It was a special moment of joy and immense happiness toSurendra D Rankale, affectionately called ‘Babu’ by the tiatrist fraternitywhen he was felicitated at the hands of the Deputy Chief Minister of Goa,Francis D’Souza and presented the TAG Lifetime Contribution Award 2012. Emotionwas written large on his face, and the tiatr lovers present at the impressivefunction reciprocated with thunderous applause, expressing their appreciation.Babu deserved it all for a job well done with sincere dedication and withoutany expectations.
Nearly four decades ago, when he first associated himself asa ‘prompter’ in Khell/Khell Tiatrs, little did ‘Babu’ know that one day hiscontribution would not go in vain and he would be bestowed with glorious honourand recognition, and that too from a state recognised body such as the TiatrAcademy of Goa. This is what made the award even more precious and meaningfulto him. Humble and soft spoken that he is, Babu, was speechless, but hissilence said it all. Dressed for the occasion, Babu who is a humble motor cyclepilot by profession, when not busy with tiatrs was the cynosure of all eyes ashe sat amongst the VIPs on the dais.
Born and brought up in Merces by his parents fromneighbouring Kolhapur district in Maharashtra, he studied up to the ‘PrimeiroGrau’ in Portuguese during the colonial regime and learnt to read and writeKonkani on his own. His first association with the Konkani stage began as anofficial prompter. That was at a time when back stage prompting was the ‘inthing’. With his fluency in reading and writing Konkani he was a great help toseveral playwrights and assisted them in scripting their tiatr plots.
As an official prompter in tiatrs, he has served PatrickDourado, in his shows ‘Meera, Suknnem, Ostori, Varem, Tem Koxem Melem?’, Starof Curtorim in ‘Seza Pai, Kantteantlem Ful, Maim Dukhi Sasumai Sukhi’, PremKumar in ‘Vavradi Ordhi Bakri, Khotto Poiso’, Remmie Colaco in ‘GhorachemSukh’, M Boyer in ‘Ekuch Rosto’, Jacinto Vaz in ‘Bombay Dekho, and To AmkamVisorlo’, C Alvares in ‘Kedna Udetolo To Dis?, Xezari Kombo, Cat zalem Mazor,Kizil Nastana Ghor na, and Bab Peter and Ophelia in ‘Mijeas’ besides severalothers.
Speaking briefly to The Goan Babu said, “My cup of joy isfull, and I feel happy that TAG has taken cognizance of my humble contributionto the Konkani stage for more than four decades. I thank them for theirgesture.” He is busy at the moment with several assignments, assistingplaywrights and directors with outdoor shootings as well as rehearsals of showsyet to be released.
