A Most Unsuitable Girl

TWO PLAYS: A MOST UNSUITABLE GIRL & CONQUEST AT NOON
(Kalpaz Publications; 2003)

(from inside flap cover)

A MOST UNSUITABLE GIRL is a tragicomedy play on the prevalent social practice in India on giving dowry upon the marriage of a young woman by her parents and how in certain circumstances the absence (or lack) of dowry might have potentially fatal consequences for the bride. The play, despite having been written in a comic style is more serious and hard hitting compared with other tragic plays writen on the subject. The characters in the play take varying positions on the phenomenon of dowry and even on dowry death itself, which reflect perspectives prevalent in mainstream Indian society. In the list of characters there is a judge, a prosecutor, and a defence lawyer who discuss legal angles, which are not without interest. In addition the play points to the power and sexual jealousy of mothers-in-law playing a much ignored but extremely significant role in the carrying out of these unspeakably bestial crimes.

CONQUEST AT NOON, the second play is a historical fantasy. As is commonly known India was successfully colonised by the British for three hundred years. In this play, the author creates a historical fantasy in which India was the colonizing power and the British were the subject population. Despite being a fantasy the play is replete with allusions to actual historical events and provides fresh insight into the mindset of the colonizing power and that of the colonized.
 Conquest At Noon

Inside Gayland
INSIDE GAYLAND, (Gyan Books; 2002)

(taken from back page reproducing excerpt from review published in Bombay Dost)

INSIDE GAYLAND is a crazy satirical play on the law criminalising homosexuality in India. The absurdities of this outdated law comes out forcefully when seen together with a similiar law criminalising heterosexuality in Gayland. the mind-searing trauma of gays and lesbians in India shunned by society and criminalised by the law can be better appreciated in the light of the pathetic plight of heterosexuals in Gayland. The intention of the playwright is aimed at creating awareness in society in general and the law makers in particular to the grossly unfair and unethical laws to which homosexuals in India are subjected to. Talwar's Inside Gayland is a pointer to the long path that India has yet to traverse to guarantee basic rights to all its citizens.

(view at www.gyanbooks.com)