A scholar, a
nature lover, a visionary who believed in the importance of
local industry, an honorable opponent, a loving father and
husband, a good administrator… Is this the Tipu Sultan we know and recognize? No?
Yet all these
different dimensions to the Tiger of Mysore were on display at
the Goodbooks Bookstore, Abhiramapuram on the evening of 15th
August. Did you know that the wooden toy industry in Chennapatna was Tipu Sultan’s
brainchild?
Well, here’s
another fascinating nugget… when Tipu’s father, Hyder Ali,
asked him to name his wedding gift, Tipu an avid reader, requested that a
library be set up which he then nurtured and treasured till his
death. It grew to house thousands of books from all over the world, which considering the barriers
of time and distance prevalent two centuries ago was no mean feat.
Inspired by
the success of Tulika’s Read and Color Freedom Stories series,
the evening with Tipu Sultan was felicitous idea. Children with
a yen for history or reading, children without an interest in
either, pre-schoolers to teenagers – all of them sat mesmerized as Tipu came alive. It was a production
they will remember - a combination of the acting prowess of the Madras
Players, the eloquence of Vasanthi Shakaranarayanan, author of
a book on Tipu Sultan and the magic of the costumes designed by Sarika Kamalahasan and
sets by Thota Tharani.
Skilfully put
together, the evening consisted of three disparate scenes - two
of them chosen from the play "The Dreams of Tipu
Sultan" by Girish Karnad, strung together by Vasanthi in
her role as ‘sutradhar’.
The children
watched with unwavering attention as Tipu Sultan, played
rivetingly by Aseem Sharma, faced his worries and opponents with equal
courage. The first vignette dealt largely with Tipu as the
family man.... Tipu gave us glimpses of his persona as an
indulgent father and husband.
The second
scene shifted focus to his confrontation with Hari Pant (Arun
Mani), the Maratha ruler who had joined hands with the British.
Powerfully enacted it gave ample scope for much verbal thunder and fire from the Tiger
of Mysore....
However it was
the last scene, an informal, ad-lib encounter between Tipu and a modern-day lay journalist that really brought the audience to
life. The children thoroughly appreciated Tipu’s opinions on
motorbikes, aeroplanes, computers and even Veerappan.
He probably
hit the nail on the head when he declared, "In my time
nobody negotiated with a bandit. What the man is doing is wrong.
If it were my kingdom, I would just send a hundred soldiers and chop off his
head". Summary justice, even a tad violent, but probably effective and all Tipu - if he
had never stooped to negotiating with the English, why negotiate with a bandit?
An eloquent
way to commemorate Independence Day, this was part of an ongoing process at Goodbooks. Despite the obvious constraints of
space the effort illustrated their desire to reach out and connect with
children, remind them of their common past, their collective cultural ethos, the men
and women who should be their heroes. Unfortunately,
like many of his contemporaries, Tipu has become a cardboard
cutout. For most kids his name evokes musty memories of tigers .
. . battle . . . betrayal and deceit but nothing really tangible to
hold on to.
Why is history
usually more fascinating to an adult? Probably because,
with maturity, the minds eye enlarges to include the
possibilities of lives gone by, of times past, the
changing face of reality. Children need to be woken up to the power and passion that is history - after all these are real
people we are talking about. They lived, they breathed, they
ate, they played, they laughed and they fought.
There, in
essence, lay the success of the evening – Tipu Sultan got
a
life!
