Grains of reality

Lekhana, a three-day literary event, was organised recently at National Gallery of Modern Arts (NGMA).

It was the City’s first ever multilingual literary fest with a host of activities such as panel discussions, readings, performances, book sales, book exchanges, poetry slam and student contests in writing and photography.

The theme for the weekend was ‘The City’. Panel discussions on various topics such as ‘New Kannada Writing’, ‘The Joys of Short Fiction’ and ‘What Stops Us from Saying What We Want to Say’ were carried out by writers from all languages across India. The NGMA collaborated with Toto Funds the Arts, Sangam House, Deshakaala and Reading Hour to organise this event.

Despite various other programmes, one of the most awaited events was the play ‘Five Grains of Sugar’.

Written by Manav Kaul, a Mumbai-based writer, ‘Five Grains of Sugar’ tells the story of Rajkumar, played by Munish Sharma, an “okay boy” from an “okay town” living an “okay life”. His mother loves Bollywood films and his uncle is a failed poet.

Also he is accompanied by an old Gandhian friend who constantly recreates his single meeting with the Mahatma and a classmate who is a style guru and an invisible long distance friend.

Rajkumar goes through his everyday life with idyllic charm and is surrounded by characters who are as irrepressible.

As Rajkumar narrates the story of his life and the noteworthy people in it, several points in the play shed light on the mediocre, trouble-free life of a boy who is comfortable with the happenings around the world.

Art-lovers from the City gathered at the NGMA to catch this play. Audiences were delighted with the performance by Munish. They definitely had a good evening as they burst into peals of laughter and kept laughing till the end.

Munish agreed that he is quite similar to Rajkumar, the character he essays in the play.
He said, “I can relate to Rajkumar. Not entirely but yes, I’m somewhat like him in real life.”
‘Five Grains of Sugar’ received a thunderous applause from the audience and Munish was congratulated for his non-stop performance which lasted for around 70 minutes.