Akhilesh "Akki" Singh
1. People in this play
Akhilesh “Akki” Singh
Akki’s the pampered only son of a Rajput, dominant-caste land-owning (zamindar) family. While he grew up shuttling between Patna and New Delhi, home was always the zamindar ki haveli. Akki has two sisters and a younger brother, but he knows that he will take on the responsibility of the family, the business and the family lands one day. For now, he is enjoying studying Management & Economics at this British university. Akki’s family has a conservative outlook, steeped in the mainstream patriarchal norms of Bihar, which Akki has never questioned. He revels in the respect and adoration he gets as the zamindar’s son and heir, both from his extended family and all the people in his district.
Hari Ramakrishnan
Hari is from New Delhi and is doing an MA in Big Data Studies. His career goal is a tenured chair at a university, teaching and researching. Hari is a proud Brahmin (although he prefers to call himself Hindu Indian) and believes in the superiority of his religious beliefs. He visits the local temple in the university town as often as he can. He has also made a small temple on a table in a corner of his room to seek blessings every morning. He loves the comforts and clarity his traditions provide but equally enjoys the freedoms he experiences in the university, now that he is no longer constantly under his parents’ eyes. Hari’s favourite pastime is debating and he is a member of the same student association as Sam (see below). He frequently participates in campus discussions around life in India, which he defends to the best of his ability.
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Latha “LG” Guruswamy
LG is a second-generation non-resident Indian (NRI). Both her parents are doctors who had migrated from India after gaining their medical degrees. LG’s father, Keval, is from a Brahmin family of temple priests in Andhra Pradesh. Keval met LG’s mother, Shalini Gupta, in medical school. Shalini’s family was in the cloth retail business in Uttar Pradesh for some generations, and she was the pampered ‘rebel’. Their inter-caste marriage had been accepted on both sides despite the north-south divide: for the Guptas, having a Brahmin son in law raised their status even more. And they lavished a generous dowry on their daughter that was well received in the temple priest’s household. The Guruswamys live in a sprawling detached house in a small town close to the university. LG has been friends with Sam and Lisa (see below) since high school. She is studying law but also belongs to a sociology study group. She is in a live-in relationship with Zara, a journalism student at the university she met in the study group. Her parents are unaware that she is queer. They are focused on scouting around for a suitable wife for her brother, their beloved son.
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Lisa Holmes
Lisa is studying sociology. She is Black British. Her grandparents came to Britain from the Caribbean on the Windrush. Lisa grew up in a single parent household, with her mother working two low-wage jobs to keep the family together. Lisa is well clued into the social pressures and concerns that come with her background. This includes the British colonial racial oppression of the Caribbean’s Black people and her own Black working-class and gendered experiences. She is determined to fulfil her grandmother’s dream of having an academic in the family. She has been in a steady relationship with Sam since high school. They live together in rented student accommodation. Lisa loves gospel singing and is part of her local church choir.
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Manu Mathuru
Manu is originally from Madhya Pradesh, his father is a clerk in a state government department and his mother is a housewife. He came to this university on a scholarship four years ago for his MA in Anthropology. He stayed on to do his Doctorate in Development Studies as he won another grant for it. He did his Bachelor’s from Hindu College in New Delhi, having gained admission on an OBC reserved seat (although his school-leaving exam marks would have easily gained him a general seat). Manu enjoys debating and that’s how he met up with Hari on campus. They hold opposing views on many subjects, but their mutual respect and “common” Delhi background has resulted in an unlikely friendship. [OBC: Other Backward Class]
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​Samir “Sam” Kulkarni
Sam is a second-generation Indian British with a liberal upbringing, doing his MA in Management Science and Engineering. Sam’s father is a wealthy corporate and his mother is a society lady, on the board of many charities. Both had been born in Uganda and came to the UK when all South Asians were forced to leave that country. In Uganda, the Brahmin caste status of both families along with their business interests had enabled a privileged life in households employing several local Ugandan Africans as domestic servants. Sam has bolstered his limited first-hand exposure to India with reading, watching films/documentaries. He loves discussing many aspects of the country with his cousins in India. Lately he has joined a few WhatsApp discussion groups, which he thinks helps him understand current affairs quickly, although sometimes the messages in a couple of them directly contradict each other.
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​The setting
In a space in the university town of Bristol, UK. The six friends are chilling out on a lazy Friday evening. Manu is checking his newsfeed on his mobile, while the rest are having a friendly banter.
2. Script for Akki
Manu:
Latha “LG”:
Manu:
Sam:
Manu:
Lisa:
Manu:i
Lisa: Yep! … ... ... ... ... ... that …
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Akki: Hang on Lisa, how would you know that with so much certainty Manu?
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Manu:
Lisa:
Hari:
Lisa:
Hari: Yes,… ... ... ... ... ... I think …
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Akki [impatiently]: Hang in there Hari, it’s defo caste – why are you being shy about it? You yourself said there’s nothing wrong with it, in fact it’s the right thing to do – marry in your own caste. No mixing of blood, no thank you. But in that case you’re talking about, yaar just think - which parents would want to harm their own child? Kausalya’s parents acted out of the right intentions – they wanted to save her from all the hurdles she would’ve faced in that so-called marriage. That’s why the High Court would’ve set them free. [Pause] I think that the reason society is in such a mess today is because it’s become fashionable to disregard the wisdom from our Vedas and all. Having said that, Thevars are OBCs so not very refined people.
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Latha “LG”:
Hari:
Latha “LG”]:
Lisa:
Hari:
Latha “LG”:
Lisa:
Sam:
Manu:
Hari: Really? … ... ... ... ... ... a change.
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Akki: Yep, I agree. How do you know that this Manoj Mitta isn’t biased Manu?
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Latha “LG”:
Hari:
Lisa:
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Akki: What happened to George Floyd is awful of course but you know, such things don’t happen every day … Come to think of it, why only Black lives? All lives matter in my view.
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Lisa:
Sam:
Lisa:
Hari:
Sam: Actually you … ... ... ... ... ... fragility!
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Akki [impatiently]: That’s rubbish … we’re not that weak.
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Lisa:
Manu:
Latha “LG”: You reminded … ... ... ... ... ... in this situation?
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Akki: Not at all, Bihar isn’t that backward …
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Sam:
Latha “LG”:
Lisa: Aww sweetheart … ... ... ... ... ... really racist!
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Akki: To be fair, this fascination for fair skin is so universal, Lisa. We saw that in the treatment of the people fleeing Ukraine … how the border guards were letting the fair skinned through and not the Indians and Africans. In India we had face cream called Fair & Lovely, my cousins used it all the time.
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Hari:
Manu:
Lisa: When I … ... ... ... ... ... us down [laughing]
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Akki: But white is like the neutral world over. We always need a default starting point for most things … it’s like the international date line and GMT …
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Latha “LG”:
Lisa: Akki, these … ... ... ... ... ... dark times …
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Akki: C’mon – those are just words yaa, just because I say dark times doesn’t mean I think you’re suspect. And I don’t believe Sam’s conclusion about that Aadhar card thing being a caste issue for that woman in the village. She was poor, that's it – could be any caste. We have many poor Brahmins in Bihar even though we have made a lot of progress.
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Sam:
Latha “LG”:
Hari:
Sam: You are … ... ... ... ... ... savarna folks.
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Akki: Yaar, it's become fashionable to criticise everything to do with Hinduism aaj kal. Makes me so angry. We’ve got this really glorious culture, we gave yoga to the world yaar ... you guys are just hell-bent on dissing it for nothing.
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Latha “LG”:
Lisa:
Latha “LG”:
Manu:
Latha “LG” [interrupting]: You know, … ... ... ... ... ... intertwined!
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Akki: There you go again with your Phule/Ambedkar thing … as if Malviya-ji, Veer Savarkar-ji, Golwalkar Guruji don’t matter!
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Hari:
Latha “LG”:
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END