THEATRE "The other; The book of sand; Blue tigers” Dramatised reading by Kavalya Plays at Instituto Cervantes, 48, Hanuman Road, Connaught Place (CP) > 7pm on 1st October 2016

Jorge Luis Borges

Time : 7:00 Add to Calendar 01/10/2016 19:00 01/10/2016 20:30 Asia/Kolkata THEATRE "The other; The book of sand; Blue tigers” Dramatised reading by Kavalya Plays Event Page : http://www.delhievents.com/2016/09/theatre-other-book-of-sand-blue-tigers.html Instituto Cervantes, 48, Hanuman Road, Connaught Place (CP), New Delhi - 110001 DD/MM/YYYY  pm

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)

Venue : Instituto Cervantes, 48, Hanuman Road, Connaught Place (CP), New Delhi - 110001
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Metro : Nearest Metro Station - 'Rajiv Chowk' (Yellow Line and Blue Line)
Area : Connaught Place (CP)

Event Description : THEATRE "The other; The book of sand; Blue tigers” Dramatised reading by Kavalya Plays.
LITERATURE AND THINKING 
In memory of Jorge Luis Borges 

About the stories:

The other is a short story in which the narrator, Borges, encounters a younger version of himself. The two characters meet and begin to converse, at which time the discovery is made that they are two variations of the same person, each existing in distinct periods of time and space. As a conse-quence of their encounter, the characters are faced with disturbing exis-tential ambiguities.

The End is a response to the Argentine epic Martín Fierro, which Borges had discussed in a long essay published earlier that year. In the story, a man who presumably has had a crippling stroke winds up half seeing and half hearing a definitive fight between a "negro" who has been dwelling in the man's store and a mysterious stranger which the negro had been waiting for. The story ends ambiguously and leaves the readers with a question which only they can answer: does Fierro succeed in leaving his violent past behind him, or has he
rather come to fully embrace his true nature? Literary scholars debate on the interpretation that Fierro is a Christ-like figure. He himself has faced a myriad of trials and tribulations, and now has to face them.

The book of sand. An unnamed narrator is visited by a tall Scots Bible-seller, who presents him with a very old cloth-bound book that he bought in India from an Untouchable. It is emblazoned with the title "Holy Writ", below which title is emblazoned "Bombay", but is said to be called "The Book of Sand"..."because neither the book nor the sand has any beginning or end". Upon opening it, he is startled to discover that the book, which is written in an unknown language and occasionally punctuated by illustrations, is in fact infinite: if one turns the pages, more pages seem to grow out of the front and back covers. He trades a month of his pension and a prized "Wiclif Bible" for the "Book of Sand" and hides it on a bookshelf behind his copy of One Thousand and One Nights. Over the summer, the narrator obsesses over the book, poring over it, cataloging its illustrations, and refusing to go outside for fear of its theft. In the end, realizing that the book is monstrous, he briefly considers burning it before fearing the possibility of the smoke of an infinite book suffocating the world. Instead, he goes to the National Library where he once worked (like Borges) to lose it among the basement bookshelves, reasoning that "the best place to hide a leaf is in a forest".

Blue Tigers combines two of Borges's favourite subjects - tigers and the metaphysical world. The action is set in North India (which bears more than a passing resemblance to Kipling's India). In the story the author writes: "I have always been drawn to the tiger. I know that as a boy I would linger before one particular cage at the zoo; the others held no interest for one. As the years passed, this strange fascination never left me." Early in 1904, the narrator (a university professor in Lahore) receives news that a new variety of tiger, a blue tiger, has been discovered in a village some miles distant from the Ganga. When he gets there, a series of events take place that must rank among Borges's finest moments as a fantasist.

About the readers: Kaivalya Plays is an independent group of Delhi theatre practitioners who seek to create more opportunities for women in theatre, mentor new talent and innovate theatre formats. Since 2012, Kaivalya Plays has worked with the kind support of Delhi institutions like the Instituto Cervantes de Nueva Delhi, the India Habitat Center and Delhi University to elaborate new performances. Kaivalya Plays's improvisation group CueLess Improv is also one of the capital's most prolific group of performers.

About the director: Varoon P. Anand came to New Delhi in October 2009, after three years at the Theatre Guild of Ancon in Panama as actor, Director of Productions and serving on the Board of Governors. This will be Varoon's fifth directorial venture in association with the Instituto Cervantes after adapting, translating and directing Jordi Galceran's “El método Grönholm”, the classical Spanish play “El retablo de las maravillas” by Miguel de Cervantes, Julio Cortazar's radio play “Adiós Robinson” and the short story Srta. Cora, also by Cortazar. This will be Varoon's second association with The Embassy of Argentina in India after a series dedicated to the work of Julio Cortazar. Varoon is also the Artistic Director of Kaivalya Plays.

Director : Varoon P. Anand 

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