Women caught in a market’s paradox

By Preethi Ravi | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

Manipur’s Ema Keithel market is a much-talked about topic. Run only by women, it is considered one of the most recognisable cultural emblems of Imphal. Now, it’s all set to be recreated onstage in Bangalore.

Swar Thounaojam’s play Lucky Lobster will debut in Ranga Shankara on June 25. Thounaojam wrote Lucky Lobster when she won the Robert Bosch Art Grant for 2010.

“The performance is centred around a paradox — vendors of Ema Keithel have been glorified as an empowered collective and held as torchbearers of a broken state. However, these market nest generations of women harassed by their association leaders in the market and overworked at home to keep the families going,” says Thounaojam, 30, who has also directed the play.

The Ema Keithel is close to Thounaojam’s heart since her grandmother was a vendor and now her aunt is a vendor too. While mainstream perception of the market has been about these women’s active politics and as a powerful trade collective, their powerlessness at home went unnoticed. Thounaojam wanted to highlight this aspect. She researched this market phenomenon, talking to not just women, but academics, politicians, activists, and even the traffic police near the market!

This being her second directorial venture, Thounaojam is excited about presenting this play. The play’s four characters bring to life parts of Manipur that may be unknown to the rest of India. They are just as excited to be part of this venture.

“When I first heard the story from Swar, I was taken aback. We know very little about our own country and a play about the Ema Keithel has certainly opened up a new world for me,” says Vijay Nair, one of the actors who has a double role (one of them being a demented academic).

“It is an honour and a privilege to share the stage with an eminent theatre personality such as Lakshmi Krishnamurty,” he continues.

Krishnamurty, too, emphasises on the unusual and unfamiliar terrain the play covers. “It is different from other plays that I have been part of. It opens up a reality that is not familiar to most of us,” she says. An additional treat is store is the set of installations that bring a feel of Manipur to Ranga Shankara.

“Ranga Shankara has allowed us to transform the stage into an installation site. The installation will take the audience to the core or the context of Lucky Lobster,” says Thounaojam. Though nervous, she adds: “I am happy with the way things have gone. Bangalore’s audience is open-minded and it’s fun to put up a play for Bangalore.”