Introduction
‘Light’s Out’ is an excellent play by Manjula Padmanabhan. The play focusses on a daily occurrence of gangrape committed by unknown hooligans in an unused apartment in the heart of Mumbai. Nobody even cares to know who the criminals are and why and how they resort or choose for such heinous acts. The play with clear stamp of gender division makes a powerful plea for understanding the feminine sensibility, in a world where which hardly allows women be independent, strong, organized and focussed.
Feminine Sensibility in Light’s Out
Padmanabhan, through her female characters from her selected plays portray the different types of women. And the female characters in her play are categorized into three types:— the traditional, the rebellious & the new woman. The new women are those who adopt their situations and act accordingly.
Leela as the Traditional Woman
Leela represents the traditional category of the women. Leela is an upright, respectable and middle class woman who believes in the purity of women’s body and soul. She does not want to disturb her domestic life and desires a swift and steady flow in life where everything is good & perfect. She is traumatized and terrified by the gut-wrenching voices coming from the nearby building where the rape takes place often. She repeatedly urges her husband Bhaskar to do something in this regard, but her pleas fell on deaf ears of her husband:
LEELA: (Wheedling) Can’t you call the police? Just for me? BHASKAR: (Drawing away) No. LEELA: But why not? BHASKAR: We’ve discussed this before–
Leela is a traditional straight-forward Indian woman who demands for some action against the crime committed. She quite identifies herself with the woman who is suffering from brutality & atrocity. Leela is suffering from psychological violence or abuse while the victim is tortured physically every day in that building. The reaction of Bhaskar is important too in this case.
Bhaskar, a man, could not relate with the victim. He tries to wear a mask as if nothing impacts him. Bhaskar is degraded in terms of a human being. At least, for the sake of humanity, he could have taken any action with the help of Leela & others. But he denies to move out from his comfort zone. He does not meddle with police in this case as he knows the police system which is corrupted now-a-days.
Naina as the Rebellious Woman
Naina in Light’s Out belongs to the rebellious women category. Naina is the one who raises her voice against the crime and declares vividly that it is not a religious ceremony. She finds to her horror that four men are assaulting a woman sexually. NAINA: What ritual? That’s no ritual! That’s a– a–
Where Naina denies calling it a religious ritual, men in the play deny calling it a rape.
Through the informal attitude of Bhaskar and other male characters in the play, Padmanabhan tries to project the patriarchal mindset ruling the men’s minds. While Leela turns agitated and stresses her husband to call the police, Naina is even more active in influencing Bhaskar and Mohan to take action.
Naina reacts in a rebellious way. She stands for emancipation of the woman from the act of sexual violence. She reacts sharply to the various ways in which the men justify the act. She is shocked to see the degraded mindset of Mohan & Bhaskar, who also take the woman to be a prostitute.
Naina stands for the rights of prostitutes. She says that “even a prostitute has the right to choose her clients”. But Naina, even though being a rebellious woman, becomes quiet to her husband Surinder’s violent talk. Naina is a woman of principles & she strongly fights against the illogical arguments of the men-folk in the play.
Frieda as the New Woman
The last category woman is Frieda in Padmanabhan’s Light’s Out, who comes across her problems with the weapon silence. She is a maid servant and cook, who are seen giving a hand to Leela throughout. She is seen moving continually and making arrangements to the instructions given to her.
Frieda has a robotic quality; she comes at every brook and call of her master and seen attending to the works even though she is not told. She arranges for knives and acids while the discussion to attack the goons is on among the verbal characters. She indirectly tells the crime needs to be stopped.
Her silence is a way of protest. She does not has come to the public sphere to earn a livelihood which shows her resolve to lead an independent life. Her silence questions the society and it makes it shameful to look on.
Conclusion
Manjula Padmanabhan has portrayed diff[erent] types of women that are existing in our society. Even in this techno-centric era, where human have reached unbelievable heights, success in the field of humanity is still go suffering from tied in shackles. The plight of woman has to be improved more so that, the world becomes at least a sustainable and healthy place to survive. The world should cater up to rights of both men and women in order to bring a bright healthy community.