This performance addresses socio political situations in Gujarat,
India, done in 2003 a year later communal massacre happened in Godhra. The
communal violence took thousands of lives and many were left homeless. This
massacre unfolded right in front of my eyes and I went through many horrific
experiences and I tried to bring in my traumatic experience through this
performance. The experience during
the riots was terrifying. The city on fire, being surrounded by sensitive areas,
the experience of Gas cylinder bursting
in neighboring lane from the burning houses, Milk man coming in middle of
night, black commandos patrolling on streets. Hearing heart breaking stories of
terror and violence’s where people were brutally killed by mobs, Women and
children who were tortured and killed. Groups of mob came in hundreds and
thousands killing and looting the people, houses and shops. Experiences of all
this in my closed room with fear of that this can also happen to me anytime.
This experience of fear
amplified with time as I could not see any news of the situation as there was
no TV and with no sign of slowing down of riots in the city or in neighboring town
and villages. I was only relieved from this situation and traumatic experience
after the curfew was called off in four days. The city looked very different
after that riots, there were hundreds of small houses in next lane belonging to
one community, they were all burnt to ashes, people were killed, some of them escaped
and fled, only vacant, broken and burnt houses left. It is very difficult to
explain in word the loss and pain of the people during these riots.
The performance
was a combination of audio-video and live performance. The video shoot was done
in Baroda; the video was combination of my performance, passion of saffron
color, fear, lost dreams and pain, the fragmented and
random images from city life this shots were amalgamated which were
juxtaposed in layers. The video was supported by continues audio of railways
tracks, which constantly reminds the "Burning Train" incident in
Godhra massacre.
There was an additional
audio along with video, voice given by Mumbai based Artist Bharati Kapadia, the
audio narrates my journey and obsession with saffron color the color of passion
and strength and how this color later on turned into color of fear and terror. Basically this
performance raised some of the basic questions of common man/women, their
fears, insecurity, communal harmony, freedom and socio-political rights in the
society. Questions like why history keeps on repeating and when there will be
an end to such bloody violence.
The live
performance was an act to bring out the traumatic experience of a person who
has got stuck in fire, with no escape situation, the traumatic experience, the
pain of burning live, and the cry for life. I tried to bring in all this
experiences, with ritualistic performance of symbolically marking the border in
saffron color and placing green house inside this boundary. The performance was
basically to invoke the feeling of fear and terror inside the burning house and
bring out the traumatic experience in front of audience. Then in the end of
performance the green house was burnt. This
performance work performed in many cities (Ahmadabad, Mumbai and in Bangalore) in
front of varied audience which gave me opportunity to reach out community in
large there by spreading my concerns.
