Prayas members stage Hata on the first evening of Mathkhai festival in Balangir. Telegraph picture

Balangir, Jan. 29: The perennial issue of west Odisha — plight of migrant labourers — came alive on stage when Rourkela-based theatre troupe Prayas presented the Odia play Hata (market) in the opening evening of the Mathkhai Mahotsav.

The mahotsav, a multilingual theatre event, began on the Koshal Kalamandal stage here yesterday.

Hata is the tale of a migrant labour family with the plot revolving around a family consisting of Jaimati, her husband Samaru and their son Bhagabana.

Samaru works as a migrant labourer in other states while Jaimati and Bhagabana stay at the village. Samaru used to send money to her wife and son and they led a happy life. But heaven falls upon Jaimati when one day Samaru returns home blind. His both eyes got damaged in an accident at the work place.

It becomes difficult for Jaimati to run the family. Soon the family ends up as a pauper as they have sold whatever they possessed. Samaru and Bhagabana take to begging to earn a living. But, Jaimati has a dream to educate her son. So, she accepts an offer to work in a sari factory and leaves the house. But little did she know that she is being taken to a brothel. Once she reaches there she has no way out.

In another development, a journalist, who is on the look out for sensational news for his newspaper, takes advantage of the poverty of Samaru. The scribe through false sympathy wins his confidence. He asks and succeeds to take away Bhagabana from Samaru in exchange of a few rupees and some rice promising that he would take care of Bhagabana’s education.

But the next day, the headline in the newspaper says it has bought the child from a distressed father.

Nibedita Jena, who has written the play, said the world was a hata. “From the ancient days, the concept of market has been there. Earlier, along with animals and other articles, human beings were also sold. Those were the days of slavery. The tradition of slavery was put to an end, but the selling of human beings continues even now. The play talks about how dreams and happiness of the family are sold,” she said.

Jena, who played the role of Jaimati, was brilliant, while Prafulla Sethi did justice to his portrayal of Samaru. Sethi directed the play.