Characters:

Man
Swamiji
Woman
Middle-aged person
Young Printer
Older Printer
Obese gunman
Young gunman
Doctor

One

There is a faint lamp glowing in the corner of a basement room. Materials used in a printing press are lying scattered around. A board which reads "Silence" hangs conspicuously from the wall. A middle-aged person is walking up and down the room examining the printing blocks. He looks at the watch and moves towards the staircase.

In the meantime, there is the sound of someone walking down. The man stops moving. There is fear and reverence on his face. A middle-aged Swamiji in saffron robes enters the room with a beautiful woman. The man bows to the Swamiji and shows him the printing blocks. Swamiji shows it to the woman and returns it to the printer with a smile of approval. The printer is happy. The woman begins to talk but the Swamiji draws her attention to the "Silence" board on the wall. Swamiji and the woman take the staircase and leave.

Two

After some time, a slightly obese person walks down with a gun. Two people, with their eyes blindfolded, hands tied and mouth stuffed with cloth, follow him. They are, in fact, being dragged down by another person with a gun. Among the two being dragged down, one is a middle-aged person, another one is fairly young. The two men blindfolded are extremely uncomfortable, the ruff methods of the gunmen are hurting them. When they reach the centre of the stage, the obese gunman turns around and faces the two blindfolded men. The younger gunman takes off the blindfold and also unshackles them. But the cloth stuffed into their mouth remains. When the younger hostage tries to remove it, the obese gunman nudges him with the butt of the gun and points to the "silence" board. He pushes the two of them and asks them to get involved in printing work. Light slowly fades out. In the background, there is the sound of a printing press running. This sound too fades out after a while.

Three

Light slowly spreads on the stage. The two printers are seen washing the printing blocks and wiping it with a cloth. There is a modest heap of currency notes near them. As soon as they are through with the work, the young gunman comes and blindfolds them again. Their hands are again tied. There is the sound of someone walking down. The gunman moves the two blindfolded men aside with the gun and makes way for the person walking down. The Swamiji, woman and a person walk in. They walk up to the heap of currency notes and pick up a bundle. There is a smile of satisfaction on their face. At the request of the Swamiji, the woman takes out a currency note from her vanity bag. The Swamiji compares it with the currency notes in his hand and expresses approval. He hands back the original note to the woman and puts the bundle of currency notes back into the heap. In the meantime, the younger printer manages to bring the blindfold down a little and is shocked to see the people around him. The woman notices this and drops the vanity bag and key chain in her hand.

Everybody’s eyes are on the young printer, who is standing with his head down. There is anger and fear on the Swamiji’s face. He slaps the youngster. He orders that he should be locked up in the basement and the other printer should be shifted out immediately. He is fuming, he kicks the printing blocks and leaves. The woman follows him. The man who had accompanied the Swamiji gives an angry look to the gunman and asks him to tighten the eye bands on the youngster. The obese gunman takes the older printer out of the basement room. The young blindfolded printer is pushed to the corner of the room with the butt of the gun. As the blindfold on him is being tightened the light on the stage softens.

Four

When there is light on the stage again, the blindfolded man is sleeping with a gunny bag wrapped around him in the corner of the room. He slowly wakes up and gauges the environment around him. When he hears no sound, he makes use of his feet to take out the cloth stuffed into his mouth. With the help of his knees he manages to slide the blindfold. He checks if the gunman is fast asleep by ruffling a piece of paper lying around. With the help of the sharp edge of the printing press he manages to cut the string tied around his hands. He spreads the heap of currency notes into a human form and spreads the gunny bag on it. He takes a screwdriver and a hammer in his hand to ensure his passage out of the building. He does a funny namaste to the gunman and climbs the staircase. He remembers something, comes back, removes the bullets from the gun, throws it into the dustbin and leaves. Light diminishes on the stage.

Five

As light spreads on the stage, the clock strikes 12 times. The gunman slowly wakes up, sets his cap right and looks at the gunny bag where the young man was lying, picks up his gun and stands guard. There is sound on the staircase. The person who accompanied the Swamiji is back with a doctor, who is holding a syringe. The gunman salutes them. The person asks the gunman to wake up the young printer. The gunman kneels down and takes the gunny bag off and finds only a heap of currency notes. The gunman is shocked and filled with fear. The person is shocked too and his shock turns into anger soon. He instructs the doctor to use the syringe on the gunman. There is the sound on the staircase again. Swamiji and the woman come rushing down. They look anxious and uncertain. The doctor pierces the syringe into the gunman. He makes a squeaky sound, violently moves his hand and legs like an injured bird would flap its wings and lies calm after a few seconds. Outside the room, there is commotion. Everybody turns towards the staircase. The woman huddles herself in the Swamiji’s arm. But Swamiji makes her sit on the stool nearby and picks up the gun on the floor and aims it in the direction of the staircase. He tells the person to switch off the lights. The doctor stands helpless and the accompanying person switches off the light.

Six

The commotion increases. A team of youngsters raids the basement room with torches. The flames are billowing in the mild breeze. The young printer who had escaped is leading the demonstrators. The moment they see the Swamiji pointing the gun towards them, some young men in the team move back. The young printer looks at the gunman who is lying dead on the floor and then at the Swamiji. He slowly moves towards the dustbin and picks up the bullets. He shows them to the Swamiji, laughs and throws them back to the dustbin. When the woman starts crying, he takes her to the stool makes her sit on it and asks her to keep quiet, pointing to the "silence" board on the wall. Swamiji, not knowing what to do, puts his head down. The young printer takes a close look at all of them with the help of the torch in his hand. He then hands it over to one of the demonstrators. He also snatches the gun from the Swamiji and gives it to them. The person who receives the gun also picks up the bullets from the dustbin. Another young man ties the hands of the four people and gets them to move out. As they walk, the four are in the middle and the men with torches are around. Some people in the crowd are also seen holding sickles and staff. The young printer looks around the press once, takes a look at the dead gunman and then switches the light on. He walks towards the staircase but returns to pull down the "silence" board, breaks it, throws it on the floor, stamps it and makes an exit. The commotion and the light slowly fade out.

Seven

There is a shadow play arrangement on the stage. The shadows of Swamiji, the woman, the doctor and the person accompanying them appear. They hold their hands behind their heads. The young leader points the gun towards them. He fires at them and they collapse one after the other. On the white screen of the shadow play, there is the blot of blood red.

Curtains.