eBook - ePub
Coming Up
About this book
After more than thirty years, Alan is returning to Mumbai on business. He finds the bustling city is moving on and up. Between meetings and expense account dinners, he visits the auntie and cousin he used to spend his holidays with, and makes an unexpected discovery about his late father. As truths are uncovered one by one, will Alan be forced to come to terms with a way of life he turned his back on? Will he reconnect with the cousin he loved as a brother? A father he thought he knew, and the tiger that haunted his dreams? Coming Up is an evocative, playful and magical drama about broken family ties, and the need for connection.
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Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access Coming Up by Neil D'Souza in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & British Drama. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
PROLOGUE
A Konkani song.
Two boys run on laughing and larking in Konkani, one of them sees something above and climbs up to reach it. He reaches and reaches.
The sound of an aeroplane landing.
ACT ONE
APARTMENT. MUMBAI. PRESENT
ALAN is at his Auntās Apartment. It is clean and homely. She is in her eighties. Somewhere a TV is on softly ā playing a Hindi comedy complete with slapstick noises.
ALAN: Well, itās been great to see you.
ALICE: Going?
ALAN: I have to Auntie.
ALICE: So soon?
ALAN: I have a meeting.
ALICE: Have something?
ALAN: I have a very boring meeting with clients
ALICE: I cooked.
ALAN: Next time.
ALICE: I havenāt seen you in how long havenāt I seen you in? twenty-five? thirty?
ALAN: thirty-three.
ALICE: thirty-three years. Next time Iāll be up. Up!
A text arrives on ALANās phone. He checks it.
The sender, HANNA, appears and speaks her text with great enthusiasm.
HANNA: āWhen you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then youāll be successfulā
Beat.
ALICE: Why are you quiet?
ALAN: Iām not.
ALICE: Are you angry?
ALAN: I brought you a coffee machine.
ALICE: The thing?
ALAN: Nespresso. Top of the range.
ALICE: Why did you bring it idiot?
ALAN: Itās a gift.
ALICE: Who asked you to bring gifts?
ALAN: I wanted to get you something. You put a capsule in / water in ā¦
ALICE: Do you like coffee?
ALAN: Do I like coffee? Do you like coffee is the question.
ALICE: Do I like coffee? Do I like coffee ā¦?
Long pause.
ALICE: I like coffee.
ALAN: Great.
ALICE: But, your Daddy always used to bring me edam.
ALAN: Edam?
ALICE: Because Edam we donāt get. Wait. (She wanders off into the next room)
ALAN: Auntie! I have to go.
But, sheās out of the room. ALAN sits on the sofa. He feels the sofa, remembers it. DANIEL runs in (aged seven) he points a finger-gun at ALAN (aged eight).
1977.
DANIEL: (Sings.) Tantanaa!
ALAN dives for cover as DANIEL shoots.
DANIEL: Iām agent 116. Youāre a goonda.
ALAN: No, Iām agent 116!
DANIEL: (Jumping on ALAN.) No, Iām agent 116 and youāre the Bad Boss.
ALAN: No, I want to be agent 116!
DANIEL: No, Iām agent 116. (Mock hitting him.) Piow! Piow! Agent 116 defeats the Bad Boss!
ALAN: No, Iām James Bond!
DANIEL: No, I want to be James Bond!
ALAN: (Wrestling him to the ground.) No, Iām James Bond. James Bond defeats Agent 116! (Sings.) Tantanaaa!
DANIEL: No, James Bond is defeated by Agent 116! (Sings.) Tantanaaa!
ALAN: No, I am the bionic man.
DANIEL: What?
ALAN: When I press my bionic watch, I have bionic powers.
ALAN presses his watch, makes the ābionic soundā and turns DANIEL over.
ALAN: The bionic man defeats Agent 116!
DANIEL: No!
ALAN: The bionic man wins!
ALICE comes back into the room.
ALICE: You phoned Daniel?
ALAN: Havenāt had t...
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half-title Page
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Characters
- Prologue
- Act Two