The Story of Ganesh, Played on Stage, as an Inspiration
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By Jawahar Malhotra
STAFFORD: During one of the scenes when young dancers are performing for the Divine Family of Shiva, Parvati and the resurrected Ganesh, Masterji Indravadan Trivedi looks on from the podium just offstage, his turbaned head nodding slightly in rhythm to the music, eyes twinkling and his smiling face thrilled at the dancers’ steps. He had been transported back to the time when he was a quick and supple dancer who had performed many times on many Houston stages. Even though his now aged body can no longer keep pace, his heart beats like that young man who once enthralled audiences with his own mastery of dance. Hence the name!
The play “Ganesh Leela” hoped to take the audience back to a time when Hindu deities roamed the Vedic plains and performed deeds to show the value of righteousness and duty. Masterji took to the podium to start the narrative for the first scene which opened with Shiva (Hetal Patel) standing on one leg and his consort Parvati (Yogina Patel) dancing around him to the beat of a small drum.
As he goes to the next scene, Masterji intones, “There are two places you can live forever – in someone’s heart, and,” he looked upward and pointed, “in the blessings of God,” and opened into the scene where Parvati meets her young son Ganesh, played with confidence and energy by the 12 year-old Ishaan Vijayvergiya who delivered all his lines flawlessly in Hindi. As the story continues and an enraged Shiva kills Ganesh (who is protecting his mother) not knowing he is his son, an infuriated Parvati, incarnated as Durga, stands motionless and resolute with a trident in her hands while the worshippers dance around her to the captivating beat of a bhajan.
This is the depiction of how ego destroys relationships, as the emcee for the program, Ina Patel, described and added that “faith and duty with all its responsibilities are as good as God.” In the next scene, Parvati exhorts Shiva to “bring my son back to life,” and implores Vishnu (Samrat Sager) to intervene. Shiva asks Brahma (Nalin Bhuta) to bring back the head of the first creature he crosses with its head facing north and when he returns with the head of a strong elephant, Shiva attaches it to Ganesh’s body and breathes life into him. Aghast, when Parvati asks why he did so, Shiva assures her that her son, Ganesh (now played by the much older, rotund Girish Naik), will be the first deity that people will implore before undertaking any new venture or ceremony.
The play, Ganesh Leela, delivered entirely in Hindi (for which the cast 26 rehearsed and memorized the lines) was presented at the Old Stafford Civic Center last Friday evening, December 8 to an anticipated large audience but sadly few attended as the weather – this time the day after it snowed – once again intervened. “The play was cancelled in September due to Hurricane Harvey,” said Anand Trivedi, Masterji’s nephew, at the irony as the show opened, “and now we are facing the first snow in eight years. Merry Christmas!” As Mukta Vijayvergiya sang and Daxina Mehta handed out the diyas, the major sponsors were called onstage to light the ceremonial lamps.
This Hindi play on Hindu deities is the second one produced by Masterji’s Shree Madandham Center and Manoranjan Inc., after Har Har Mahadev was presented last year on the life of Shiva. It features many of the same cast of mostly seniors (who seem to completely relish flowing into their characters, like Vibhash Dhurandhar as Narad Muni and Jagruti Patel as the seductive Tulsi) and sponsors. Just as last year, the period costumes are lavish and brilliant, as was the set with twin peacock-tailed sofas and sequined long hanging drapes.
The bug surprise of the program was the chief guest, none other than Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale of Gallery Furniture who has become an icon in his adopted hometown. Introduced by Trivedi and Swapnil Agarwal, McIngvale is as humble as he comes across on television, and spoke about his love for helping others, for which he has become legendary. “I learnt a lot from this play about duty, responsibility and faith and how it’s not if God can, but God will,” exclaimed McIngvale from the podium. “God brought us all together, forget about left and right politics. We need unity in community as we are meant to exist in groups.” And in parting, he couldn’t resist a plug for his business. “One last thing … if you need a new mattress, Gallery Furniture delivers tonight!” he said with a grin!