It was at the opening of Neelam's new play that this reporter met Maria. Maria's Indian connection began with Neelam when she met the Punjabi theatre personality in Australia last year. Her itinerary will take her to cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Trissur where a ten-day-long Women's Theatre Festival is to be held in mid-December. And that will also take her to divas like Maya Krishna Rao, Amal Allana, Usha Ganguly and Veenapani Chawla. But why this all-women list of shopping? ``From the video-tapes and the reviews, what I observed was a domination of women directors in the contemporary Indian theatre. There are more themes woven around them and it is of special interest in the Indian context,'' Maria remarked. ``Moreover what I liked in the works of Anuradha and Neelam was that they have shown how elements from the past could be clubbed into contemporary scenario and produce a fine blend of theatre.''

Maria is yet to see the recent trends and happenings in the Indian theatre but is sure of one thing; that Indian theatre is different and very unique from the rest of the world theatre. ``I feel there is a lot of committed youngsters here, who, after having got their education and training in theatre abroad, are back searching for their roots. And the search and its outcome get reflected in their productions.'' But what about the trends in German theatre for we do not get to know much about the goings-on at that end? Maria has a smile and the shrug of `all is not well' kind. ``We are in financial as well as artistic crises.'' The change of generation has brought in no big names as were there during the intellectual wave of the 60s and 70s. ``My generation has not left any name but the solace is that a lot many youngsters are making things move now, mainly in the erstwhile East Germany.'' Financial problems made the festival become a triennale from the biennial event it has been for the past 20 years.Nevertheless Maria is happy that ever since the unification of Germany, it is the first time that a city in the former East German part will be hosting the festival.

And are we also not thrilled that for the first time our theatre will share the dais there along with fabulous productions from theatre across the globe?

Feminists take centre stage
Last week saw a lot of feminist activity here on Punjab University campus. The local Institute of Punjab Studies could not have thought of a response better than what it got in the three-day (November 27 to 29) seminar on `Gender Relations in the Punjab' which was attended by 30 experts from places even as far as Lucknow. Among the stormy ones were Urvashi Butalia, the publisher of `Kali for Women' and Rupan Deol Bajaj, the gutsy IAS officer who took a supercop to court and in whose case the expression, `outraging the modesty of woman', was first defined by the court.

The deliberations were eye-opening indeed and some very interesting facts came to light. The paper by Dr Pankaj Singh from Himachal University brought out a clear patriarchal bias in Waris Shah's Heer. We would normally appreciate this paean of love, little knowing that it consciously extols Ranjha who has no prime attributes except good looks. Heer, no doubt, is presented as a strong character, but is still shown to be servile to Ranjha in various ways. Dr Pankaj explained the gender bias through verses from the legend. Another interesting point was raised by Shalini Shah, from Indra Prastha College, Delhi who talked about gender and sexuality in the ancient Punjab. She brought out a case study of the Mahabharata, and told how and why Karna was critical of the women of ancient Punjab.

Kamlesh Mohan of PU talked about the sociology of a girl child. "The boy and the girl grow up to fit the social roles assigned to them. Unless we question the role itself, we can't think of eliminating the existing bias," she said. The point was strengthened by Rupan Deol Bajaj who used her own case as a launching pad to highlight the need for gender sensitisation. "Through the process of socialisation, women get conditioned to stereotype roles. They don't question the existing system which is so prejudiced against them".

The myth that Sati was not practised in the Punjab was dispelled by Prof Indu Banga of PU. Her account of the women who sat on the pyre of their dead husbands with whom they had not even spent a day, and another of a girl who was made to burn herself with the turban and sword of her husband, showed how deeply the Punjabis were concerned about their `family honour'. The crux of 22 papers presented on the occasion was that women activists in India still had a long way to go. In fact, "miles to go before they slept."

Festive creations
The creator of a magnum-opus, the Rock Garden brought hues to the recently concluded carnival in the city. Nek Chand, the brain and the task force behind the ethnic and traditional entrance to the carnival in the Leisure Valley however, seemed to be living in a world of his own as he travelled and marvelled at his own creations. The grand entrance to the carnival was flanked with life-size mock horses, an innovation of Nek Chand; draped in the traditional red, green colours complete with their mock riders.

It took you in an era bygone when such an entrance would befit that of a royal palace. The riders, all in charge of their horses and keeping them under control with reins on the either side of the entrance seemed to stand out in your honour. The waiting ladies carved out of a non-living material, breathed life with the colourful odhnis draped around them. They held round platters containing flowers, petals and for once, one felt that the way would be showered with flowers with trumpets playing a score in the background.

Once you stepped inside, more surprises awaited and score of jhuggis spread out towards the right and left of the entrance housing its occupants. Placed in-between these jhuggis were Nek Chand's mannequins dressed as drum players, dholak players, more mock horses but this time, complete with live Nek Chand in charge of his dummy horse. He moved around happily, full of life and proudly introducing his prized creations to a group of young people. He seemed to ride on his dummy mount and when he alighted, introduced his dummy pals-oops- statues to his live friends. And to beat it all he even played the `dholak' that hung around the neck of one of this mannequins!