M Boyer’s tiatr ‘Sonvsar Sudhorlo’ was in the process ofbeing staged all over Goa for a second run. His show was sold out at the oldKala Academy theatre in Panjim. In one of the tiatr scenes, Jacinto Vaz wouldenter the stage, lighting fire crackers celebrating the success of the Mundkar’s(Tenant) son in the examinations. One of Jacinto Vaz’s specialities wasdrifting away from the original script just to give the audience what theywanted, and later getting back on track. His only aim was to make the tiatr ahit. That is the reason no director would ever say anything to him. In thisparticular scene, the mundkar questioned Jacinto Vaz as to why he is lightingthe crackers inside the house, to which Jacinto Vaz replied, “I am not lightingthe crackers in the house, but I am lighting them and throwing them outside thehouse.” At this point the audience would get shell-shocked. One day it sohappened, that we had two shows on that day. While the scene was in progress,the lighted cracker remained in his hand and by mistake he threw away the candle.The fire cracker continued bursting in his hand. The people burst out laughingtoo. Though this incident (of throwing the candle out) had happenedaccidentally, he later repeated the same. He would hold the lighted cracker inhis hand and actually throw away the candle.
The traitorous tempo driver
M Boyer’s tiatr, ‘Atam Konn Ghatki’ (Who is the traitornow?), was to be staged on New Year’s Eve at Kumta in Karwar. Boyer’s sons werevery young at that time. Yet, they would accompany their father in the tempo tohelp him. Whilst travelling to Karwar we met with an accident at night and manyof the artistes were injured. Today Greg is no longer with us. But that day, hetoo was accompanying us. He had undergone a heart bypass surgery and had noteven completed a year in recovery. Remmie Colaco was there with us too. MaestroFidelis, Drummer Tony from Cansaulim, August de Quepem, Afonso and Anton Moraesall of them were there in the Tempo. After the accident, the local peoplerushed there and pulled us out from the tempo. I had fractured my hand. In themeantime, the police too arrived on the scene. However, our tempo driver wasmissing from the scene. Since he was not holding a valid driving license, heleft us there, took the tempo and drove away. The police began questioning usabout the whereabouts of our tempo driver. Nobody had an answer to thequestion.
We were then shifted to a nearby hospital in the ruralsurroundings, where they began injecting all of us randomly. Thereafter, thepolice began an enquiry into the incident. The police inspector questioned usaloud, “What is the name of your tiatr?” To this, someone amongst us answered,“‘Atam Konn Ghatki?’ (Who is the traitor now?)” The police inspector replied“Now, the tempo driver is the traitor.” After some time the local tiatrcontractor appeared on the scene and he assisted us further in the matter.
The following day we returned home to Goa, having cancelledboth shows. The tempo driver arranged to send another tempo from Goa to pick usup and bring us back home. He later explained his difficulty to us.
- Anil Kumar
As recounted to Daniel F de Souza
