How many of you watched DD in the 80s and 90s? I guess I know the answer. With limited edition television, didn’t most of us grow up watching not just Hindi serials and news in a couple of languages, but also plenty of regional language shows and movies?

One such actor that I vividly remember is Dilip Prabhavalkar. Especially for his iconic series – Chimanrao in Marathi. To the little girl that I was, he always looked like a grown up. I remember him growing old at work sooner than he actually may have.

So, last month, the better half came across an advertisement of his live performance in Singapore. And he instinctively booked tickets. He did not bother to find out what this show was about. Today, as I watched him live on stage for the first time, all memories of his comical roles over the years came flooding back. As Patra Patri started and went on, taking me on a trip back to different eras from my own life and people that I grew up observing around me – mostly middle class, one could easily spot familiar but forgotten humour in the dramatised reading of letter exchange between two friends. The beauty of any live performance is completely dependent upon the actors on stage. The language, the voice modulation, the connection they create with the audience and a glimpse of the life most of us growing up in India once experienced, all came about effortlessly. All at a young 81, while I have been thinking age is catching up in the forties!

As I sat there, it occurred to me that we may be the last generation of NRIs able to enjoy a slice of the past that is soon fading with modernism and gadget use. Our children will never be able to relate to anything of the sort, because they never experienced growing up in India with raw influences of a multi-cultural society, especially in a city like Mumbai, where people from different parts of India would live in their little bubbles of traditions, mother tongue mannerisms, speaking style and ideologies unique to different cultures and religions. Much like we have been living here in Singapore, preserving the influences we carried along from our growing up years in India.

P.S. It is a great feeling to experience a live performance. Akin to reading a book, it takes you on a journey that’s personal to just you.

Notes to self – Well done on understanding Marathi even better than I did two decades ago!