Prologue...

I have always experienced a lightness in my being...a strange feeling of 'home coming'.... great joy of accomplishment.....sublime sense of satisfaction - whenever I was on Stage. What is this feeling? I have asked myself. Most often "I don't know" was the answer or rather a preemptive response lest this feeling should be hijacked by some irksome questions. I became strangely possessive about this theatrical space, which to me was something beyond just being a rectangular physical space.

I used to sit on the floor of the stage and start staring at the bamboo ceiling and, believe me, used to lose myself. I often used to label these feelings - Nostalgic .... probably in one of my previous births I should have been a part of a theatre group and must have fallen off the bamboo ceiling and breathed my last on the floor of the stage. Well I know Iam a born pessimist.....I could not conjure a better 'previous birth' for myself.

A realisation born out of some kind of a passionate submission on my part to the theatrical expression led me to start discovering newer understanding of that theatrical space. Well atleast on the path towards that.

My theatrical experiences and experiments were immensely supported by a group of theatre aspirants, back in my college. I was very lucky to get such a dedicated lot. We used to discuss theatre hours on end....and never used to get tired. Individually, me inclusive, we were not experts...but collectively we found we were becoming a profoundly creative lot. Our varied backgrounds also helped us become holistically creative - one guy was a genius with the pallet and brush , one was a public speaker/anchor, one was an actor and a playwright, one was a violin genius, one was a creative writer, and so on. Each contributed to our discussion from various angles and enriched our discussions. In fact these are the guys who helped me discover myself.