large part of his life. His poems reached the masses through oral transmission. The rendition of this poem was also an oral exercise and an invocation, as it was chanted simultaneously in two languages— English and Hindi. Those who knew both the languages could seamlessly move from one to the other, while those who were less familiar with either of the languages could treat the unknown language as a musical score, as Hartman suggested in his introduction to the piece. The same technique was also used while performing the poem “I still read” by Uma Narayan. The poem spoke about the defiance of a young woman in the face of societal impositions of tradition, and stereotypes associated with being a woman. The conflux of three languages—English, Hindi and Tamil, however, got confusing to the
The Space Theatre Ensemble performing at Cubbon Park, Ban
Andrea Johnson of the Space Theatre Ensemble performing at the Dissent Conference in September 2013 (Source: Kranti Reclaiming Dissent)
point that it was difficult to understand what the performers were saying. Perhaps the cacophony that gave the effect of a disconcerting sensation was deliberate so as to convey the struggles of being a woman in our patriarchal society. These