Thursday 18 February 2016

8th February - Class-ical Ball

'Ball' again again again & Slow Motion Walk/Race
Monday Market, C2 Vasant Kunj

Participants: Mallika, Monka, Abhilash, Govind, Jaya, Simran, Jahnvi, Virkein, Nalin, Nalin's mother, Juee, 

( wow thats a lot!)

We met in front of the mini cooper showroom. All new TDWK-ers! It was a great day for TDWK. I quickly explained the two tasks we were going to indulge in - the invisible catch and the slow walk and we proceeded. We started playing invisible catch in the middle of the Monday market. People looked curiously at us. They were bemused, amused, hesitant and eventually, they joined in. The kids are always the first ones to start believing with you, to start playing. The adults remain reluctant for longer. Some oblige because they have been caught in an embarrassing moment by us, some just walk away and then there are the precious few who want to know more about you.

The 'Do-ers' played the game for a very long time. Slowly, the young boys around joined in, started buying into the belief, started seeing the ball and at one point, there was in fact, a complete suspension of disbelief  wherein they played themselves, without our 'help' seeing, catching, missing and finding the ball again and again. The slow walks took many forms... and we had a line of children who did everything we did. Quietly. Intently. They just wanted to do. 

There is always a tension of classes when one goes to markets. I remember feeling this a year or so ago when we had gone to Sarojini Nagar with a TDWK. Young men ( and even older ones) so keen and curious to join, especially if there are women around, but can't make up their mind if they would like to be cheeky or if they would like to be friendly. There is always a huge class tension between 'us' actors and 'them' audience members. One sabzi wala purposely poked his thela into Simran, another purposely ran into her... there is misplaced 'playfulness' during the game. It is always the sellers who get more involved than the buyers but the class barrier between the sellers and the Do-ers is a difficult one to cross over. The children of course just want to have a good time. So they join, follow, obey, play. 








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