though most of us women wouldn't admit it - we are more comfortable in the presence of our male friends as opposed to our girl friends.

Fefu says she likes men better than women, and finds women loathsome.

Fefu and her friends is slightly disturbing as it borders on raw emotions and statements that some of us would not be willing to admit so openly and I guess that is precisely what I like about it so much.

It is impossible to put into words the emotions that this play conjured up but, in an attempt to do exactly that these words just might do the trick: unsettling, honest, raw, disturbing, brilliant!

Him...mmm...mmm...

Here is a little excerpt from Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks which I happen to be reading these days. I feel that it has captured precisely something that I have been unable to put into words:

I couldn’t make you feel what I feel for him. I can only say that what I’m doing seems quite rational. I suppose at some stage you make decisions, you have to decide what seems important to you, what seems valuable. It may be for a practical reason as much as for an idealistic reason. It’s a judgement. I don’t believe in a general idea, I just believe in one particular man. I believe in the purity of feeling that I have for him and that I believe he has for me. I think its force is superior to that of any other guiding force…and if that love reflects susceptibility on my part, if he has somehow exploited a weakness or a wound in me, so be it. There’s nothing I can do about it; that’s who I am. To behave or believe otherwise would be dishonest.

A tribute to my school days...

The end of my academic studies – at least my degree – looms temptingly a few months ahead…and I’m enticed to just throw in the towel and break FREE!

It’s been three years of studies, sleepless nights, endless fights, friends made, friends lost…looking back…three years ago…Wowee…life has changed so, so much…it is unbelievable.

It’s so weird because it feels like just a short time ago - in school, my friends and I were sitting around and having a good gossip session and the conversation steered to what would be doing in a few years time…and NOW here we are…and this is what we are doing…the saddest part is that all of us are so far apart…if only we could’ve stayed together…

It’s true that the friends you make in school are the only ones who will stay true to you…the rest just come along…but will always fall away…

I badly miss my school days…I loved going to school…I would never even think of staying back at home…the part about school I loved was going to school extra early so that our lot could just hang around the tuck shop and jabber and jabber and jabber till it was time for prayers…and still jabber…

I know I’ll never go back there… to my school days…but those are my favourite days of all time…

I’m here now – my eyes closed – wishing I was with my friends – sitting around and jabbering about – where will I be in the next few years…

Creepy Stuff...

how creepy is this?

LAPTOP!

I'm on the go...

hey, hey, hey...following a mysterious phone call claiming that there was a parcel in my name that simply had to be colllected on the said day before a given time...the clause being that if i failed...i would be relinquished of all rights to it: so made my way to a certain 5-star hotel...it was my uncle...on a surprise vist with ... yes... a drumroll please... ;) Thank you! [clears throat] Ahem...it was a "LAPTOP" just for 'lil ol me...

I am SO thrilled with it... :)

YAY! YAY! YAY! WOOPEE! I've got a laptop...na, na, na, na, na! :D

Trials and tribulations of the famous

"Hi! After a long time huh? How you doing?" - that; coming from a guy I've never seen in my life!

"My! so sweet...you read news no...hallo hallo! she's my niece?" - Irately annoyingly overstuffed relation

At a recent prize giving....the photographer claims... "Very good! very good! You're improving! I watching you everday!"

The most hilarious is the following incident that took place a wedding recently:

BM: Hi! How are you ah?
Moi: Er...[cringe...cringe] Ok... [smile] er...do you er...know me? [flashes bright smile]
BM: Ah! yes men...can't you remember me? I know you men...
Moi: Really? [gives it some though]...ok...but er...how exactly do yo know me?
BM: What men? you're asking questions like that?...Don't you know me..???? HUH?Can't remember the?
Moi: [shrugs...obviously embarrassed] er...no!
BM: I also can't remember...but...you're SO familiar...I KNOW YOU!...I just know it!

- In the background - Bridesmaids screaming -- "You Dodo! You...don't...know...her..."

Moi hears faint traces of 'she's on tv'...

I hastily...flashed a bright smile...and excused myself with some odd muttered excuse...

It no longer be my type of 'Commons'

Common’s has shifted. They’ve closed shop opposite CitiBank and have moved to the former ice cream shop close to LC – the name of that place seems to elude me much to my annoyance (talk about positioning your product!)

I dropped in the other day – and its not so great…believe me…the whole Common’s experience is lost. They’ve just modified on the ‘ice cream shop’ stuff it a wee bit…but all in all – they’ve lost the personality of Common’s. It’s been converted into a total ‘indoor’ coffee place…NOT GOOD!

It’s a new menu card – the girl behind the counter now has a uniform and so does the guy who serves you all the stuff…oh and … they still don’t have nice, yummy couches…

The food is still the same – especially those scrumptious melts…I recommend the lamb melt…absolutely SUPER-DUPER!

Another test!

ME - MATURE PERSON EH? ;)

You Are 23 Years Old

23 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

r@mblings...

URGH! I hate having to be nice to people...It's just a waste of time anyways.

I've got too many things to do...but paradoxically I like having millions of things to do as opposed to being stuck with nothing to do and feeling simply useless.

I need a LONG luxurious vacation!

messing around...

"Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?"
- Edgar Allen Poe

"Love is, above all, the gift of oneself. "
- Jean Anouilh

"Those have most power to hurt us that we love. "
- Francis Beaumont

"Hope is a thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings a tune without words
And never stops at all."
- Emily Dickinson

fOolS

Dreams are made of all things impossible. That’s why they are called dreams. Some people are just gullible enough to build their aspirations on their dreams and then watch them all tumble down. It’s happened every single time.

Naivety...(be there such a word?)

If only i didn't trust so easy...

Things would be much better than this.

Right now -- all shit has hit the ceiling,

And it just sucks!

You know, at the end of the day its just YOU for YOURSELF!

NOBODY else matters or neither will YOU matter to THEM!

We live in such a self-centered world!

Shoot me for caring!

Confused!

I've been tricked into living...

I'm running around like some definition of insanity...

At the end of the day...all my work is in vain...at least it feels like it!

And...then...I'm back to square one!

I'm telling u - life ain't serious, not the way we think it is...

Life's twisted! DAMMIT! I'm such a fool!

Happy? Sad? Angry? Revengeful?

What is it about human emotion that is so fickle? One moment it's utter bliss and the next it's mountainous layers of rage heaped one on top of the other.

Yesterday, I could have torn a select group of people from limb to limb unmercilessly and watched them writhe in pain while they died a wonderfully satisfying death -- but today, it's a whole new feeling.

I loathe hope!

It brings with it such expectation and dreams built on fluffly white clouds lined generously with linings of several hues of silver, though all existing in an ever-so fragile bubble only to burst shortly afterwards and lo and behold its the emotion of despair and disappointment. It's a horribly depressing feeling.

Oh! If only I could master these emotions!

"One sheds one's sicknesses in books -- repeats and presents again one's emotions, to be master of them."
- D.H. Lawrence

"The actor becomes an emotional athlete. The process is painful -- my personal life suffers."
- Al Pacino

"There are strings in the human heart that had better not be vibrated."
- Charles Dickens

ARGH!

Ok! I'm in a bad mood...keep taking it out on everyone around me...

NOT GOOD!

Tidal Wave...

So we set off on a fine Sunday morning towards Hikkaduwa because the kids wanted to see the coral reef and have a go on the glass bottom boats...

I being sick and all that was not in the mood to go...but did I have a choice with the kids? NO!

Little did I know what lay ahead...

Just past Kalutara and almost close to Beruwala one peculiarity we noticed was that the sea level was really high...but then...none of us thought too much about it...

And just then all I remember was a HUGE wave that just came onto shore and water everywhere and then...nothing...I was speechless...frozen...freaked...

At that moment...I knew it...i was dead.

I saw bodies go floating by, vehicles, houses, trees and even boats...

All we could do was pray, and pray we did incessantly...

The water kept on rising, it started to fill up the van as well...by then the water was at least 4 and a half feet high...

After half an hour -- that felt like a few million lifetimes...the water receded...

But all over death, destruction, crying children, people...

It was horrible.

By the grace of Almighty Allah we were saved.

OH GOSH! Never thought I'd live to see another day...

The dragon lady from hell

She doesn't know me...she thinks she does...but she has it all wrong...

If she only stopped to understand me and accept me for who I am...things would be different!

But NO! I have become a figment of her imagination...or at least I'm supposed to take after that imaginary person she has in her head...BUT THAT'S NOT ME! Why on earth can't she understand that? HUH?

I'm trapped! I'm worse off than any criminal who's been sentenced for life at the worst prison ever!...

Trapped by all her rules and regulations and her NO's seem to close in on me wherever I go, whatever I do!

This has got to stop!

HELP! Please...

BAD! BAD! BAD!

Me messed up BIIIIIIIIIIIG TIME!

SHIT SCENE!

Of saris and things...

I started off today in such a bad mood assuming the rest of the gang hadn't turned up and boy was I pissed...it turned out they were taking refuge upstairs :)
Anyways Aru's plan to ditch the rest and go for a SALE - was stopped by me (which i regretted later) and from then on it was BUSY! BUSY! BUSY!
After much discussion a part of the gang finally went for the sale and gaped and gawked at all the pweety earrings and kurta tops (much favoured by the gang) and THEN reality bites!
"Girls! You are broke!" (Yuck! I hate hearing that)
Suddenly we realize we are late coz me and Aru have to get home, get our saris and go to get dressed (since we cannot simply wrap ourselves in the 6 yards or metres or whatever the standard length is of a bloody sari) and rushed home...
We were going for a convocation (NOTE: not ours)
After that things were a whirlwind...
NOW COMES THE BEST PART!
When we go to the sari-dresser-person Aru realizes she in fact had NOT brought her sari blouse (SweetIdiot rolls around with much wicked laughter at the recollection)
And guess what? Aru substituted SweetIdiot's Lee tee for her sari blouse - temporarily that is - until she got home.
The best part was watching Aru trying her best to camouflage the fact that she had donned a tee shirt and a HUGE one at that! And the end result being Aru looking like 'lickle' SweetIdiot's mommy!
[Snicker!]
[Wicked grin!]

Aru - told ya I'd blog about this!