[Reader-list] Follow up note on Very Progressive People

[TARAN KHAN]

This note is a belated (apologies for that) update on the reading performance ‘Very Progressive People’, initially presented at Sarai as part of the Independent Research Fellowship workshop in August 2004. 
At the invitation of the Aligarh Muslim University, a somewhat reworked version of the piece was performed at the Women’s College auditorium on 7th October. This was important for several reasons. One, that Sultana Jafri, one of the protagonists of the research was an alumnus of this institution. Two, it allowed us to get feedback from a completely different and very important kind of audience. The Women’s College at AMU has seen several luminaries of the Urdu renaissance and Muslim feminist thought (or, if that sounds too wishful- progressive women figures) pass through its doors, it has been central to the mission of providing quality education to Muslim women in keeping with the spirit of ‘enlightened’ Islam; it has certainly been central to the entire experience of being a Indian Muslim woman. In this sense, what we were presenting to the audience at this venue was very familiar. Meaning that it was not an external history we were performing but stories they had experienced themselves or witnessed as histories of friends and colleagues (for the older faculty members certainly). Even for the younger generation of the audience, this milieu was household, everyday stuff-they may have heard similar yarns from aunts, grandmothers (like me) or family friends. In effect, we were speaking to an audience which belonged to the same milieu, presenting the familiar with (hopefully) fresh and relevant vision. 

The experience was useful again in several ways. It gave the actors the space of the proscenium stage to engage with, it also threw up possibilities of various new modes of using the video/audio elements spatially and conceptually. The responses and feedback I have got from people (especially women) who saw the performance in Aligarh are very good inputs for the expanded script I am working on of the performance. Most important for me (and most enjoyable for all of us) was the special performance for my grandmother (another protagonist in the research) in her living room. I am happy to report that she enjoyed the entire piece thoroughly, and has given us a certificate of authenticity on having ‘got it right’.
Will keep this list posted on the further travels and avatars of ‘very progressive people’.
Best,


Taran Khan
Aligarh