"THEATER OF WORDS"

A

NEW PLAY

BY

BINA SHARIF

COPYRIGHT:Bina Sharif 2012

THE MOST SOPHISTICATED LADY: (SO CALLED)

Oh! I am sorry

You misunderstood me.

It must be your English.

You know what I mean?

I mean....

Your cultural origin....

Your background........

You know

You always wear nice scarfs...

Nice jewel

But your understanding of my support

system is cultural.

Origin, background.

You always wear nice scarfs

Nice jewelry

But your understanding of my support system

is cultural.

You know what I mean?

You understand what I am saying?

I mean you should be proud of yourself

You know my language

and I don't speak any hindi

even if your grammar is not there yet.........

UNSOPHISTICATED LADY: (SO CALLED)

You don't need to remind me

that I am inferior than you.

I already know and have understood that.

ANOTHER UNSOPHISTICATED LADY: (SO CALLED)

Yes, me too.

Remember last time

and many many times before that

you told me that I was inferior and since you

are such a great, great friend and my only support system

and my only supportive friend

in the west...

I really understood that...

and I am now in complete awareness of

my position of inferiority...............

THE MOST SOPHISTICATED LADY: (SO CALLED)

But still here and there

you can understand what we mean........

THE SECOND UNSOPHISTICATED LADY:

You don't need to apologize

since we are inferior

and trying to perfect our inferiority

in a superior atmosphere

so we can listen to you and like you.

I mean no wrong

but we need to listen to you

and correct our grammar....

You are perfectly correct

because here in correct and perfect grammatic society

we need to learn

the correct grammar ....

but actually that will

hinder our descent into inferiority

and to please you........................(Interruption by the third unsophisticated lady)

THE THIRD UNSOPHISTICATED LADY

And to please you

we need to go down to the ground

and we are almost there....

Actually you helped us get there

and now we are extremely peaceful

with our new superior position

which is our complete inferiority.

In order to make peace in the world

especially in the modern, liberated world

there has to be complete submission

and subjugation

and obedience

of one kind of people with incorrect grammar

to the other kind of people with perfect grammar

After all its the theater of words.

For so long we tried to be like you

tried so hard to learn the grammar

but alas...............

But now we have healed our self...............(Interrupted by the fourth unsophisticated lady)

THE FOURTH UNSOPHISTICATED LADY

We healed our selves finally

mind you with a great effort...

and now our tail is the proof.

We are fully tamed,

domestic, harmless inferior animals.

Gee, how can I convince you of your own superiority

if you yourself don't believe it?

and thats the problem between superior and inferior people.

If your grammar is correct

you are superior

and if its not correct

you are inferior.

Thats it

Simple as all that

You have been teaching us grammar

and we still got it wrong

Just can't get it right

because thats the sign of inferiority

in the theater of words.................

Words, thats all.

Words, words, words.............

I know the words but I don't have correct grammar...........

I accept it fully

that I am inferior..........

FIFTH UNSOPHISTICATED LADY:

We fully...

one hundred percent believe

that we are inferior people.

But you have to go to psychiatrists

and pay thousands of dollars to believe in your own superiority

though you describe your problems to the superior lady,(the psychiatrist)

in perfect grammar and even if she believes that you are superior

but just wants the money and have you on the leash...

you yourself don't believe in your own superiority....

Then sometimes just to prove your superiority

you literally kill.....

That's not superiority

that's violence.....................

We the inferior have come to peace

and you the superior have come to violence

and when you give the orders for violence

you use perfect grammar

because you are superior

and you are the lead actors in the theater of words.

And we?

Not even supporting players............

We are still considered animals............

Amazing...........

Modernity is so hard to comprehend

Just like grammar...........................

THEATER OF WORDS TO CONTINUE.

TILL YESTERDAY

The birds were singing till yesterday

Then what happened?

Why have they stopped chirping?

I don't hear anything

Its all so quiet

Maybe thats good

The quiet....

But the quiet is Ok from people

Not the birds

Their chirping soothes the ear and the soul

People's chirping becomes shrill as it goes on

and it goes on and on

The most insensitive creatures

and the most cruel are the humans

They can't sing

Because they have harsher throats

they yell and scream

and yell and scream

till they become hoarse

and still don't stop

They take singing lessons

but still can't carry the melody

They can sing maybe in a show

but they can't sing with human beings

they scream

and scream

and scream

Its the hatred

humans carry in their hearts for other humans

They hate each other

but claim that they love

they can't love

they are afraid of love

love is a song

they can't sing

they are always competing for being right

everyone of them is always right

but every other person they are yelling at is wrong

wrong

wrong

wrong

always wrong

I want to hear the birds on my window sill

They always chirp in the morning

they wake me up

thats a nice wake up call

better then the construction workers constructing another condo

for the rich brats to live in..............

'you think I am poor?"

Some one asked me the other day

"Oh! gee, no way, you are rich

rich, rich, rich."

Its scary to hear it.........

Most of the people are poor on this planet

and all they talk about is their eternal poverty

There is a, "POVERTY PROJECT" some one is doing

in the inner cities of America

It was scary

I watched it on tv

Though I usually don't watch tv

but I watched

And the poverty project was on

Oh! gee I said,

Just my luck

Can't get away from the word poverty

till some one asked demanded to know

,"Do you think I am poor?"

It was scary

the demand of the rich

Never ever with such demanding voice can you be poor darling

No, no way...

But I don't like the word, poverty or riches

one can never be too rich or too poor

it just doesn't end

the struggle of the rich

and the struggle of the poor

The apple makes 46 billion dollars profit from their factories in China

where they pay $20 dollars for 14 hours work with overtime

where the aluminum dust blows into their lungs and throats and eyes

The poisonous stuff...............

The poisonous stuff with which they polish

the rich person's IPAD..............

And the factory explodes and the teenagers flesh melts away

and their parents built monuments over their dead bodies

in their own homes................

But $46 billion dollars is 46$ billion dollars

and one of them who is making it asks me,

'Do you think I am poor?"

How dare I not answer in the affirmative?

They will explode my flesh into vapors too

and there will be no monument built on my dead body

my parents are already dead

and there is no home to have the monument built.....

I better be careful with rich people

not offend them

I mean

They are not singing birds

who will just fly away to other destinations

When offended

They have wings

They can fly

Fly away..............

I hope I didn't offend them...

like I seem to offend humans

At least they claim that I offend them

I must be very offensive............

The birds didn't think so ....

But the birds are different

They sing

and any one who sings

is more sensitive................

Why are they not singing today?

Till yesterday I heard their songs

What happened?

I hope I didn't offend them

Since I am such an offensive person

according to other humans

who are just so wonderful

and caring

and loving

and adoring...............

But I could have never offended the birds

I was always asleep when they chirped

A sleeping person is like a dead person

and dead never offend any one...

No, I couldn't have done that

I was always asleep

I am usually asleep

when I am awake

I am still asleep

A sleep walker

A sleep listener

People try to trick me subtly

because I am slow to catch on their tricks

because

I am almost always asleep...............

People chirping

in their put downs

I am always asleep

not understanding

because the slow slumber of sleep..............

A nice feeling.........

the slumber, the sleep

But I was always happy to wake up with the birds on my window sill

till yesterday.................

They flew away to distant lands

Some one told me that

the birds migrate

especially in cold weather

they fly away to distant lands

I hope that is the case

Its cold on my window sill

It snows

and ny birds are very sensitive

because they sing

they need the warmth.............

I hope they flew away just for that reason

and not for anything I said or did to cause offense............

I hope not

I won't be able to forgive myself af that was the case............

and they will come back in the spring time and stay on my

window sill till the next winter comes................

I have to live till that time

Till my birds come back and sing for me..................

I have to be alive to hear my birds chirp one more time..................

MADMAN

AND

A MAD WOMAN

BY

BINA SHARIF

copyright:binasharif:2011-2012

MAD MAN:

I am not a martyr. I have figured it all out

about life.

MAD WOMAN:

What have you figured out about life?

You haven't got much of a life any way

and in your state of mind what can you figure out?

Life is the business of philosophers in clean suits with

brief cases and great jobs. Only those kind of people know about life.

MAD MAN:

I know about life. I know about it more than any one else.

MAD WOMAN:

What do you know?

Tell me. Enlighten me about life.

MAD MAN:

Life is entirely meaningless.

Totally, absolutely meaningless.

And wants to just live it?

Live it out till one dies without a ray of purpose,

hope,faith,future.

Future is all meaningless too, so is faith, so is hope.

There can't be no hope when there is no meaning.

Tell me what is the meaning of your life that you want to live it?

MAD WOMAN:

I have faith in me and thus faith in life and thats the meaning

of my life, my faith,

MAD MAN:

What's your faith?

MAD WOMAN:

No faith in particular. I mean I am not a catholic, nor a protestant

or jewish or a mormon..........

MAD MAN: (cuts her of)

But you are in a church. You must have a catholic faith?

MAD WOMAN:

I am in a church because its cold out side and church is

nice enough to people who are shivering with cold and are not philosophers.

Church want the non philosophers to be warm also in the freezing winter.

I am not here for my faith or for jesus. I am here for warmth and may be hot tea.

MAD MAN:

But you are not having hot tea. Others are having it.

MAD WOMAN:

I will have hot tea soon

MAD MAN:

When?

MAD WOMAN:

Soon

MAD MAN:

Why don;t you go to the other side and get some hot tea?

MAD WOMAN:

let them get done with it. I don't want to go near clean people

with meaningful lives.

MAD MAN:

No people's life has meaning. Clean people, dirty people,

Scientists, lawyers,doctors,............