UIUC presents
THE POST OFFICE
A play about Rabindranath Tagore’s Dak Ghar
Based on a story idea by Sunil Shanbag
A play in 3 acts
By Vivek V. Narayan
Directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay
CHARACTERS
Janusz Korczak: Pratik Banerjee
Young Janusz Korczak: Diptarka Saha
Amal: Geetanjali Gera
Madhav Datta: Shreyan Majumdar
Amal’s Doctor: Bhaskar Mondal
Watchman: Deepak Subramanium
Headman: Sudipta Mukherjee
Gaffer: Diptarka Saha
Gaffer as Fakir: Diptarka Saha
Sudha: Bidipta Chakraborty
A bald man with an unkempt grey beard is roughly thrown onstage by unseen hands. The ‘door’ shuts. A stark dim light comes up downstage R. The old man is dressed in a frayed/black suit and tie, a formerly white shirt now dirtied beyond recognition, a face blackened with dirt and soot and signs of a few bruises on his face. His wire-rimmed spectacles have a thin crack on the left lens and appear to be all but shattered on the right. This gives him an odd peering gaze, as he attempts to construct his view through his unreliable spectacles. He is Henryk Goldszmit, better known as Janusz Korczack, the Polish pedagogue, children’s author, and erstwhile head of an orphanage.
KORCZAK
(Putting on his spectacles) Walls. It was always these walls, different colours, different sizes, and it was always you, different faces, different clothes. (Pause, brings out his wallet and opens)) Did Father – feel this same darkness, snuffing the breath out of him, at the Tworki asylum? As a young man, I was afraid, I’d end up like him, raving mad, all alone in a dark room, waiting for death … It turned out as I feared… No…no…I’m not mad… although some would disagree. In the Ghetto too, it was these same walls, except the madness, was on the outside. I hope my children don’t have to wait too long in this darkness.
(Pause a little later, sound of marching boots offstage)
JUNIOR KORCZAK
Dr. Henryk Goldszmit, born 22 July 1878. Retired Polish Army Major, Captain during the First World War, area of specialization – pedagogy and pediatrics, academic work – the study of children. The Old Doctor to my kids at 92 Krochmalna Street. A storyteller to the children of Poland – Janusz Korczak.
(A change in lighting, or some such effect, signals a shift to Korczak’s memory. He draws himself up to his full height, the stoop is gone. He appears to be lecturing, wears a stethoscope around his neck. Again, he addresses the audience directly, but with no distaste this time.)
JUNIOR KORCZAK
The subject of today’s lecture is The Heart of the Child. Oh no no, you won’t be needing your books and pencils. Oh no, sir, this one you’ll just have to remember. That is what the frightened heart of a child sounds like in the presence of an adult. Remember this before rebuking a child, or punishing him. Never let yourself forget that. (Lights begin to fade out downstage R and come up on upstage L) That is all for today.
(Upstage L, Dak Ghar Scene 1. We see a doctor holding a stethoscope to the heart of a child lying in bed. The sound of a child’s heartbeat continues uninterrupted from Korczak’s speech to this scene. Scene 1 of Rabindranath Tagore’s Dak Ghar is played out now.)
Madhav Datta and the Doctor
MADHAV DATTA
(In a worrying tone) Doctor, how many more days do you think…
DOCTOR
Madhav, if he is destined to live long…he will live. Ayurvedic scriptures say… (Sanskrit quote) “Bile or palsy, cold or gout spring all alike.”
MADHAV DATTA
These scriptures scare me more. You just tell me what I should do.
DOCTOR
You need to be excessively careful.
MADHAV DUTTA
Of course, I have to be careful. But regarding what? Doctor, could you please explain a bit?
DOCTOR
I have told you already, he should not be allowed to go outside at all.
MADHAV DUTTA
But Doctor, it is very hard to keep a child indoors all day.
DOCTOR
But what else can be done? The autumn wind and sun are both like poison to him.
(Sanskrit quote) “In wheezing, swoon or in nervous fret, In jaundice or leaden eyes—”
MADHAV DUTTA
Thak Thak aapnar shastro thak ….Doctor, what use is all your scriptures? So he has to be confined… there is no other remedy? … I cannot bear how the boy suffers when he drinks your bitter medicine.
DOCTOR
The more a patient suffers the more benefit he gets. As the scriptures say (Sanskrit quote). “In medicine as in good advices, the least palatable ones are the truest.” Okay, Dutta, I will take your leave now.
(As the Physician exits, lights change and Korczak stands, puts on a hat and walks downstage.) SCENE 2
(Korczak’s memory. He stands downstage, surveying surveys the room around him. He appears to pick up
an imaginary object.)
(Addresses the audience.)
JUNIOR KORCZAK
As a young doctor I used to pay my free visits to the slums. Oh those visits were difficult… I became experienced in the art of prescribing aspirin for poverty. I often admitted the sick children to the hospital, treating them of their flu and measles and then… turning them back into their brutal everyday life. But, it didn’t make sense to treat the body and not the soul…that was what led to the Orphanage. The idea was not to give them a shelter from life or to shield them from what was out there – NO. Instead, we worked night and day to give them a HOME. We tried to give them an education, give the soul enough substance to endure the brutality of the world outside. In the Orphanage they were taught to frame their own rules…run their own children’s court to punish the offenders, even to run a children’s newspaper. (Pause)
KORCZAK
Many thought I am a romantic. Some called me a fool with a heart of gold….a noble idiot.. I thought they were wrong, but now… here… in this darkness… (Pause) nothing is certain.
(Pause)
GAFFER enters. (with a song… poth diye ke jay je chole) WITH subtitles
(Song: )
Path diye ke jay go chole
Dak diye se jay
Amar ghore thakai daay
Who goes walking on that road,
calling on me as he passes?
How do I stay home?
Pother haway ki sur baje, baje amar buker majhe – Baje bedonay.
Amar ghore thakai daay
A tune is blowing in the wind on that road.
The tune plays in my aching heart.
How do I stay home?
MADHAV DUTTA
Oh, look it’s GAFFER. You are another big problem in my life.
GAFFER
Keno? Why are you scared of me?
MADHAV DUTTA
Tumi je chele khepabar soddar! ... A bad influence on the kids? You provoke the kids to roam free.
GAFFER
So? Why do you care? Are you a kid? What are you afraid of?
MADHAV DUTTA
I have adopted a child.
GAFFER
Besh, besh… bhai! Khub bhalo khobor! Where did you find him?
MADHAV DUTTA
He is the son of my wife’s brother. His mother died when he was a baby, and now his father is also dead.
GAFFER
Oh, in that case he needs me!
MADHAV DUTTA
The doctor says that he has very little chance to survive. The only way is – he MUST stay inside…out of the autumn sun and wind. This, this is why I fear you….
GAFFER
Miche bolo ni…bhai Madhab. So I’m already as bad as autumn wind and sun! But, friend, I know something, too, of the game of keeping them indoors. When my day’s work is over I am coming in to make friends with this child of yours.
(Song continues)
Purnimate sagar hote chute elo ban Amar laglo prane tan.
Apon mone mele ankhi aar keno ba pore thaki Kiser bhabonay.
Amar ghore thakai daay
The ocean rushes out,
to meet the full moon night.
My heart feels its pull.
How do I stay home,
lost in thought,
staring wide-eyed at empty space?
Madhav looks vexed, exit GAFFER
KORCZAK
All that hopeful preparation for life… the rules.. it appears now that I only trained the kids to accept death.
(Pause. Korczak cries silently, his breath is raspy.)
KORCZAK
Why can’t I have a window? A view… in my last moments? I hope that my children have a window in their rooms?
I begged them to keep me with my children, but they wouldn’t listen.
(PAUSE)
They will have a black death, away from the sun, their wings clipped, no longer butterflies…just Jewish children. (Whispering) Orphans. (Pause.) They are not orphans!
(Upstage L, Dak Ghar Scene 3. Amal gets up from his bed and walks unsteadily to the window’)
AMAL
Peesche moshai! Ooo Peesche moshai!
MADHAV DUTTA
What is it, Amal?
AMAL
I cannot even go out in the yard, where aunt is grinding her lentils? Where the squirrel with his tail in the wind is nibbling at the broken pieces on the ground? Can’t I run up there?
MADHAV DUTTA
Naa
AMAL
Peesche moshai…
MADHAV DUTTA
No, son you must not.
AMAL
Jaaii Naa…
MADHAV DUTTA
Na bolechi…
AMAL
It would have been better if I were a squirrel. But uncle, why do you not let me go outdoors?
MADHAV DUTTA
The doctor has said that the outdoors is not good for your health.
AMAL
How does HE know?
MADHAV DUTTA
What are you talking about, Amal? If the doctor does not know, who will? He has studied such huge books!
AMAL
I have never read books. I don’t know anything.
MADHAV DUTTA
Think about it, Amal: all the learned pundits live like you; they never go outside.
AMAL
They don’t go outside?
MADHAV DUTTA
How would they? They read books all day and night; the entire world is lost to them. If you sit at home and read books all day ….you will be a great pundit when you grow up.
AMAL
No uncle, I beg you, no ….I don’t want to be a pundit, never. I want to go outside and see all things in life, both big and small.
MADHAV DUTTA
What? What will you see? What is there to see?
AMAL
Far away from my window, the hills over there, I want to go there. I want to cross those hills.
MADHAV DUTTA
Don’t be crazy. Kaaj nei kormo nei, khamoka paharta par hoye chole jai! Son, use your head. The hills are high because it is forbidden to cross them. Else, what was the use in heaping up so many large stones to make such a big affair of it, eh!
AMAL
Uncle, do you think, the hills are meant to keep me from crossing over? It seems to me because the earth can’t speak, it raises its hands into the sky and calls out. And those who live far and sit alone by their windows can see the signal. But I suppose the pundits do not hear the call!
MADHAV DUTTA
No, they don’t have time for that sort of nonsense. They are not crazy like you.
(Song:)
Dure kothay dure dure
Amar mon beray go ghure ghure…
Je bashite batas kaade
Sei bashitir sure sure
Je poth sokol desh paraye
Udash hoye jay haraye
Je poth beye kangal poran
Jete chay kon ochinpure
Far, far away,
My mind wanders,
chasing the weeping wind’s song.
The absentminded path fades into the horizon,
My beggar soul yearns to follow that path to the unknown.
Madhav exits.
JUNIOR KORCZAK
Our summer camps were the best times – for the children, it was a chance …to leave the cramped living quarters of Warsaw behind them and run as far as they could. (Laughs) One summer, we were at a camp outside Warsaw…The day before we were to return to Warsaw, young Oscar read out a little poem. I still remember the words, couldn’t forget them if I wanted to.
The children celebrate for they are going home.
Home, where they know the smell of the earth, Mingled with yesterday’s smoke.
Today, butterflies soar against the clear sky,
Splashes of red and yellow against the blue sky.
The flowers laugh in the sun now, Red and blue in the yellow light.
But when winter comes, they will fade, The flowers and the butterflies, Yellow, red and blue.
Only the smell of earth and the smoke of yesterday remain.
KORCZAK
After Oscar’s poem everyone wanted to take a last walk in the woods before sunset. We walked to a large clearing in the woods, and sat down to watch out last sunset in those enchanted woods. The sun went down, and a little one cried: ‘It’s gone.’ I said, ‘And now we begin to walk…to the sun,’ I said, pointing to the rosy horizon. They laughed. ‘It will be a long journey, but we can do it. Yes, we will walk to the sun.
(Pause) I was a doctor by education, a pedagogue by chance, a writer by passion, and a psychologist by necessity. I had to play games with the children, speak their language, enter their worlds, negotiate on their terms.
(Amal catches Korczak’s eyes, Korczak peers at him with curiosity. Amal scurries back to his bed, to his former position as he was talking to Madhav. Korczak stares after him, and smiles to himself. Amal watches him on the sly.)
(Korczak’s memory. During this light change, Amal is watching Korczak with interest. He doesn’t wish to be seen, so he crawls under the bed, hiding from view. Korczak sees Amal’s antics and smiles to himself.)
JUNIOR KORCZAK
(To an imaginary intern) What are you doing here? Come out! (Pause) Have you ever mopped the floor before? (Laughs) Wait, I have an idea. (He searches for Amal’s eyes, and winks at him. Amal is startled when he realises he has been discovered) Have you been issued a blanket yet? (Pause) Good. Bring it along. (He fetches his blanket and walking stick from his bunk. He folds the blanket into half breadthwise and a quarter lengthwise. He uses the stick to mop the floor with it.) Yes try this. But wait, this won’t do at all. We need someone to sit on the blanket to give it some weight, it’ll polish the floor better that way. (For Amal’s benefit) We need someone about 12 years of age, of slight build, curious, and mad enough to enjoy the ride. (Amal walks to the apron as if to nominate himself for the job.) Oh yeah, you’ll do. (Amal sits on the blanket, while Korczak runs up and down his cell, reenacting the scene. They both laugh.) Thank you, child.
Song. A version of this song is available here <https://fortunoff.library.yale.edu/song/siekiera-motyka/>
Madhav enters.
AMAL
You know? I met a guy who is just as crazy as me.
MADHAV DUTTA
Sotyi naki? Who was it?
AMAL
He was carrying a bamboo stick on his shoulder. He was crossing the fields, walking towards the hills. I called out to him, ‘Dada, where are you going Dada?’ He replied, ‘I don’t know. I am going wherever’. I asked, ‘why?’ He said, ‘to find work’. Uncle, do you have to travel looking for work too?
MADHAV DUTTA
Hoi boiki? Who doesn’t?
AMAL
Oh okay, then I too will go about looking for work.
MADHAV DUTTA
But what if you don’t find a job?
AMAL
That will make me happier. I will go further. Uncle, you know what else happened? I saw the man with the torn shoes stop by the fig tree where water flows from the spring. There he washed his feet, and after he untied his bundle, took out some gram flour, mixed it with the water and then ate it.
MADHAV DUTTA
That’s fine, but don’t call and talk to strangers.
AMAL
But why? I love strangers.
MADHAV DUTTA
Strangers are not to be trusted. What if someone takes you away?
AMAL
That will be so fine. But nobody wants to take me away! Everyone wants me to be shut away in this room.
MADHAV DUTTA
All right, I will be off. I have work to do. Do not go outside.
AMAL
No, I won’t, uncle.
JUNIOR KORCZAK
Time had a strange elasticity in the Ghetto. It seemed to fly past when you were running around trying to find food for two hundred children. Each second, you knew could be your last. I have this theory… that nobody quite feels the march of Time as much as a child.(Pause)
KORCZAK
I was desperately guarding everything I held sacred, even in the Ghetto. It wasn’t easy either, the children were increasingly restless, there were playground rumors of everyone being killed. And children are no fools.
AMAL
Oh, there is the watchman doing his rounds. Watchman, oh mister watchman, listen! Aren’t you going to ring the bell?
WATCHMAN
It’s not time yet.
AMAL
Some say the time has passed and someone else says it is not time yet. Why don’t you ring the bell now? It will be time then.
WATCHMAN
How can that be? I ring the bell only when it is time.
AMAL
Mister watchman, tell me please, why does your bell ring?
WATCHMAN
To announce that time does not wait for anyone. Time is passing.
AMAL
Where is time passing to? To what country?
WATCHMAN
That no one knows.
AMAL
You know what I want—I want to fly with time to that country of which no one knows anything.
WATCHMAN
Everyone must go to that country one day, son.
AMAL
No, no! The doctor will not let me go anywhere.
WATCHMAN
A better doctor will come, and he will set you free.
AMAL
When will this better doctor come, mister watchman? I can’t sit here any longer.
WATCHMAN
You should not talk like that, son.
AMAL
Oh, mister watchman!
WATCHMAN
Ki baba!
AMAL
The building over there with the flag flying, where I can see people coming in and out, what is that place?
WATCHMAN
That is the new post office.
AMAL
Post office? What post office?
WATCHMAN
It is the king’s post office.
AMAL
Does the king send all the letters?
WATCHMAN
Yes… one day the king will send a letter to you too.
AMAL
He will send a letter in my name? But I’m still a child.
WATCHMAN
The king writes tiny messages to small children.
AMAL
Okay, even if the king writes to me, who will bring me the letter?
WATCHMAN
The king has many carriers. You’ve never seen them? They go about wearing a golden badge on their chest.
AMAL
Where do they go?
WATCHMAN
They go from house to house throughout the country.
AMAL
When I’m older I want to be a mail carrier.
WATCHMAN
Ha ha ha, carrier! But it’s a difficult job. Rain or shine, you must deliver mail to everyone’s home, rich or poor. Oh, here comes the village Headman, I’ll run off. If he sees me talking to you, he’s not going to like it.
AMAL
Where is the headman? Where is he?
WATCHMAN
Over there on the road. He is carrying a huge umbrella.
AMAL
Did the king make him the headman?
WATCHMAN
No, he has made himself the headman. He knows a hundred ways to bother people. Creating trouble is his game. Everyone is afraid of him. Okay I take leave now; I have a lot of things to do.
AMAL
Abar kobe ashbe? (When will you visit again?)
WATCHMAN
I will be back tomorrow morning. I will tell you the news of the world then.
Exit
AMAL
Mister headman, mister headman. Will you hear me out?
The headman enters.
HEADMAN
Who is it. Who is calling out to me? Oh, it is you, you stupid monkey.
AMAL
You are the headman Sahib, everyone obeys you.
HEADMAN
Yes of course, why will they not? They must obey me.
AMAL
Well mister headman, you please tell the postman that I am Amal and I always sit by this window.
HEADMAN
But why?
AMAL
Just in case a letter arrives in my name.
HEADMAN
A letter in your name? Who would write to you?
AMAL
The king will write to me.
HEADMAN
You are on writing terms with the king! It seems that Madhav Dutta’s head has swollen up. He saves a few coins and now suddenly everyone in this house is talking about royalty. This man needs to be taught a lesson. Okay, funny boy, I will go make the arrangements for the king’s letter to be sent to you.
AMAL
No, no, don’t trouble yourself, sir.
JUNIOR KORCZAK
We managed to survive, day to day, raising food and funds to keep the Orphanage running, and its 106 children more or less happy. When the Nazis invaded Poland, we knew things would get worse.
JUNIOR KORCZAK
The Polish Army was being decimated along the borders, and within a week, it was clear they’d be at Warsaw any moment. On the eighth day, we heard the sirens.
JUNIOR KORCZAK
Soon after the invasion, we were forced to relocate to the Ghetto. It caused immense panic. “Children need their home, a place where they know the smell of the earth.” It was a complete mayhem.
Video of going to ghetto.
Gaffer comes in in fakir’s attire. He speaks to Amal, as if telling stories.
KORCZAK
I told them stories, funny stories, romantic stories, revenge tales, even animal stories… Everyday, I felt like the ship captain who ordered his band to play rousing jazz when he heard the ship was going down. (Pause) I hope my stories made them happy as the lights went out.
AMAL
Who are you?
GAFFER
I am a Fakir.
Sudha enters.
AMAL
Where are you going with tinkling anklets on your feet? Would you stop for a while.
SUDHA
I don’t have time to breathe; I am already running late.
AMAL
I see you don’t want to stop; I don’t want to sit here either.
SUDHA
You remind me of the fading stars in the morning, what is wrong with you?
AMAL
Who knows? The doctor has forbidden me from going outdoors.
SUDHA
Don’t step out, then. Death takes the one who does not listen to the doctor. I know that you are tired of staring at the outside. Let me close your window.
AMAL
No, no, don’t do that. Everything else is closed for me. Forget about me, tell me about yourself, who are you?
SUDHA
Ami Sudha.
AMAL
Sudha? Your name is Sudha?
SUDHA
Don’t you know, I am daughter of the gardener here?
AMAL
That’s wonderful. But what do you do?
SUDHA
I collect flowers in a basket, which I then weave into a garland. I am on my way to pick the flowers now.
AMAL
Going to pick flowers? If I could go out, I would climb the topmost branch of a tree. I would get you a flower that no one has seen before.
SUDHA
You know I wish I could sit idly like you all day. But I can’t stand here anymore; it is getting too dark, and I won’t be able to pick flowers.
AMAL
Will you pick me a flower?
SUDHA
How can I give you a flower for free? You have to pay the price.
AMAL
When I grow up, when I go across the spring to look for work, I will pay you the price.
SUDHA
Okay!
AMAL
But you are coming back?
SUDHA
Yes, I will be back.
AMAL
You will come back.
SUDHA
Yes, yes, I will.
AMAL
You won’t forget, right? My name is Amal, you will remember, promise?
SUDHA
I’ll remember, you’ll see.
Madhav takes away Amal from the window.
MADHAV DUTTA
Your illness is getting worse by the day because you’ve been sitting by the window so much.
AMAL
Pishemoshai… Now I can’t even sit at the window. The doctor has forbidden that too? I feel better when I sit by the window.
MADHAV DUTTA
Look Amal, you have made friends with the whole village sitting here. Everyday there is a long line of your friends at the door. They suck the life out of you. Look how pale you have become.
AMAL
Uncle, if the fakir does not see me by the window, how will he be able to find me.
MADHAV DUTTA
Tell me, who is this fakir?
AMAL
THE fakir, The fakir tells me stories from all the places he has visited. I love his stories!
MADHAV DUTTA
I don’t know of any such fakir.
AMAL
It’s time for his arrival. Please Uncle, I beg you to call him here so he can sit and talk to me.
AMAL Here, here is the fakir. Come, sit by me on the bed.
MADHAV DUTTA
Oh, him! But he is…
AMAL
Uncle, this is Fakir.
GAFFER
[Winking at Madhav Dutta] I am the fakir of all fakirs.
AMAL
Which place did you visit this time fakir?
GAFFER
I had gone to the Island of Doves. I just walked back from there.
AMAL
You walked all the way from the Island of Doves?
GAFFER
What is there to be surprised? I am free to come and go as I please.
AMAL
[Clapping his hands together] Wow that’s so much fun. You remember that you will make me your apprentice and take me everywhere.
GAFFER
I remember child, I remember. I will teach you the mantra for traveling as you please. You can travel across the seas, and mountains, and forests, wherever you please to go. Nothing and nobody will be able to stop you.
MADHAV DUTTA
What is this nonsense you are talking about?
GAFFER
Amal, I do not bend before the mountains. I have no fear of the sea. However, if your uncle and that doctor were to stand before me, my mantra would no longer work.
AMAL
We will keep this a secret from the doctor. I will stay in my bed quietly. On the day I recover, I will be gone forever, crossing the river, the mountains, and the ocean with the fakir.
MADHAV DUTTA
That’s enough, this conversation is even making me go crazy. I am going now.
Madhav Dutta leaves.
AMAL
Now tell me Fakir, has a letter in my name arrived at the post office… from the king?
GAFFER
I have received news that a letter is in transit, but it has not arrived yet.
AMAL
Ever since the king’s post office has been built, I sit in my room, and dream about the day I will receive the king’s letter. I don’t feel lonely anymore, but how will I know what the king has written in his letter.
GAFFER
So, what if you cannot know what is written? Isn’t it enough to know your name is on the letter?
KORCZAK
I am afraid of what lies ahead, these Germans are capable of anything. I asked myself if I am preparing the children for the worst. I searched in my now-meager library for a dusty battered copy of the play I was looking for. The play, The Post Office, by Rabindranath Tagore. It was perhaps my last solemn duty to the children. It has what my children, and I, needed the most at the time – images of transience. Above all, it had a lovely child – curious and hopeful – preparing for his death. Abrasha will play Amal,
Halinka – bullying Headman, Misha – Madhav and Georgina – Gaffer,
The doctor enters.
DOCTOR
Look at the wind today, when I entered your house, the wind was creeping through the door. Lock the door. Don’t let anyone go in or out for the next few days, if anyone must come, they can use the backdoor. And close that window too. The rays of the setting sun are coming through that window, keeping the patient getting rest.
MADHAV DUTTA
Amal has his eyes closed. It looks like he is asleep.
Headman enters.
HEADMAN
Ei je chora… kothay? Ore chora? O chora!
GAFFER
Shh quiet, quiet.
AMAL
No fakir, I’m not asleep.
HEADMAN
My darling boy, look the king has sent this letter to you.
AMAL
[Startled] Sotyi!
HEADMAN
Would I lie to you? You are the king’s friend! [handing over a blank paper] Here is the king’s letter.
AMAL
You’re not joking, right? Mr. Fakir, can you check?
GAFFER
This indeed is a letter from the king.
AMAL
But I don’t see anything. Everything looks blank to me today. It seems like it is evening already. I can hear the bell ring. Fakir, can you see the evening star? Why can’t I see it?
GAFFER
Because the windows are closed, my child. I will open them.
AMAL
Mr. Headman, why don’t you tell me what the letter says.
HEADMAN
The king has written: I will visit you soon. Prepare some snacks for me. I am sick and tired of the food they serve in the palace.
MADHAV DUTTA
[Joining his hands together] Mr. Headman I implore you. This is not the time for jokes.
GAFFER
It’s not a joke. Amal, the king has written that he’s coming soon with the royal physician.
AMAL
Fakir, oh fakir! I can hear the bugle.
The King’s Herald enters
KORCZAK
(As Herald with the flag) The king has sent his greatest physician to attend on his youngest friend. Why is everything closed? Open all the doors and windows. [To Amal] Why my child, how are you feeling now?
AMAL
All my pain has ended. I can see the twinkling stars beyond the dark skies now. I will ask the king to show me the Pole Star. I have seen it many times, but I can never tell which one it is.
KORCZAK
He will tell you everything. [To Madhav Dutta] Prepare your house; fill this room with flowers to welcome the king. [Pointing to the headman] And this man will not stay here.
AMAL
Let him be. He is a friend. He is the one who brought me the letter from the king.
KORCZAK
As you say, my child. Shh, be quiet, everyone. He is falling asleep. I will sit next to this child; he is falling deeper into sleep. Blow off the lamps. Let the starlight in. Shh, he is asleep now.
Lights darken. Korczak holds Amal’s fingers and gently blows on his little fingertips. As Amal drops off to ‘sleep’
Korczak returns to his own space, downstage R.
JUNIOR KORCZAK
I watched the unfocussed, unseeing eyes of children who know they have no future to dream of. It was only during the rehearsals of The Post Office that I saw some life in them. I often wondered, what if they stayed in those roles forever? Abrasha played Amal. (Laughs)
KORCZAK
We invited all our friends in the Ghetto. Nearly everyone we knew came, paid a small price for the tickets, but we let in even those who couldn’t afford to pay. After all, everyone knew the end was near. We believe that an hour’s performance of an enchanting tale by one who is both a philosopher and a poet will provide an experience – of the highest order of sensibility.
(Knocking on doors, more shouts commanding everyone to appear outside.)
Shrinvantu Visv: hymn arrangement from Rigveda, and Shvetashvatara Upanishad
ABRASHA/ AMAL
Even the youngest amongst us knew this march to the trains was something special. We had no idea what Treblinka was, we didn’t know this would be our last few moments together, (Pause) with the Doctor. (He eyes meet Korczak’s.) The play was long over but I felt like I was playing Amal’s part again. I was being taken somewhere, where I would never return from. Everything on our walk to the trains looked smoky, even before we caught sight of our train which looked like someone had set fire to it. It was all black and dirty and smoke came out from its first compartment, which I knew was the engine. Some of the little ones even laughed when we reached the trains, they liked the idea of a train ride. They didn’t know where they were going, the poor things. Like, Amal, all they wanted to be out of their cramped living quarters, their dingy lives. I did. I knew this was no joyous train ride. Nobody spoke to Pan Doctor, but he smiled at us all the same.
Sudha enters.
SUDHA
Amal!
KORCZAK
He is asleep.
SUDHA
I’ve got flowers for him. May I put them in his hand?
KORCZAK
Yes, you may.
SUDHA
When will he get up?
KORCZAK
In a few moments when the king comes and calls out to him.
SUDHA
Will you whisper something in his ear?
KORCZAK
What shall I whisper?
SUDHA
Tell him that Sudha did not forget him.
Lights fade out slowly.
THE END