Mahadevbhai

'Mahadevbhai (1892- 1942)'
Living history in a play by Ramu Ramanathan
enacted by Jaimini Pathak
MAHADEV DESAI was Mahatma Gandhi's secretary from 1917 till his death
in 1942. Desai maintained a diary which Ramu Ramanathan has used as a source for
his play Mahadevbhai (1892-1942). The play is a monologue by the incredibly
talented Jaimini Pathak.

Since I wasn't doing much I thought I'll drop by and check out this play that was put up on the eve of Independance day in our institute by Working Titles, which also marks the beginning of the cultural events lined up as part of the 50th Golden Jubilee Celebrations.

As it began we were told it's a 2 hour monologue and I gave up. I thought I'll sit through it some 20 minutes and run away.

I ended up being there all the time and along with was a friend who was dragged into this and she sat through it too.

Jaimini Pathak held us captivated through the times of India's freedom struggle and as Mahadev passed away in Gandhiji's lap you could see it happening in front of you.

With his 129th performace there wasn't a single flaw and the play flowed into place.

A memorable play that deserves a blogpost. So here it is.