Bhagalpur, famous for its silk sarees was our next stop. Unfortunately, the famous silk industry is suffering due to the power shortage in the village. The workers and weavers of the industries have taken up other jobs to earn a basic living.
Our theatre yatris altered their street play script according to the problems faced by the local people and brought out the issues in public in an interactive manner. This time the play saw some fresh faces. Senthil, one the yatris coming from the southern part of the country was quite a hit with his broken Hindi pronunciations. Thanks to the bit of Bhojpuri I had managed to learn along the yatra, I too got a part in the play. Senthil and I acted as tourists perplexed at the non existence of the famous silk sarees of the place. There were new songs in the script and some new dance steps making it really popular with the audience.
This yatra day had one more significance, it was the global campaign day for the 10:10 work party (10-10-2010). So after the event was over some of the Greenpeace yatris went to the banks of the river Ganga to show their support for the global campaign. Two women held a saree which read 10:10:10 and stood on the banks of Ganga. The idea was to give the message of river pollution as well.
The event came to an end with more people becoming aware of their rights and the significance of renewable energy over the conventional form of energy. It’s time to board the bus again and head to a new destination. You will hear about it soon.