Back in the limelight

Sitting in a balcony overlooking frayed, ageing buildings in the middle of Delhi's Shankar Market, a place I had ignorantly believed only stacked reams and reams of fabric, ladies' "suits" and the like, I am all set to witness a rehearsal.

This is the office of Bhartiya Natya Sangh, an organisation that I am surprised to find still exists (and functions) in the face of the shiny, "sponsored" spectacles of today.

In the May heat, there are no ACs, just two somewhat pokey rooms, barely furnished, let out to people given to theatrics. And practising they are. In a room inside, there's a doctor, a journalist, a homemaker who has trudged here all the way from suburbia, and even someone who would be an RJ in another, alternate world.

All of them are rehearsing a play to be performed later this month (at culture-savvy Mandi House) that will signal the relaunch of one of the country's oldest theatre and arts clubs