PLAY NUMBER ONE:
"THE JUNGLE"
WRITTEN
BY
BINA SHARIF...............copyright:binasharif 2020
CHARACTERS
KARIMA: Confused and polite immigrant woman
SALIMA: An angry activist, a socialist, intellectual, American born female
SALIMA:
Karima, do you know about the
Law of the jungle ?
KARIMA:
No idea...
SALIMA:
Law is that...
Animals eat animals
Whoever doesn't eat, gets eaten
You, Karima, have allowed and still allowing the
Other animals to eat you.
Because you think that you are not an animal
And thus don't have to eat the other weaker animals
For your survival
And you think that you are not in a jungle
(Karima is very quiet)
SALIMA:
You got it all wrong Karima
All wrong...
And got eaten...
Listen, if you have any body parts
left intact...i mean,
Are still left un-digested
Save them
First establish the fact
In your head that you are in a big jungle
Full of very aggressive animals
Who are ready to devovour you
Swallow you whole...
Chew you and spit you out
KARIMA:
It's you, you who got it all wrong my dear
I am not in a jungle
(Laughs)
You are delusional
Jungle?
(Laughs again)
I am in one of the most civilized part of the world
The world of science, arts, music, literature
Animals are not interested in these kind of things
SALIMA:
You see Karima, that's the only fault you have
'Naivety"
Otherwise you are a nice, warm, loving person
And all those so called qualities
Attracts animals...
You have that scent, that sweet smell of vulnerbility
You invite danger
"Come push me around, come and abuse me,
Yes, you are welcome
Any time of the day, day and night
I am at your mercy
Come and eat me..."
KARIMA:
It's a shame that you think so low of me
SALIMA;
I don't
Not at all
On the contrary
I think very high of you
You are a person of sensitivity
You are a person of incredible politeness
And grace, and an ability to give...
(Interupts her)
KARIMA;
But all those things you mentioned
Are good qualities
Qualities that makes the character strong
I am a person of solid noblity and character
It's my mother who taught me all these wonderful things...
SALIMA:
(Interupts her)
And where is your mother now?
(karima ,
(becomes sad and doesn't answer her right away)
SALIMA:
Where is your mother?
(Karima doesn't answer) (They are both quiet for a while)
KARIMA:
My mother passed away
SALIMA:
I am sorry...
(They remain quiet for some time)
Did your mother lived in this city?
KARIMA:
No.
SALIMA:
Where did she live?
KARIMA:
In another country...
SALIMA:
Did she ever live here? Here in this country?
This city?
KARIMA:
She never visited...
SALIMA:
Not even once?
KARIMA;
No. (Quiet for some time)
She died 2 years after I moved here...
SALIMA;
So sorry about that
(Silence for a while)
Now I understand...
KARIMA:
Understand what?
SALIMA:
She never knew that you have moved to a jungle
A big modern jungle
If she knew that, she will tell you
Not to practice the great qualities of love
And affection and submissivness
KARIMA;
She never taught me to be submissive
SALIMA:
So you became submissive on your own?
KARIMA;
(Offended)
I am NOT SUBMISSIVE
SALIMA:
(sarcastically)
Oh!, you are just a nice person
KARIMA:
I hope so
SALIMA:
No, you are not. you are a nice person
A very nice person
And a very nice person in a ferocious jungle
Where only selfish animals live
Who are determined not to be nice
Because they are very aware of the fact
That their niceness will turn them into
Very week and pathetic little animals
Who have no conrol over themselves
And are waiting to be devoured...
Animals are hungry like human beings
They will kill when they are starving
And who do they kill?
The nice little rabbits
Are you a nice little rabbit?
KARIMA:
Why do you always condescend me?
SALIMA:
That's where you are wrong.
You don't understand me
I live with you
I have lived with you for quite some time
I observe you
You, and your behavior...
I understand
That you want to be loyal to your mother
And the values she instilled in you
Since your birth
And I am sure those things worked in the jungle
You left behind...
First of all Karima, the whole world has become a jungle
Some are primitive jungles and some are modern
And modern world and it's values, it's culture and it's thinking
Is very different than the old culture.
You are just a nice person
And some time that niceness is termed, "Victimhood"
And the word victim in modern jungle is very much despised...
KARIMA:
It sounds very disturbing and depressing
Whatever you are telling me.
According to you, just to survive, one has to become evil
SALIMA:
Not evil Karima but strong
KARIMA:
I am strong...
(Salima interupts her)
SALIMA:
If you were strong you won't be so depressed
You will have the determination to be nice to nice people
And mean to the mean ones and establish your right to exist
and live in much more positive way with hope...
KARIMA:
You see, since you have never known anything
About my culture, my background, my upbringing...
(Salima interupts)
SALIMA;
That is the very reason I am trying to tell you
That the things you learned where ever you came from
Are not the bad things. They are great things, but in
Some atmosphere those very noble qualities ,
portray themselves as weakness,
And the week here in this very modern, machine
Culture becomes the food for the strong.
You need to understand that and change...
KARIMA:
Why can't they change?
Why don't they adapt to my values?
If they are good values
And I know they are good...
Why must I give up whatever little I have?
SALIMA:
No one is asking you to give up your beautiful character
But when you are out in the jungle you have to be a tigress
And not a lamb...
You just tell me...Imagine and tell me...
If there is a hungry tiger in the field and a meek
Lamb, tell me who will eat who?
KARIMA:
No one has to eat any one.
They should have some empathy...
(Salima interupts and laugh a lot)
SALIMA:
Empathy? (Laughs loudly)
She is talking about empathy...(Laughs again)
Empathy in a vast jungle...
(Karima interupts her)
KARIMA:
Why do you keep calling civilization a jungle?
SALIMA
(Laughs)
Civilization? ha, our civilization has become a factory
A fancy factory
With modern instruments
Where you can spend a whole day,
A whole month,
A whole year and don't need a real human contact
Since the machine has taken over,
A little machine or a big machine
It has replaced human beings
You can be busy with it without ever saying, "Hello"
To some one passing by
Your eyes are glued to the machine
And machine is never sensitive
Machine has no feeling, no tenderness, no affection
And without these valuable blessings, the
Humans have started to resmble animals
And since the stronger, healthier, fast thinking
Animal surpsses weak ones and get ahead
And the weaker animals perish....
That scenario can't be called, "Civilization"
It's an animal farm...
Do you know what I am saying?
KARIMA:
It is too complicated and too scary for me to understand,
To call human beings animals, is very sad and the end of
kindness...
SALIMA:
I am so sick of your kindness issues...ok, go ahead
And be kind to all, all of them and let them trample you
under their feet. But don't come home crying to me
that you are not succeeding beside being kind, hard working.
And being giving and being humble.
Let me tell you that those very things you value
Are standig in your way. The reason you are not
succeeding in any thing, career, forget that, not even
in the department of having friends...too giving, and it
gives the impression of some kind of a need...
And needy people scare the hell out of the modern man...
KARIMA:
But a while ago you called all of them animals
And now you are calling them, "modern" and "human"
SALIMA:
Absolutely correct. The very modern man
With a small machine in his hands has become an animal.
It can be taken as a metaphore
or the ability to create the impression of being
A real human but an animal deep down.
Remember George Orwell?
He wrote one of the most popular novel in the twentieth Century called,
"AN ANIMAL FARM"
All his characters were animals
Or humans in the shape of animals
They conversed with each other
Cheated and hurt each other
Created a system of cruelty and brutality
But called themselves, "civilized"
Because they did all the acts of torture
In the name of being civil.
Actually the people they hurt and killed,
They called them the ,"Animals."
SALIMA:
I know we don't live in the most wonderful world
Or in my case the world is wonderful but I somehow
Am confused how to function properly like others in it
SALIMA;
You can't function properly in the world
Because you have not adopted animal behavior.
That is a must in 21st Century
It had been a part of the 19th and 20th centuries as well
But with the advancement of machines, super powerful
Technology like the super powers themselves who created them
Expect the modern man who wants to call himself successful
must behave in a certain way...
KARIMA:
What's the proper way?
SALIMA:
The one you don't know
KARIMA:
Teaach me
SALIMA:
I am not your teacher.
I am just your room mate
But still your demeanor bothers me
It does because I care for you
And I know the moment you go out
Of the apt, to a cafe, or to work
You give the impression of a loser
And that's how they treat you...
KARIMA:
Who treats me that way?
SALIMA:
Every one darling, every one...
When I go out with you
I feel embarressed by your behavior...
KARIMA:
Now you are making me upset
And I hate to be upset with you...
SALIMA:
Be upset with me.
I like that
It shows courage
It shows strength
I want you to be upset with every onne you meet
Just get upset
Be ready to be upset
And tell every one just what you told me.
"I am getting upset with you."
Say that, and they will leave you alone
But hell no...
You won't dare tell any one that
You just want to be a humble little pie...
KARIMA:
Being humble is a good quality
SALIMA:
I am sick of your good qualites
If you have them...
Keep them for yourself
And don't mention them in-front of me...
Or just find another room mate to
Share your bathroom and your life with...
KARIMA;
Please Salima, don't be upset with me...
I always listen to you.
I know you are more wordly
You were born here
You know how it works here
Maybe what you say is correct
But I don't know how to behave?
How to become an animal in an instance
A human being and an animal all at once...
There must be a school to teach that
If that is the only way to get ahead
I should enroll in that school
But I don't think that education in schools,
colleges and university helps any more
Because i have been to all of them.
SALIMA:
Which college and university did you go to?
KARIMA:
Not here, back home, in my own country...
SALIMA:
No wonder.
Those universities don't count
Their system is opposite ours
KARIMA;
How?
SALIMA:
They teach you submissivenes,
humblness, kindness
All that crap that you talk about.
No wonder you have problems here
We are a machine nation Karima,
A big, powerful machine nation
Have you ever seen a machine having emotions?
KARIMA:
A machine is a machine
They assembled some parts together
And it functions...
But it has a different function devoid
Of emotions and thats the difference
Between us humans and the machines.
SALIMA:
That is the most intelligent words you have spoken.
I am in agreement with you on the creation
Of the machine without any part which
Deals with emotions...
So since the human beings have become machines
And you, maybe the only one with surplus amount
Of emotions dangling them in-front of the cruel and
In sensitive instruments and expecting love and
Acceptance and not getting zero response keep
getting lost and confused...how long are you going to be
In denial of reality? In denial of 21st century?
KARIMA;
Yes, I am confused
But you are confusing me more...
SALIMA:
I want your confusion to go away for ever
And that is in case you still want to be here.
No one is going to love you.
They are working
They have ambitions
They have careers
They want to get ahead
And for that reason their governments
Created machines
It's a faster way to get ahead...
KARIMA:
Get ahead?
Where are they going?
To the subway?
So let them
I can be slow and still get to the subway
I might miss one train
But there will be another
Why do I have to push
Every one out of my way to get to the same
Rundown subway?
SALIMA:
You are so stubborn in your ignorance
People who are now animals
With great ambitions
Do not take subways...
They call Uber...
KARIMA;
So why are they pushing me around
hurting my elbows?
I am not in their way
SALIMA:
You are in the way of poor slobs
Who can't afford Uber
Or don't even know how to order an Uber...
We have all classes of human/animals here...
The poor slobs are pushing you around in the streets
And the rich slobs are pushing you around in fancy cafe's
KARIMA:
I don't go to fancy cafe's
Can't afford it...
SALIMA:
See another fault of yours...
Too honest.
Never ever say in-front of powerful people
That you can't afford whatever you can't afford...
KARIMA;
But I don't have to say it.
They can tell
SALIMA;
Tell what?
KARIMA;
They can tell that I can't afford luxuries...
SALIMA:
First of all Uber is not a luxury
It's just some piece of shit app...
You are actually lucky
That you don't know how to order Uber
You might have been dead by now
Or at least raped, molested, assaulted
The Uber drivers do that as well
Beside taking you to the Opera...
KARIMA:
I have never been to an Opera...
SALIMA:
You are just an impossible person
You can never change
Why am I wasting my time?
My American time on an Immigrant?
You have no idea how American time is precious
More precious than the diamonds...
I JUST TOLD YOU A MOMENT AGO
THAT YOU MUST NEVER TELL ANY ONE
THAT YOU CAN NOT AFFORD THIS AND THAT...
I am pissed at you
I am getting a headache
If this was not a one act play
I would have called for an intermission...
Because I am now suffering from migrain...
This un-informed immigrant,
room mate of mine,
Who i am un-fortunately fond of
has given me and still giving me
An excruciating headache...
I need coffee, very strong black Americano
And can't leave the stage
Because we called this a bloody one act play...
KARIMA:
You are writing the play
Make it a full length play
Then you can for sure
Have an intermission...
SALIMA:
In some ways you make a lot of sense
You just don't know how to deal with people/animals
It's a very good idea to call this a full length play
I can have coffee
And the audience can go and pee
Do you want coffee?
Yes.
What kind?
Latte
Get rid of latte from your life
Ask for Matcha latte or Americano...
KARIMA;
Ok, Americano then...
See I have started to listen to you
SALIMA;
Good gracious lord...
After a life time of me trying to help...
And let me tell you just one more thing
Before intermission
So you can swallow it and keep it under wraps
For ever and ever...
And that is a guarantee for success
Which you need so badly...
KARIMA:
And what is that?
Beside me seeing everyone as animals...
SALIMA:
You don't have to see them as animals
You, yourself can become one
And then you will have no problem at all
Do you like any animals?
KARIMA:
Oh1 no. I am very afraid of animals especially
the ferocious dogs coming at me in the streets...
SALIMA;
Which animal are you most afraid of?
KARIMA;
Oh1 I am afraid of snakes...
Oh! god, am I afraid of snakes...
I am terrified of snakes...
Just the word, "snake" evokes
incredible terror in my soul...
SALIMA:
That's it, Karima..
That's it.
You yourself have to become a snake...
The thing which you are most terrified about...
That's the thing you have to become
To succeed here and in this wild, cruel world.
Remember Lady Macbeth?
She said to Macbeth when she was pushing him
to kill Duncan, the king...
She said, "
"Look like the innocent flower,
but be the serpent under it."
That is the lesson of the day for you
And the lesson for all times...
KARIMA:
Who is lady Macbeth?
INTERMISSION
(Salima comes back with coffee for Karima as well)
(she hands it to her)
SALIMA:
Here is some hot coffee for your tired brain
(Karima takes the coffee, take a sip and smiles)
SALIMA:
I am disappointed in you
KARIMA:
Why?
SALIMA:
You know why
KARIMA:
No, I don't and by the way you have made your one act into a full length..
SALIMA:
You see, you know the difference between one act and full length
And you don't know who Lady Macbeth is?
KARIMA;
(smiles and stay silent)
SALIMA:
I thought you went to college, didn't you?
KARIMA;
University as well
SALIMA:
Brava. And you still don't know who lady Macbeth is...
KARIMA:
Me being university educated has nothing to do
With snake lady...
SALIMA:
Who is the snae lady?
KARIMA:
You said earlier that Lady Macbeth has a snake inside of her
SALIMA:
Are you alright?
KARIMA:
What do you mean?
SALIMA:
I think you have lost your mind.
I don't blame you.
It's the years of depression
KARIMA:
Who is depressed?
SALIMA:
Look who is talking...
KARIMA:
No, I am serious.
Are you getting depressed?
No wonder...
We have been prisoners of Corona virus
We only have each other
And I guess you are tired of that
You want to run around and do demostrations
Against every one
It's you who is losing your mind
SALIMA;
I lose my mind sometime but
I always take an action
KARIMA:
By your hatred of the world
You called the whole world a Jungle
And that is disturbing to say the least
SALIMA:
So, according to you it's very wrong
of me to call the world a jungle.
Tell me that this world is nothing but, " paradise."
Yes, I agree
The world was a paradise for George Floyed
Right?
A garden of delights
He lived a life of luxury and freedom
And died a life of freedom
When the knee of white power is on your neck
When the knee of brutal force is on your neck
When you can't breath
When you are begging for your life
When you repeatedly say, "I can't breath"
"I can't breath."
"I can't breath,"
And the knee still stays on your neck
On George Floyd's neck
You still won't call this world a jungle
You still would like to be nice and kind
And forgiving...
Forgiving for the murder of an innocent man
On the pavements
On the filthy street of the jungle...
Tell me you still see that as paradise?
Tell me...
Don't be silent
It's not the time of silence
Centuries of silence and oppression
Results IN MURDERS on the streets of this jungle
Spare me this bullshit of denial
Since you have lived with me
I have never ever seen you in
A positive state of mind because
You have never been able to adjust
To our system...
KARIMA:
Yes, the murder of George Floyd
This kind of murder can't take place in a civilized world
Yes, I am shattered and drowning in grief
This world which allowes these brutal acts
Must be a jungle, a vast jungle
Where the color of your skin stands out
Where your accent stands out
Where your character stands out
The decent person, the oppressed person
The innocent person pays the price
That person is weaker in-front of the power
The force of hatred and discrimination
I just wished I never watched that video...
I watched like millions. I watched his last breath
Escape his body...
When he uttered the word, "Mama"
My heart broke into tiny little pieces
And I knew that he is going to die that very second...
In my culture, there is a belief
That when someone is near death
They see their dead relatives
Their deceased loved ones
Who come to receive them
To take them away from this evil world
To save their souls from further punishment
Of the crime they have never committed...
So George Floyd called for his mama
And she came
She came with her open arms and her
Beating heart to gather him, her precious son
To take him away, to take him away for ever...
So finally he can rest in peace...
Yes, for these unfortunate tragedies this world
Has to be called, An animal kingdom...
But even the animals don't hurt their own species
They are all into their survival...
Human beings have become worst than animals
So I actually do not know what to call this world any more
But this system is not only your system
It's our system...
We live here as well...
Why do you call it "OUR," system?
It's my system too
But every one exclude Immigrants
From all kinds of inclusion
As if we are still living some where else
Somewhere, where ever we came from
Isn't that the most obvious thing
people say when ever an immigrant looking
person complains about the system
Many many things here are a problem
For us too but we have to keep our mouths shut
Because then every one throw this bullshit at us...
"Go back home" "If you are not happy here, go back."
You can shout in the streets about your activism
But we have to play deaf and dumb and thank for
The crumbs thrown at us...
and some time not even crumbs come our way
It;s very much our system Salima...
I have so much grief gathered in my heart and soul
I can never pronounce the word, "Mama" without
sobbing...those few seconds of that video haunts me
And will haunt me for long time...
Yes, it's our system as well and it must change
System has people in so many groups
And whatever group the system likes
They help them, they promote them to be politically correct
But I am in no group
There is no group assigned for people like me
So I am out of all political correctness...
SALIMA:
That is exactly correct.
BLACKOUT
END OF PLAY
SALIMA:
That is exactly correct.
The animal behavior towards some particular people
And that is the reason
I try to tell you day after day
That you live in a jungle
And jungle is full of animals
And you with your subservient nature
Taught to you from your home country perhaps
Want to just stay that way and expect not to be
Eaten by the animals.
We have to protest, we must. In that very street
Where they took the life of Poor George Floyd
And in every street of this country till the system changes.
KARIMA:
I want to have some hope for the world we live in
SALIMA:
Every one wants that
And that's why we have to fight
Fight as if we are in a battle
And we are...
Look around you
This virus has made it so obvious to every one
Who always had this fake hope for humanity
This old fashion word, "Hope."
What hope?
100-000 people are dead
And the one's who are alive
Want to go to the beach
Without masks and celebrate
What are they celebrating?
The death of black people? death of minority?
Death of the elderly? Sick people in nursing homes?
All dead, poverty, disease lack of prepration
For the pandemic?
They knew it was coming
They know it's still here
But our human/animals are getting drunk
They have opened bars for them
To get drunk in the park...
What are they celebrating?
Can't they just go through some grief?
I mean people in this world are worst
Than a real jungle
I am sure when an animal dies
The other animals silently cry...
KARIMA:
Back home when any one dies
No one from that household cooks
For three days...
They wear clean clothes, mostly white
Sit on the floor which are covered with dari, a rug
Or a carpet and mourn the dead
Other people, neighbors or friends
Or relatives bring food for the mourners
People are so stricken with sorrow that they can hardly eat
But food is provided for...
And after three days, every one who came to pay their respects
Goes back home
But the persons who lost their loved ones
Mourn for 40 days...
Yes they go to work, cook ect
But for forty days they don't travel
Or go to a club
Or have a wedding
They just go through grief...
For other people of advanced world
Our culture is considered morbid.
But losing 100-000 human beings and then
having a party or cocktails on zoom
I don't understand that
So I kind of just take it in
And get sad and depressed
Looking at the cruelty and selfishness
Of us who are living...
SALIMA:
No one is having a party right now
People are waking up finally
There are hubdreds of white people, young and old
Marching, protesting against the centuries of injustice
And inequality...
People have realized the kind of injustice
Some of us go through year after year..
And they are changing their attitude
From party to protest
From passive behavior to positive action
Get out in the streets and fight for your rights...
That is why I have been trying
For you to change your attitude
You are not in that part of the world
Where people are mourning the dead
For forty days...
You are here
But your thinking is backward
It's not working...no, not at all
Some day you will just parish
Of your own oppression.
Don't you have enough thrown at you
From the outside?
There is a positive way of living in 21st century
KARIMA:
I understand. I can also march in the streets
I have been marching with you and thousands more
But I can't be cruel
You want me to be cruel
But I can't
Even if I try very hard
I can't be like Lady Macbeth
Whatever is in my heart that is exactly on my face
I fail or succeed, I can't be cruel
It's not my nature
It's not in my DNA
Cruelty is the abomination of humanity
SALIMA:
But there is not much humanity left
Not now, not here, not in the past, not in the future
Have you forgotten all the wars?
Have you forgotten the vietnam war?
KARIMA:
I wasn't here for that war
SALIMA;
But you were here for The Iraq war
The first Iraq war and the second Iraq war
You were here for the Afghanistan war
Werent you?
And for Sept 11
Wasn't that an animal act?
Sept 11?
Those animals coming from
Fanaticism became human bombs
And destroyed buildings
And burned people alive
You were here then right?
KARIMA:
Yes, I was here unfortunately
And I still mourn for those innocent people
Their lives were taken by such an act of brutality
SALIMA:
And you don't think that humans have become animals?
Trust me...
We have become animals
Animals of different demeanor
Religious fanatics
Democracy fanatics
Don't you think that Iraq war and Afghanistan war
And the murder of George Floyd
And Eric Garner and Arbry and many many more..
wasn't that an act of animalism of the worst kind?
And why these things keep happening?
Because we have lost the love, the faith,
The passion, the empathy for each other
Not only of our next door neighbor
But for far away unknown people
Whom we have never met, never spoken to
Nevet had tea with, never celebrated a happy occasion
And now they are all dead...
We killed them.
Our bombs killed them
And we shall never know them
They were here for a while
They were alive
But we killed them...
Why?
For no reason
For power...
Now The Corona virus is killing thousands
Now the virus is the power...
The knee of a fascit police man is the power
KARIMA;
Perhaps you are right
All the actions which leads to un-necessary death
In such a brutal manner...
Must be the doing of animals...
Comme to think of it
The Corona Virus also came from an animal...
SALIMA:
Amazin...isn't it
A bat, a sick bat, a tiny animal
The bat can do so much damage all over
This plnet...
A knee can take the life out of George Floyd
And the life of many more
Because the color of their skin was not white..
Think about that...
The police should be banned from
Having any contact with human beings, period.
They should not be allowed to come near
Or touch a person who is still breathing.
Let the living live
Let them breath...
Even the animals small and big are sick of us.
Maybe this small animal, this small bat said to himself
'Let me teach this fake humanity a lesson,
They have been eating me for centuries,
The time has come when I will eat them,
Spread my wings near and far, near and far
And infect them with my poison...
And the bat did it...
I have been telling you that the animlistic
nature of human beings is very successful
in eating others...
they have their methods of destroying
other week people...
With poverty, with homelessness,
Without health care, giving them poisonous food,
There are many ways for the powerful
Animal to get rid of the week and the polite...
KARIMA:
We need to say a prayer ...
For George Floyd and for humanity
And then perhaps we will be able to see
Clearly that all of us are the same
All of us desreve the kindness and decency from each other
SALIMA:
I have been trying for so long...
To make you see clearly
That you are in danger
With your polite, submissive nature,
We call that kind of a person,
"A victim"
And we have no respect for that victim.
We don't have much respect for any one
We are not human any more, we are just
"Metaphores"
And metaphores don't breath, they don't cry,
They are not visible...
When you go out to a cafe
Or to the subway, or to a concert
They look like humans
But inside of them lives the huge
'Metaphores" of animalistic power
A dangerous power
Power of a snake
Power of a leapord
Power of a lion...
Power of a single police man
One minute George Floyd was alive
And the next second he was dead
On the streets of a powerful country
KARIMA:
Everything is so sad, so sorrowful
I see George Floyd's lifeless face on the footpath
I keep hearing his heart breaking cry, "Mama"
All these lives lost on the streets of this country
All the mothers of these young sons crying...
And that is the reason of my decades of depression.
I tell you Salima, I can't take it...
I can't take it any more...maybe I should end it all?
KARIMA:
That won't be allowed as far as I am alive
I will make sure of that.
I love you
I have loved you since the day we have met
I will do everything to keep you here
With me but in a better, healthier persona
And I have a recipe for that
KARIMA;
(Smiles)
And what recipe is that?
I hope it will fit my taste and
Would be delicious and spicy...
SALIMA:
Trust me...
I have practiced it for years and it has fully worked for me
And it will be delicious
But you will have to change your taste buds a bit
First of all you have to practice
First thing in the morning.
Repeat to your self one hundered times.
"THAT YOU ARE IN A JUNGLE"
Where ever you go, you end up in a jungle
A cafe, a book store, the subway, the museum,
Shopping centers, the cinemas, the theaters,
All are part of a vast jungle...
Where animals are ready to eat you
Because they are much stronger than you,
Much more clever than you...
You must see yourself as an animal
In that atmosphere and be prepared to eat them
KARIMA:
Jesus, it sounds awful.
Suicide might be easier than that
SALIMA:
You know that I can't be with a loser
And I also don't give up.
What I want, that's what I want
And I want you
And I want you to be as strong as me
And you will be...
Just be patient ...we have to fight for our rights first
and let me finish...
KARIMA;
Oh! heavens...there is more?
SALIMA;
We are talking about preserving life
And how to be alive in this world
And that's a long and difficult lesson
Life is difficult in itself
Not a bowl of cherries
You need patience, perseverance
And strong detremination
And in your case,
You are never prepared for the battle.
And whenever other aimals take a bite of you
You get into a shock, never-believing the reality of the jungle
Because in your eternal stupid humbleness
You don't see them as vicious, tigers and lizards
Coming at you...
Like our leader never saw a bat flying our way...
And let 100-000 of their country men died
And killing of George Floyd
Awful neglect..
Wouldn't you say?
It's the same in your case
You never see the danger
Because you are naive and un-prepared
And it causes you constant trauma and pain
Get it into your head once and for all
"You are in a jungle and you have to obey the law.'
If you want to save yourself.
Be prepared
Always on the guard
Always be defensive
Don't say, "I am going to the cafe."
Say, " Hi, I am going to the jungle,
You want to join me?"
Don't say, "I am going to the museum
Say, I am going to the jungle.
Then you will always be on guard.
Prepared for the attack and counter attack.
Be ready to eat the ferocious animals
Before they take a step towards you.
Take a juicy bloody bite out of them
Eat, you are always starving...
Anmals have lots of proteins
You lack energy in your suffering
Gain strength to live this horrendous life
You need lots of Iron
EAT MEAT...LOTS OF MEAT
SALIMA;
Beside eating meat, we need
Something else to be strong
We need to pray
We need the spirtuality of kindness
To occupy our souls...
We need to go back to our faith
Which we have completely lost
Let's pray for 100-000 dead and
For George Floyd...
May they all rest in peace
They sacrificed their lives
For the world to change for better
where people will love and respect
Every living soul and have dithe gnity and decency
towards each other...
Let us pray...
Let us pray for that change
And that is the reason
I try to tell you day after day
That you live in a jungle
And jungle is full of animals
And you with your subservient nature
Taught to you from your home country perhaps
Want to just stay that way and expect not to be
Eaten by the animals.
We have to protest, we must. In that very street
Where they took the life of Poor George Floyd
And in every street of this country till the system changes.
KARIMA:
I want to have some hope for the world we live in
SALIMA:
Every one wants that
And that's why we have to fight
Fight as if we are in a battle
And we are...
Look around you
This virus has made it so obvious to every one
Who always had this fake hope for humanity
This old fashion word, "Hope."
What hope?
100-000 people are dead
And the one's who are alive
Want to go to the beach
Without masks and celebrate
What are they celebrating?
The death of black people? death of minority?
Death of the elderly? Sick people in nursing homes?
All dead, poverty, disease lack of prepration
For the pandemic?
They knew it was coming
They know it's still here
But our human/animals are getting drunk
They have opened bars for them
To get drunk in the park...
What are they celebrating?
Can't they just go through some grief?
I mean people in this world are worst
Than a real jungle
I am sure when an animal dies
The other animals silently cry...
KARIMA:
Back home when any one dies
No one from that household cooks
For three days...
They wear clean clothes, mostly white
Sit on the floor which are covered with dari, a rug
Or a carpet and mourn the dead
Other people, neighbors or friends
Or relatives bring food for the mourners
People are so stricken with sorrow that they can hardly eat
But food is provided for...
And after three days, every one who came to pay their respects
Goes back home
But the persons who lost their loved ones
Mourn for 40 days...
Yes they go to work, cook ect
But for forty days they don't travel
Or go to a club
Or have a wedding
They just go through grief...
For other people of advanced world
Our culture is considered morbid.
But losing 100-000 human beings and then
having a party or cocktails on zoom
I don't understand that
So I kind of just take it in
And get sad and depressed
Looking at the cruelty and selfishness
Of us who are living...
SALIMA:
No one is having a party right now
People are waking up finally
There are hubdreds of white people, young and old
Marching, protesting against the centuries of injustice
And inequality...
People have realized the kind of injustice
Some of us go through year after year..
And they are changing their attitude
From party to protest
From passive behavior to positive action
Get out in the streets and fight for your rights...
That is why I have been trying
For you to change your attitude
You are not in that part of the world
Where people are mourning the dead
For forty days...
You are here
But your thinking is backward
It's not working...no, not at all
Some day you will just parish
Of your own oppression.
Don't you have enough thrown at you
From the outside?
There is a positive way of living in 21st century
KARIMA:
I understand. I can also march in the streets
I have been marching with you and thousands more
But I can't be cruel
You want me to be cruel
But I can't
Even if I try very hard
I can't be like Lady Macbeth
Whatever is in my heart that is exactly on my face
I fail or succeed, I can't be cruel
It's not my nature
It's not in my DNA
Cruelty is the abomination of humanity
SALIMA:
But there is not much humanity left
Not now, not here, not in the past, not in the future
Have you forgotten all the wars?
Have you forgotten the vietnam war?
KARIMA:
I wasn't here for that war
SALIMA;
But you were here for The Iraq war
The first Iraq war and the second Iraq war
You were here for the Afghanistan war
Werent you?
And for Sept 11
Wasn't that an animal act?
Sept 11?
Those animals coming from
Fanaticism became human bombs
And destroyed buildings
And burned people alive
You were here then right?
KARIMA:
Yes, I was here unfortunately
And I still mourn for those innocent people
Their lives were taken by such an act of brutality
SALIMA:
And you don't think that humans have become animals?
Trust me...
We have become animals
Animals of different demeanor
Religious fanatics
Democracy fanatics
Don't you think that Iraq war and Afghanistan war
And the murder of George Floyd
And Eric Garner and Arbry and many many more..
wasn't that an act of animalism of the worst kind?
And why these things keep happening?
Because we have lost the love, the faith,
The passion, the empathy for each other
Not only of our next door neighbor
But for far away unknown people
Whom we have never met, never spoken to
Nevet had tea with, never celebrated a happy occasion
And now they are all dead...
We killed them.
Our bombs killed them
And we shall never know them
They were here for a while
They were alive
But we killed them...
Why?
For no reason
For power...
Now The Corona virus is killing thousands
Now the virus is the power...
The knee of a fascit police man is the power
KARIMA;
Perhaps you are right
All the actions which leads to un-necessary death
In such a brutal manner...
Must be the doing of animals...
Comme to think of it
The Corona Virus also came from an animal...
SALIMA:
Amazin...isn't it
A bat, a sick bat, a tiny animal
The bat can do so much damage all over
This plnet...
A knee can take the life out of George Floyd
And the life of many more
Because the color of their skin was not white..
Think about that...
The police should be banned from
Having any contact with human beings, period.
They should not be allowed to come near
Or touch a person who is still breathing.
Let the living live
Let them breath...
Even the animals small and big are sick of us.
Maybe this small animal, this small bat said to himself
'Let me teach this fake humanity a lesson,
They have been eating me for centuries,
The time has come when I will eat them,
Spread my wings near and far, near and far
And infect them with my poison...
And the bat did it...
I have been telling you that the animlistic
nature of human beings is very successful
in eating others...
they have their methods of destroying
other week people...
With poverty, with homelessness,
Without health care, giving them poisonous food,
There are many ways for the powerful
Animal to get rid of the week and the polite...
KARIMA:
We need to say a prayer ...
For George Floyd and for humanity
And then perhaps we will be able to see
Clearly that all of us are the same
All of us desreve the kindness and decency from each other
SALIMA:
I have been trying for so long...
To make you see clearly
That you are in danger
With your polite, submissive nature,
We call that kind of a person,
"A victim"
And we have no respect for that victim.
We don't have much respect for any one
We are not human any more, we are just
"Metaphores"
And metaphores don't breath, they don't cry,
They are not visible...
When you go out to a cafe
Or to the subway, or to a concert
They look like humans
But inside of them lives the huge
'Metaphores" of animalistic power
A dangerous power
Power of a snake
Power of a leapord
Power of a lion...
Power of a single police man
One minute George Floyd was alive
And the next second he was dead
On the streets of a powerful country
KARIMA:
Everything is so sad, so sorrowful
I see George Floyd's lifeless face on the footpath
I keep hearing his heart breaking cry, "Mama"
All these lives lost on the streets of this country
All the mothers of these young sons crying...
And that is the reason of my decades of depression.
I tell you Salima, I can't take it...
I can't take it any more...maybe I should end it all?
KARIMA:
That won't be allowed as far as I am alive
I will make sure of that.
I love you
I have loved you since the day we have met
I will do everything to keep you here
With me but in a better, healthier persona
And I have a recipe for that
KARIMA;
(Smiles)
And what recipe is that?
I hope it will fit my taste and
Would be delicious and spicy...
SALIMA:
Trust me...
I have practiced it for years and it has fully worked for me
And it will be delicious
But you will have to change your taste buds a bit
First of all you have to practice
First thing in the morning.
Repeat to your self one hundered times.
"THAT YOU ARE IN A JUNGLE"
Where ever you go, you end up in a jungle
A cafe, a book store, the subway, the museum,
Shopping centers, the cinemas, the theaters,
All are part of a vast jungle...
Where animals are ready to eat you
Because they are much stronger than you,
Much more clever than you...
You must see yourself as an animal
In that atmosphere and be prepared to eat them
KARIMA:
Jesus, it sounds awful.
Suicide might be easier than that
SALIMA:
You know that I can't be with a loser
And I also don't give up.
What I want, that's what I want
And I want you
And I want you to be as strong as me
And you will be...
Just be patient ...we have to fight for our rights first
and let me finish...
KARIMA;
Oh! heavens...there is more?
SALIMA;
We are talking about preserving life
And how to be alive in this world
And that's a long and difficult lesson
Life is difficult in itself
Not a bowl of cherries
You need patience, perseverance
And strong detremination
And in your case,
You are never prepared for the battle.
And whenever other aimals take a bite of you
You get into a shock, never-believing the reality of the jungle
Because in your eternal stupid humbleness
You don't see them as vicious, tigers and lizards
Coming at you...
Like our leader never saw a bat flying our way...
And let 100-000 of their country men died
And killing of George Floyd
Awful neglect..
Wouldn't you say?
It's the same in your case
You never see the danger
Because you are naive and un-prepared
And it causes you constant trauma and pain
Get it into your head once and for all
"You are in a jungle and you have to obey the law.'
If you want to save yourself.
Be prepared
Always on the guard
Always be defensive
Don't say, "I am going to the cafe."
Say, " Hi, I am going to the jungle,
You want to join me?"
Don't say, "I am going to the museum
Say, I am going to the jungle.
Then you will always be on guard.
Prepared for the attack and counter attack.
Be ready to eat the ferocious animals
Before they take a step towards you.
Take a juicy bloody bite out of them
Eat, you are always starving...
Anmals have lots of proteins
You lack energy in your suffering
Gain strength to live this horrendous life
You need lots of Iron
EAT MEAT...LOTS OF MEAT
SALIMA;
Beside eating meat, we need
Something else to be strong
We need to pray
We need the spirtuality of kindness
To occupy our souls...
We need to go back to our faith
Which we have completely lost
Let's pray for 100-000 dead and
For George Floyd...
May they all rest in peace
They sacrificed their lives
For the world to change for better
where people will love and respect
Every living soul and have dithe gnity and decency
towards each other...
Let us pray...
Let us pray for that change
SALIMA:
I don't believe in the melodrama of prayer
But I respect if you want to say a prayer, go ahead...
KARIMA:
Please, please join me at east once to say
a prayer which might save us all, the rave ones, and the coward submissive ones
After all we are still human...
SALIMA:
Are we still human?
We were born human
But are we still human?
Are we?
KARIMA:
That's another reason to pray.
Salima, you said you love me
Just for that reason, please join me...
SALIMA:
Just fr that reason I might
But on one condition
KARIMA:
And what's that?
SALIMA:
(laughs)
You have to admit that we live in a jungle
And you are going to have the strength
of a strong animal like a tiger to fight for your rights...
KARIMA:
(laughs)
I admit. "We are two good and strong animals
who love each other and want to save each other.
SALIMA:
Not good but strong animals who are in love...
(Salima and Karima light a candle, sit on the rug and starts to pray)
Lights begin to fade slowly
(Salima and Karima light a candle, sit on the rug and starts to pray)
Lights begin to fade slowly
BLACKOUT
END OF PLAY
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