Urdu play ‘Gaadi Taiyar Hai’ plays out at ‘Cultural Carwaan’ fest in Abu Dhabi

‘Gaadi Taiyar Hai’ is set in post-colonial Calcutta, in the 1950s.

We all wear masks to face the world; have you ever worn one that’s so far from who you are that you cannot recognise yourself? How far would you go to maintain the façade if someone called you out on it?

Gaadi Taiyar Hai, an adaptation of  O. Henry’s short play While The Auto Waits, is on as part of Cultural Carwaan, an Urdu literary and cultural festival on August 26. And the play, which debuted in UAE in 2021, delves into the psyche of society.

Rashmi Kotriwala, founder of UAE-based drama company EnAct and writer and director of the play, explains: “I was instantly  drawn to the story when I first read it a few years ago. I thought it displayed human behaviour or human condition as we know it. And, it will always be relevant. Until society has a class divide or any kind of divide, humans will always aspire for bigger and better.”

Key meeting

In the play, a girl seated on a park bench meets a young man. The girl says she is from the upper crust while the young man posits that he is poor – so begins a conversation melds perspective with insight and aspiration with deceit.

While the original play is set in a New York park, Kotriwala’s retelling takes us to post-colonial Calcutta (now Kolkata) in the 1950s. “That environment was familiar to me since I am from Kolkata, and somehow the idea worked within that backdrop,” she explains.

The story, written in 1920, still resonates, she adds. “It still resonates because society still is not a place of equal opportunity. It still has some people who have more than others. That propels those who do not to want what they don't have,” she says.

And it’s that question of aspiration, she’d like us to ask. “I think the story mainly tugs at us to really reflect as to who we are as humans and what do we aspire for? To what lengths are we willing to go to achieve our dream life, to achieve love, prosperity and all that we desire? And is that pursuit is really a worthwhile pursuit?” she wonders.

We all wear masks to meet the world – how different is yours from the real you?

The details

‘Gaadi Taiyar Hai’ will be staged at the ‘Cultural Carwaan’ Urdu Festival 2023 at Erth Hotel (Armed Forces Officers Club) in Abu Dhabi at 2pm.