OJAS ,LE-MASHALE
LE MASHALE SOLO DRAMA came to VELLIMADUKUNNU MY HOME TOWN onAUGUST 26 ,2011 In Kashmir. “Four million people live under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA),’’ points out Ojas Suniti Vijay, the 25-year-old who plays Sharmila in the play Le Mashale (bearing torches). “If you want the world to acknowledge you as the world’s largest democracy, this law has to be repealed.’’
In the solo performance, Ojas/ Sharmila spells out the army’s point-of-view of Manipuri women: “Just a piece of flesh with two round breasts and a vagina.’’ She repeats this sentence as she depicts the rape and mutilation of Manorama Devi, who was dragged from her home by soldiers of the Assam Rifles in 2004. She was later found dead, shot through her vagina. The act provoked a protest unique in India - Manipuri mothers stood naked in front of the gate of the Assam Rifles Battalion in Imphal, with a banner s...
