When Mardana came alive

By Jagdish Singh

As the lights dimmed, the claps got louder, the audience realizing the show had come to the end and they could finally show their appreciation of what they’ve just witnessed. And of what they’ve just felt, emotions probably stirring from the story of the play, the performances, the melodious shabads sung, all meshed up into an experience none can forget.

It was the story about the extraordinary journey of an ordinary Marasi bard, best friend of Baba Nanak, Mardana. Each scene was carefully chosen to depict Mardana’s evolution from a boy who saw the divine in his friend nobody else saw, to the young man who knew his role as companion to his Baba, to the man who became the bard to the Bard of the One True Creator.

Baba Nanak was left to the imagination, only a voice was provided for the audience to know He was part of the story, if not the story all by Himself. Although the story told was as entertaining as it was important to bring to life such an integral character from our traditional Sikh psyche, the messages from the story told themselves were even more empowering. The powerful use of a narrator whom explained the messages clearly and succinctly made it all easier for anybody in the audience, young and old, to grasp the messages and appreciate them. The narration set each scene up so that the flow was flawless, and I personally enjoyed how Mardana’s thoughts and fears were told through breaking the fourth wall.

The messages from the story couldn’t be any more timely. Rather, they were timeless. After all, they were all the universal messages of Baba Nanak’s teachings. So, even while we were enjoying the show, we were absorbing His lessons on life, on conquering fear, on being humane and human in today’s world, even if the story was set during His lifetime. I couldn’t help but smile when I picked up on the social commentary that came with with these messages. Standing up to hypocrisy and justice for the downtrodden weren’t just hinted subtly but were loud and clear in the brilliantly written script.

It would be an injustice for me to single out any of the actors and actresses from such a wonderful cast brimming with talent. Each performance was memorable, the dialogue was so natural and the language used wasn’t Shakespearean in any way. And I say this in a very good way because the audience was captured in each scene and simply understood each scene well. Flawless execution from each of the cast members, from the youngest pandits to the oldest Mehta Kalu.

But equally guilty of stealing the show were the musicians and singers who interspersed each scene with melodic versions of shabads and songs. Both the acting and these musical performances had to go hand in hand, the voices and the instruments, especially the rabab, stirred the emotions even further. I could’ve sworn Lata Mangeshkar was in there somewhere.

And you would’ve thought, from the props and costume that were displayed, that this was an expensive production. Far from it. The exquisite costumes were majestic (and I literally mean majestic for one particular costume). Each were designed and crafted painfully and lovingly by volunteers, as is the same for the actors and performers. Each and every one of them volunteered just to be part of this story, to tell Mardana’s story. It was all within a shoe string budget, but the impression it gave was magnificent.

I’ve written earlier about the arts within the Sikh diaspora that would be the yardstick for us to gauge if we’ve grown as a community, matured as a society. This was the proof. We have much to be proud of. We have much to hope for, as the young talented people who got together to embark in this pivotal project has proven to all of us that we are growing for the better. Kudos to each and every one of you.

Jagdesh Singh, a Kuala Lumpur-based executive with a US multinational company, is a father of three girls who are as opinionated as their mother

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