About The Event
"Chabade", a dramatic rendition of Ismat Chughtai's short story of the same name, is as thought-provoking a play as any of her other works. Traveling through the life of its protagonist Shahabuddin, the play tries to establish the fact that even the "ghar ke bade" (elders of the house), despite their wisdom and experiences, can make wrong decisions for their children. And the play very eloquently depicts the consequences of said wrong decisions and how these decisions, more often than not, negatively shape the affected person's personality and life. And not only that but it also ruins the lives of people associated with him. While aforementioned being the central theme that the play revolves around, it also, very subtly, deals with the subject of "yak-tarfa mahabbat" or one-sided love as we call it in English. So folks, though it's been a long time since Ismat aapa wrote this, the subject is still relevant and you'll be finding yourself, in one way or the other, relating to this. Especially when a merely 13-14 yo Shahabuddin falls in love with Umda Khanum after coincidentally watching her change her clothes. Or when he declares, to Ghanshyam, "patang kat gayi hai, dor lut gayi hai, ab ye patang Umda Khanum ki chhat par pahoNche to baat bane warna Ghanshyam ye samajh lena k tumhara dost tumhare hath se gaya".
