On Saturday, catch Ramu Ramanathan's 'Conversations With A Peacock'

Ramu Ramanathan has compiled a series of 66 sketches in a book titled 'My Conversations With A Peacock', Saturday will see him do a reading from it

Ramu Ramanathan

Years ago, somewhere around 2011, playwright-director Ramu Ramanathan had penned a series of shorts, which chronicled his musings about an encounter with a peacock. The collection eventually came to be titled 'My Conversations With A Peacock', however, at that time, as Ramu says, "It was locked away and forgotten, until it finally got revived recently, by accident. There's a Marathi experimental theatre group called Aasakta. They organise a session called Ringan in which they invite known personalities to do a reading of their choice. That's where I did my first reading of My Conversations With A Peacock, last year," he adds.

Following several requests, Ramanathan will be doing another reading on Saturday at Clap, Malad. Explaining the curious title, he says, "The title is pretty straightforward actually. I once had an encounter with a peacock in a remote village on the Gujarat-Maharashtra border, called Dharampur. That's where you could say these verses began." He goes on to talk about the many "interesting" responses the readings have got so far. "People have called them ‘obtuse', ‘abstract', ‘weird'. But I don't think it is that complex. Years ago, when my wife and I were building a small home in Dharampur, on a lazy evening, I met this peacock right outside our house. It seemed he was in the middle of his mating call, when the peahens deserted him. He actually came and sat next to me. I offered him some mumphali (peanuts) which he graciously accepted. The rest, of course, is a play of my imagination, of a conversation two creatures had about their worldly problems." Ramanathan continues, "There is no parable, no witticism, it's fairly banal and mundane conversation."

In a way, however, he thinks that these sketches challenge the folklore stereotypes about peacocks being so proud and majestic. "Also, it could be a depiction of how real life is when the glitter fades away."

Ramanathan is eager to see the response to this reading. "Depending on that, I'll take a call on whether or not to do future readings of this compilation. I don't fancy myself as a great poetry reader or performer. This just happened by accident."

Where: Clap, 201, A-Wing, 2nd Floor Solitaire II, Opposite Infinity Mall, Malad
When: October 1st, 7:30 pm
Entry: 150
Call: 65876777