“Belonging to a family theatre group, Surabhi, I grew up amidst actors. Right from my childhood, I watched my father and grandfather put on different costumes and play different characters from mythology. Our community has a history of more than 130 years. It was only natural for me to start acting too, by the age of 10. We would live in tents and move from one place to another every six months. Initially, we were one entity, but later, we split into multiple smaller groups and settled in different parts of the country. But the art was what knit us together.
I’ve performed 1000s of plays covering a range of historical tales. However, gradually, the demand for this age-old art form started to decrease. During one of my final plays a decade ago, I remember nobody turned up. It was disheartening to perform to an almost empty auditorium. When I was younger, we would have ticketed shows for 1 Ana and it would be houseful! But once I realised that the art form is dying, I gradually shifted to make-up to earn money. I started to do make-up for other dancers and performers in Hyderabad.
My children, who have studied engineering and degree, are not interested in Surabhi. I would’ve loved to see them take over but it doesn’t fetch any money – how could I convince them to be a part of it?
Many people from our community have started working in the private sector to feed their families, while some continue to keep Surabhi alive. But the lockdown and pandemic has put us in a grave situation. Even the regular small jobs we had are gone! Most of us are unemployed and we have families of 10 to feed. Fortunately, a couple of people donated Safety Kits with rice, vegetables and dal. But once that’s over, how do we survive? We weren’t prepared for this. We’ve not had any source of income since March. Nobody knows when this will end. Whom do we go to? We have no answers, no food – we’re just surviving each day.”
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