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Princeton Play Probes Desi Experiences

Arthur J Pais

When he was a student at Brown University, Karthick Ramakrishnan produced several skits probing the lives of second generation desis like himself.

When he joined Princeton University graduate program in political science last year, he was disappointed to find there was hardly a desi theater over there.

"Princeton University has an excellent student theater tradition," Ramakrishnan says. "And yet there was nothing here that dealt with south Asian lives."

Last year, Ramakrishnan broached the subject of producing skits about desi experiences, and a handful of other Princetonians, including Sachin Shah, a molecular biology student, volunteered.

Shah and Ramakrishnan sat down to write a 30-minute long skit, which eventually became a two-hour show. And now they also have a group, Princeton South Asian Theatrics (P-SAT).

With the money saved from last year's event, the two are taking the show, "Desi Of Our Lives" to half a dozen cities.

The first play by P-SAT deals humorously with issues such as identity crises, generation gap and immigrant life in the US. Indian politics is not ignored, either; the desi involvement with BJP is also dissected.

"We are using the format of Bollywood movies to discuss issues affecting Indian Americans," says Shah.

"The play has elements of fantasy like in Bollywood films, including the poor boy meeting rich girl formula but it uses the format to look at serious and poignant issues about our community."

The play, with a cast of 15, revolves around a lower-class family contemplating sending its son to Princeton University, an upper-class family sending its son to the same university, and life among desi students on the campus. The writers have also directed the play and have two roles in it.

P-SAT, one of the first south Asian student theater groups in the country, plans to produce more plays about immigrant lives at Princeton University and elsewhere.

The schedule:

November 4, 7 pm: Wachusett Regional High School, Holden, Massachusetts, just north of Worcester on I-190. Tickets: $ 5.

For directions, go to http://www.wrsd.net/wrhs/about.html.

November 5, 7.30 pm: At MIT's 1,200-seat Kresge Auditorium, 84 Massachusetts Avenue. For details, contact Selina Allibhai (selin-@mit.edu) or Sonia Garg (gar-@mit.edu).

November 6, 7.30 pm: Brown University, List 120, near the Rockefeller Library, tickets, $ 2.

November 12, 7 pm: University of Pennsylvania, Rainey Auditorium; tickets: $ 5.

November 18-20, 7 pm: Princeton University, Forbes College; tickets: $ 5.

For more details about the group, go to www.princeton.edu/~psat or email psat@princeton.edu.

For reservations, e-mail psat@mail.com. For other details, contact Karthick Ramakrishnan; (609) 688-9846; or Sachin Shah, (609) 258-7813.

If you would like to post any information about forthcoming events or community happenings, please email the details to bettypais@aol.com

Information and photographs can also be mailed to Betty Pais at 87-52 108th Street, 2nd Floor, Richmond Hill, NY 11418-2229, USA.

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