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The street play under way in the Mani Square courtyard. (Raina Kshetry)
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It is bad enough that people are dying of AIDS, but no one should die of ignorance.” So said actress Elizabeth Taylor, who worked for HIV awareness and ran an AIDS charity. On December 1, the Rotary Club of Calcutta Metro City, staged street plays at Mani Square to mark World AIDS Day and raise awareness.
The play was presented by theatre artists from Bhadrakali Art And Culture (BAAC) with a goal to foster awareness and initiate a change in the way people perceive those infected with this deadly disease.
Asked why the club chose street play as a medium of awareness, president Subhojit Roy said: “Theatre is the best medium which not only grabs attention but also connects with the audience. In India, there is still a social stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, with the infected being shunned by society and sometimes even their families. They are banished from all forms of social activities and deprived of their right to work and live in peace.”
Mrinal Das, an award-winning theatre artiste and founder of BAAC who played the lead role, was partnering Rotary to sensitise people. The play that his group put up on the courtyard of the mall for shoppers and curious onlookers was written and rehearsed within the span of one month. It was about a married couple who are banished from village after village because of them being AIDS patients. Fingers are pointed at their character. But the truth is both had contracted AIDS from an infected syringe with which the man was injected with blood during an operation for which the wife had also donated blood.
“It is unfortunate that in a country like India, people are still insensitive towards the HIV-infected, not realising that it is an infection of the blood and cannot spread by means of touch. Through our play we hope to spread this awareness,” he said.
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