Click to play videoNew Delhi: Even before the crack of dawn on new year, a small group of people are already up and about.
While the rest of Delhi sleeps, members of the Jan Natya Manch theatre group don't mind getting up early on January 1— just like they have done for the last 19 years.
A member of the group, Sudhanva Deshpande says, "It's exciting to get up early. January 1 is the most important day for us."
Their destination for the day was Jhandapur, a small factory worker's settlement in East Delhi and they were going there to perform a play in memory of their founder — Safdar Hashmi.
Safdar Hashmi was killed on the Ambedkar ground inJhandapur on January 1, 1989. Since then, this street theatre group has not missed the date even once.
"We were here performing this play called Halla Bol when some goons attacked us. Most of us escaped but Safdar and a factory worker didn't escape the brutal attack. He was declared dead on January 2 in a hospital. On January 3, we cremated him and the next day, we returned to complete the play from the same point where it was interrupted. Since then we come here every year to perform," says Deshpande.
By afternoon the audience, mostly from the working class, had swelled and a large number were women in attendance.
The goons killed Safdar Hashmi but could not kill was the spirit of Halla Bol. It's been 19 years since then and that spirit is still alive in Jhandapur.
Jan Natya Manch is affiliated with the Communist Trade Unions since the days of its inception. Safdar's wife Mala was present on the fateful day in 1989 and is still one of its most active members.
She says that this Nukkad Natak is committed to a cause that her husband lived and died for.
The final performance has an anti-capitalist pitch that may sound too shrill, but the audience here is not complaining. The smile on their faces hold the promise that the new year would be better than the last.
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