Cultural activities pick up as Covid cases decline
MUSSOORIE: With the Covid-19 positive cases plummeting, cultural activities have picked up in several universities in Uttarakhand.
To mark the World Theatre Day, students enacted two plays, written by theatre personality Lalit Mohan Thapliyal, at the Centre for Folk Performing Arts and Culture Auditorium, Srinagar, in Pauri on Sunday evening. Dr MN Gairola, a surgeon, inaugurated the play.
“We selected two plays titled “Jhamela” (confusion) and “Is Desh ka Kya Hoga”(What will happen to this country?), both written by Lalit Mohan Thapliyal several years back. They are a satire on social taboos and changing social preferences of the time,” said DR Purohit, the founder-director of the centre who is also an adjunct professor in the HNB Garhwal university.
“Cultural activities, such as plays and folk exhibitions, are important ways to address the emotional deprivation that was being felt in the town for the past two years when all such activities stopped due to Covid restrictions.
No with Covid restrictions being eased, such activities will help infuse positivity in the society and raise the morale of the people,” said Purohit.
An exhibition of the traditional folk art in form of masks depicting religious characters from Garhwal was held in front lawns of the auditorium. The masks prepared by the students attracted the audience coming to watch the plays, said the organisers.
“Most of the activities were shut due to the Covid pandemic and the students who trained for 26 days performed the two plays. Renowned playwright Lalit Mohan Thapliyal, who passed away in 2005, is considered as Kalidas of Garhwal owing to the efforts he made in popularising drama during his time,” said Mahendra Panwar, director and a pass-out from the National School of Drama in Delhi, who trained the students for the plays.
“We selected the plays written by Thapliyal who was successful in creating a balance between relationships, intentions, and circumstances through his power of imagination. His social dramas are relevant even today,” Panwar said.
A series of five-day theatre and dance performances in Garhwali, Hindi, English and French also began at Doon university with the religious dance and theatrical performance in Garhwali dialect ‘Chakravyuha,’ a popular episode of Mahabharata.
“Traditional festivals and collective participation of society came to halt for quite some time depriving people of collective social and cultural life and we are glad to organize these activities and openly invite people from across the region as people have stayed indoor for far longer and witnessed a series of psychological and stress-related problems during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown period,” said Professor Surekha Dangwal Doon University Vice-Chancellor.
This is also an attempt to attract people away from their gadgets such as television and mobile phone as all of us have become dependent on them for entertainment, social interaction, and cultural communication, she added.