'Self-awareness' marked the overarching theme of 'Musafir' - a thought-provoking two-act Hindi play presented by Perennial Theater of Boston on October 11, 2008 at Keefe Auditorium in Framingham, MA.  The show was dedicated to the memory of the late Dr. Vinod Chungi, a towering community leader, art enthusiast and co-founder of Perennial Theater who passed away a year ago.  Vinodji, as he was popularly known, was an ardent student of the Bhagvad Gita and the precepts of Hindu philosophy. Self-awareness and kindness towards one and all were notable guiding principles of his life.
 
The afternoon began with a welcome speech by Deepa Chungi-Danker, elder daughter of Vinodji, to celebrate his love of the arts.  This was followed by an introduction to his life and his pioneering efforts towards mobilizing a theater movement in the Boston area by Sanjeevani Kukreja.  A moving rendition of the poem "They said it can't be done" captured the essence of Vinodji's services.
 
Musafir (The Traveler) is the Hindi adaption of the award-winning Marathi play 'Ashi Pakhare Yeti' (loosely translated as 'Fleeting Memories') written by Padmabhushan the late Shri Vijay Tendulkar and directed by Shri Mohan Dali.  In true Tendulkar style, it is an honest commentary on society's double standards toward women.
 
Saru (Meghna Singhal) is your typical middle-class young lady who is struggling with self-esteem issues.  In spite of her parents' (Mahesh Gadgil and Swati Bhattacharya) and brother Banda's (Saujanya Pangarekar) desperate show-casing efforts, she has been rejected by many average prospective grooms because she is, well, average.  Or is she?  Enter Arun (Dr. Durgesh Vaidya), a happy-go-lucky yet immensely self-aware visitor (aka the traveler).  Through a series of tactful and emotionally intelligent conversations, Arun engineers a stunning transformation of Saru into a beautiful, articulate, and socially-confident individual.  So much so, that she unintentionally steals the heart of a good-looking, educated and classy gentleman by the name of Vishwas (Preetesh Shrivastava).
 
To maintain a relentless focus on the central message, Tendulkar dispenses with conventional techniques while resorting to minimalistic sets and props.  The narrative is set in the form of a 'memory play' in which the audience is actively engaged in the episodes - including the suspenseful twist at the end (played by Anoushka Shahane).
 
Mohan Dali's direction did perfect justice to this framework.  His vision of the subtle intermingling of light-hearted moments against the serious undercurrent of domestic conflict was successful.  This was supported by excellent performances by all actors who exercised discipline to remain true to the emotional fabric of the play.  Simplistic yet powerfully symbolic sets (designed by Dr. Rohit Jangi) added the perfect visual accents to the atmosphere depicted in Tendulkar's script.  The use of focus and background lighting (Uday Virkud) and musical score (Sudhakar Garad and Saket Joshi) rounded off the audio-visual experience for the audience who could not help respond with moments of laughter and thoughtful silences as the story unfolded.  After the show, all in audience remarked how the evening was nostalgic of professional theater experiences back in India.
 
The event culminated with a sincere vote of thanks to all attendees by Divya Chungi, younger daughter of Vinodji.
 
"Vinod would have been very proud of the experience", said Mrs. Shubha Chungi after judging the audience's applause and compliments including those for the production cast (Anupama Tipnis, Sujit Potdar, Sharmila Wagle and Uday Wagle).  "Tendulkar was one of Vinod's favorite authors and this play was thought to be the best tribute to him", she added.
 
"The resonance of the play depends tremendously on the actors involved", said Mohan Dali the director and a close friend of Tendulkar.  "Like in any art form, the script only hints at key emotional turning points which have to be interpreted and brought into the foreground to make the context complete", he explained.
 
If audience reaction is any indication, there would be a second show planned by Perennial Theater soon.  That would be recommended as a must-see for theater afficianados who missed this gem of a performance.

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