Play depicts senior citizens’ plight

Tribune News Service

Patiala, February 17

The Punjab and Sind Bank and North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC), Patiala, in collaboration with the Kalariti, Patiala, staged a Punjabi play, ‘Yeh Zindagi’, at Kalidasa Auditorium here.  The play, based on Chitra Mudgal’s famous Hindi novel, ‘Gilli Guddu’, was written and directed by noted theatre director, actress and short film director Parminderpal Kaur.  Attempts were made to focus on the aspects of how a senior citizen of a particular class needs to go through difficulties while living in a family in society.

Parminderpal’s latest dramatic tour-de-force ‘Yeh Zindgi’  is a soul-stirring play poignantly depicting the unspeakable agony, humiliation and shame suffered by senior citizens in the so-called civilised society of the 21st Century.

In the play, Jaswant Singh and Col Swamy, notwithstanding their past glory, are representatives of millions of their unfortunate brethren who are condemned to lead miserable lives due to the apathy, indifference and cruelty of their own children.  They desperately try to maintain the facade of being loved and accepted, but chinks in their armour betray their hollow claims.

The play is a powerful indictment of contemporary society which in its quest for mad, materialistic success and prestige is biding adieu to time-honoured values and human relations that have sustained the grand edifice of humanity for centuries.

Bhupinder Pal Singh Kanwal, DGM, Punjab and Sind Bank, Patiala zone, was the chief guest. While appreciating the role of Kalakriti, Parminderpal Kaur and the NZCC, Kanwal said it was a matter of concern that today’s generation neglect their parents and grandparents and, in turn, was deprived of the 

vast plethora of knowledge that the latter pass on to the youngsters. The play is the perfect depiction of the scenario in today’s society.