Touchstone Tales

Stories of Touch Inspired by the Lives of Lutonians

Sudha Bhuchar

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781350235465
• eBook ISBN: 9781350235489
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

How important is touch to you?
Is there enough touch in the world or are we experiencing collective 'touch hunger' in these troubling times? Touchstone Tales is a unique collection of revealing and illuminating stories of Lutonians, seen through the prism of touch. Originally a Revoluton Arts/Wellcome collection co-commission, it is part of Wellcome's national arts partnership programme and is an artist response to 'The Touch Test', Wellcome's study on the role that touch plays in the lives and well-being of people. Pholi, a Sikh widow in isolation reminisces about Romancing in Bury Park in the 60s and delights in the children of her Polish neighbours. Hamza aka Desi cake lover awaits his Amazon parcels hoping that the arrival of 'rose petals' for his Persian love cake will help him find love in lockdown, The Ninja Sister inspires Sophia out of her shell and gives her the gift of confidence and faith in God, through sparring with the 'sisters' at Pink Diamond martial arts Club and in The Eid Hug, Anwar searches for his father's full embrace, even in middle age. Farid and Manju celebrate their inter-faith friendship through iconic song and stories of lost loves and youth in The Fairy Queen, Nazira shares her buried secret in And the world kept turning, and offers touch through performing the last rites for others, a particularly humbling experience during Covid 19 and Atif in Paisley and Roses helps customers to adorn themselves in silks and shawls and realises that it is his absent mother's touch that he is longing for in her fineries. Written by award-winning author Sudha Bhuchar, the play explores the theme of touch through a collection of fictional self-portrait monologues and a dualogue, directly inspired by creative encounters with mainly the British Muslim South Asian communities in Bury Park, Luton.

In Search of the Fairy Queen

Characters

Farid, early sixties, British Pakistani Muslim Manju, early sixties, Gujarati Hindu

Farid and Manju meet on a Zoom call. Farid is humming the song ‘Aanay say uskay aayay bahar’ before Manju appears on screen. The scene happens on a split screen and as it unfolds Farid and Manju break into singing lyrics from iconic movie songs interspersed within their dialogue. It is the ease with which they communicate with each other and the snippets of song should feel part of the seamless dialogue and not stand out as ‘performed’. All the songs are easily accessed on the internet for reference.

FaridYou were right, Manjubhen, but when I sang it in Nairobi, we always ended with (singing) ‘Pariyon ki rani hai meri mehbooba, mehbooba . . .’

ManjuYou must be thinking of another song, Farid bhai. I’m sure it’s (singing) ‘Maujon ki ravaani hai, meri mahbooba mahbooba’, or in the other verse (singing) ‘Har koi vo samjhay . . . hogi koi chanchal hasina’.

Farid (finishing off Manju’s phrase by singing)‘Puchay to kaun hai vo? Parioyon ki raani hai, meri mehbooba’ . . . that’s how I always remembered it. I could have sworn . . . but then I Googled it . . .

ManjuYou can’t argue with Google.

FaridI watched and searched all the videos. I thought Dharmendra was the hero, but it was Jeetendra, and those lyrics, they are not there. Not in any of the verses.

ManjuYou’re dreaming about your beloved, so you must have changed the lyrics. Sudha bhen, he’s still in love with his pariyon ki raani. Still searching for the Fairy Queen.

FaridThat’s another story.

Manju (to Farid)We’re talking about ‘touch’. (To Sudha.) Sudha bhen, he daydreams a lot

FaridIt’s not a crime. Dreaming. Last time I checked.

ManjuOne of the themes is ‘touch hunger’. Craving to be touched, I guess? (To Farid.) You can dream about touchings, or whatever. (To Sudha.) Touch reduces stress, Sudha bhen. You feel wanted. Loved. Vo to hai na. If you get hit in anger, vo baat alag hai. Thank God I never had that kind of touch from anybody.

FaridAt this age, music is the only thing that touches. But when you can’t find the words you remember, then you really feel lost . . .

ManjuYes, the wordings still touch us beautifully. Emotions comes out.

FaridRemember our mantra, Manjuben. ‘Tears in the audience, not on stage.’

ManjuThat is not your original thought. Someone famous must have said it. Elton John broke down in tears when he was singing ‘Your Song’ in New Zealand.

FaridMy song?

ManjuNot your song. ‘Your Song.’ (Sings the first couple of lines of ‘Your Song’ by Elton John.)

FaridI’m not Elton John and you’re not Asha Bhonsle. If we cry on stage, we’ll be booed off . . .

ManjuI hardly sing now. (Speaking.) ‘Zindagi ka safar . . . yeh hai aisa safar. . .’

Farid (singing)‘Koi samjha nahin koi jaana nahin . . .’(To Sudha.) You follow no, Sudha bhen? We’re all walking on the path of life, but who understands it? Knows it really? (Singing.) ‘Chaltay hain hum maghar, koi samjha nahin, koi jaana nahin.’

ManjuThat song always makes me cry. He’s dying, isn’t he? In the film? The hero?

FaridI can’t remember but must be no? Judging by the lyrics. (Singing.) ‘Zindagi ko bahut pyaar mainkay kiya, maut say bhi muhobat nibhayaingay hum.’ I loved life to the full and will embrace death equally.

ManjuNot ‘embrace’, Farid bhai. ‘Nibhaana’ is ‘to fulfil’ – he says he will ‘fulfil’ his love for death. Like a duty maybe because he doesn’t really want to die.

FaridThese sentiments are lost in translation.

ManjuHindi songs, they pierce straight to the heart. No translation is adequate.

FaridThat is ‘touch’ you can’t measure.

ManjuFarid bhai used to run a music band and I was one of the singers. Bollywood songs and Hindi bhajans. Garba. Curryoke. There’s this gentleman in Luton that goes around with the Curryoke, so if I happen to be there they coax me to sing . . .

FaridOur band haven’t sat down for a long time. They all got family; grandchildren like us. I’m going tell you a scenario, Sudha bhen. Her husband won’t mind. We’re talking about touch, right? I was always like a protector for her. She would get annoyed, so annoyed about it.

ManjuIf I wanted to make a phone call with my husband, Sudha bhen, he would send somebody with me. I would say, ‘What the hell?’ Cos we didn’t have mobile phones at that time. Those red boxes. Because I didn’t know his culture.

‘Why are you sending somebody with me just to make a phone call? Why am I not allowed to talk to men anywhere?’

Because their culture is more protective towards women which I never knew. My husband didn’t mind when I came home at one in the morning, after a gig.

FaridNothing to do with my Muslim culture, Manju bhen. The environment we were in. Say a Punjabi wedding or something and a few people have one too many. They have a tradition of giving money, this, that and the other, but when they’re a bit tipsy they don’t realise this woman is not just another . . . they think anybody is cheap. I could never tell her that.

ManjuTell me what? That you were protecting me from unwanted touch? You were very different then. Now we can speak up.

FaridIn our Asian communities, how we touch is different. There are taboos, boundaries. Then you start getting religious side of things. You must have heard, sometimes people do take advantage when it comes to touch. Especially when it comes to younger generation. Strict upbringing doesn’t help because children . . . if they had spoken up, something could be done. I have worked in community mental health team and dealing with a lot of marital problems, women, children, abuses so we are quite aware of it. This job, she’s going to laugh at me, but it has been beneficial for me because it’s changed me a lot. I understand women more than I ever did before. And I changed.

Manju (amused)So, these stories touched you so much, you changed your behaviour pattern towards women?

FaridFor example, coming from men’s perception, I didn’t realise even abuse took place sometimes. That there can be another side. Sometimes it can lead to such a scenario that it becomes difficult to control. A person is fed up, then all the other things come into it: life, financial, housing, this that and the other, and then a pe...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Foreword
• Cast
• Creatives
• Author’s Note
• Thanks to:
• Contents
• Romancing in Bury Park (Pholi)
• Desi Cake Lover (Hamza)
• The Ninja Sister (Sophia)
• The Eid Hug (Anwar)
• In Search of the Fairy Queen (Farid and Manju)
• And the World Kept Turning (Nazira)
• Roses and Paisley (Rehan)
• eCopyright