Tender Tears
By T F L MAWLONG
On 10th August 2019, the Bhuyan’s troupe Class Act and the Social Activities Committee of Sankardev College have taken upon themselves the responsibility to raise the society’s awareness against child abuse and justice through a play “Tender Tears” staged at Laban sport club indoor stadium.
It was an overwhelming performance in dialogue delivery and in the way the artists spread the wave of their stupendous energy in this one hour act.
The play had a theme of Child abuse. The very idea of the play is to sensitize the public about child abuse in our society and make them ponder about the pain and trauma of the abused children.The participants brought forward their theme to light with stupendous energy. They presented the truth in society with absolute class and without any fear or hesitation.
Context of the play Tender Tears
Ours is a matrilineal society, but if we think that our children are safe, we are delusional.
We have heard about the story of Noh-Kali-Kai. In this folklore the step-father killed and cut his step-child to pieces and made delicious meat curry out of those pieces. In the evening the tired and hungry wife (by the name Kali Kai) who had just returned from work heartily relished herself with that meat curry. Later the poor wife,to her great horror, discovered that she had eaten her own little baby girl. Petrified and enraged the heart-broken Kali Kai went and threw herself down the edge of a fall which came to be known as “Noh-kali-kai”. This is a classic example of crime against children and women in Khasi hills.
As a society we have lived with this unfortunate legacy of crime against children from quite a distant past. But the rape of little girls aged between 4 and 14 is a new development that is happening across the state and at an alarming frequency.
Newspapers report about the horrific child abuse perpetrated by uncles, teachers, fathers and step-fathers etc in Meghalaya almost every other day. They report about the raped women and children abandoned in the forest, and about blackmailing and raping of school girls by their friends, teachers and head masters.
What worse, our insensitive society seems to have no bloody clue about the monstrosity and brutality of this heinous crime against women and children. The society seems to be ignorant of the agony, despair and tender tears of the sexually abused child.We have heard about the compromise between the raped and the rapist mediated by the headmen or the fathers and the uncles of the two families. Where is the justice?
While on the one hand, there are numerous cases in which the sexually abused are not allowed to report by parents themselves because apparently it is a shameful act to talk about rape. On the other hand, when they could muster enough courage to report and file FIR, the victims and their family end up stigmatized by the society that enables it. Then there is this disturbing question, are all the rape perpetrators punished?
A social change is the need of the hour. But to drive the social changes, we need to first sensitize the society about the untold plight and the trauma of the sexually abused child. The society needs to understand that for a woman or a child, rape is a crime worse than death itself.
Enter “Tender Tears”.
It was a stunning performance by the actors. It was a great direction and a great script too. In its vein, the play tells a horrific story about a sexually abused 14 years old girl as well as the culture that enabled the abuse.
Imagine an innocent child who has idealized a fairy-tale love life, hopping to school every morning, cheerfully having fun with her friends or siblings, happily day dreaming of a beautiful future, then at the God forsaken moments some monsters, unable to keep themselves inside their pants, forcefully take her, strip her of her dignity, inflict her with AIDS, and leave her life in unimaginable pain, agony and despair.Can you imagine?…
Who will help her face the society and life again?…
Will the little girl get justice?..
When people are told about the heinous crime against children they hear and forget, but when it is told through story, it creates an impact. A big thank you to Bhuyan’s troupe Class Act, to the Social Extension Activities Committee of Sankardev College and to all the participants of the play.We are eagerly waiting for the play to be staged again.
Tender Tears In News
