Berhampur: The satirical dark comedy ‘Mo Shaba Bahaka Mane’ (The Pallbearers of My Body) at ‘Kalinga Utsav’, held during the 11th Edition of biennial Odia Sammilani ‘Orioz’, leading Odia Association of Australia, kept all the audience captivated on June 8.
In ‘Mo Shaba Bahaka Mane’, noted stage anchor Hrushikesh Panigrahi of Berhampur who penned this satirical dark comedy as the first ever of his life 22 years ago, imagines how people will react after his death, how his neighbour, ‘paribawala’ (vegetable vendor), ‘Ice Cream wala’, ‘machawali’ (lady fish vendor), wife, daughter might eulogise or mock him. It is filled with irony and self-deprecating wit.
In this tongue-in-cheek piece, Hrishikesh describes his own post-death whispers with wicked humour and brutal honesty. As the scene unfolds, the mourners gather not in solemn grief, but in a mix of curiosity, hypocrisy, gossip, and relief. This piece captures Hrushikesh’s fearless wit, irreverence toward death, and his gift for observing human vanity and duplicity even in mourning.
It is not just funny; it’s also oddly poignant, reflecting a man at peace with mortality, ready to laugh at his own legacy.
The writer of the satirical dark comedy who was closely attached and thought of applying for one day CL from ‘Yamapur’ as ‘Naratma’ character to be with his near and dear ones for some more time, loses any attraction and prefers to return ‘Yamapur’ immediately amidst disgusting whispers among the mourners after his sudden death.
The drama was presented by a group of highly talented members of Western Australian Orioz community. While Ambit Hota played Yama character, Ranjan Singh played Chitragupta, Bighnaraj Mohanty as Naratma, Amit Panigrahi as Dutta, Kunmit Patro as Neighbour, Mahesh Sahu as Pariba wala, Mustaq Pilot as Ice Cream wala, Shantanu Kumar as Mamu, Jayashree Sahu as Machawali, Shwati Mohanty as Naratma’s wife and Sucharita Singh as his daughter.
As the dead body lies on the floor, with mourners who were once his near and dear ones, whispered among themselves, not about his achievements, but:
“He took vegetables for the last one month without paying my charges. He promised to pay the money today. But left…”, said the Pariba wala.
“He was a good man. But why did he leave today”, said the ‘machawali’.
Daughter murmurs:
“You promised me to buy a scooty. You should have purchased me a scooty before you left”.
The neighbour retorts “All my holiday spoiled today”.
And as the funeral procession was about to move, Hrushikesh imagines the Yamaraj and Chitragupta themselves chuckling, unsure whether to send him to heaven again, he prefers to drop his half-day CL plan and left for the heavenly abode before the curtain drops.
Manoj Kumar Nayak, President Orioz said that the drama took me and other friends by surprise with its satirical, yet very funny moments throughout and kept all of us captivated. “All of us were completely bemused by the performance of the whole group and the story is relevant to audiences of all age-groups at any period”, Dr Manoj said. The conversation between Yama and Chitragupta split the crowd into laughter as they improvised the modern gadgets to their record keeping (used to be Chitragupta Panji).
The presentation of the drama at Kalinga Utsav was the third of its kind recreating the original script. The first one was staged in ‘Hasa Utsav’ of All India Radio in 2003 and the second one staged at the 2nd ‘Chalachitra Utsav’ at Berhampur in 2019.
Hrushikesh was presented a Certificate of Appreciation for his spellbinding script of the satirical dark comedy.
