Editor's Note

The Show Survives

Oshtogaan is the name given to a type of performance they do in villages. It is a dramatic retelling of parts of the Krishna myth. The performance described in the cover story took place in Jhenidah and it is just one of the innumerable types of pala performances that take place in the villages. Here they re-enact the dialogue between Krishna and Radha and her friends. Radha and her friends want to go across the river and Krishna has appeared in the guise of the boatman. He is negotiating with the maidens. The dialogue is playful, the performance is lively. It's a story most of the audience has already heard before, but they don't mind hearing again. It is this familiarity that makes these palas so endearing.

For city-dwellers it is easy to forget that this sort of entertainment still goes on. It is still the highlight of a lot of people's lives. There is often a sense that live performances are a thing of the past- traces of bygone days long before all these different kinds of media took over our lives and everything went all electronic. Not so- the city-dweller only needs go a few miles outside of the city and take a look around. He may find crowds of people gathering around to be regaled by the sort of entertainment he thought was extinct.

Abak Hussain
From the Insight Desk

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