A play narrating the tale of humanitarian ethics, Idgah, was staged here on Monday at Shaheed Bhawan Auditorium.
The play is one of the famous stories written by Munshi Premchand and the tiny tots of Children’s Theatre Academy wonderfully presented this story on stage. The play is directed by theatre director and founder of Children’s Academy Prem Gupta.
Notably, the story appears in Indian textbooks, and its adaptions also appear in moral education books as well.
The story depicts a very poor boy of 5 years of age, Hamid, who lives with his grandmother Amina.
Hamid, the protagonist of the story, has lost his parents. His aged grandmother Amina fulfils their daily needs by doing some needle work for others. His grandmother told him that very soon his father and mother will return home with lots of money, sweets and gifts for him from the house of Almighty. He is full of hope and happily awaiting that day.
The story begins on Eid morning, poor Hamid doesn't have new clothes or shoes like other children. He has only three paise as Idi for the festival, to spend in a fair. His friends spend their pocket money on rides, candies and buying beautiful colourful clay toys. Hamid dismisses this as a waste of money for momentary pleasure. While his friends are enjoying themselves, he overcomes his temptation and goes to a hardware shop to buy a chimta. He remembers how his grandmother burns her hand while cooking chapattis.
The story ends on a touching note when Hamid gifts the chimta to his Grandmother. At first she is shocked and annoyed by his stupidity that instead of eating anything or buying any toy at the fair, he has purchased a chimta. But then Hamid reminds her of how she burns her fingers daily, while making rotis. She bursts into tears at this and blesses him for his kindness.
The audiences were awestruck to watch small kids perform with a lot of maturity and zest. This is the magical outcome of the story that audience applauded at every heart touching event of the play.