Play Challenges Taboos

To the editors:

I read the review The Crimson gave of the play “Gehri Dosti,” and I was shocked by its insensitivity (Arts, “Gheri [sic] Dosti: Enlightened but Dull,” Nov. 3). My boyfriend and I saw the play last weekend and were touched by the beautiful acting and the issues raised in the five plays. Perhaps it is our Scandinavian background, our interest in India and marginalization, the anthropological training, I am not sure, but I saw the plays in a completely different light than did The Crimson’s reviewer...but so did the rest of the audience, it seemed.

Had I read The Crimson’s review, I would have never gone to see “Gehri Dosti,” so I was lucky I saw it before it was reviewed. It is so rare to see social critique of South Asian culture in the South Asian diaspora, which often glorifies the world of the home country. How admirable to start a debate about existing taboos and involve the audience to the extent that the plays did. Why should this initiative be criticized in such a condescending tone? Miss India USA was one of the members of the audience on Oct. 31 and she expressed the importance of such initiatives very beautifully. What a shame the reviewer was not present that evening. What a shame the reviewer did not show more sensitivity.

Eva Laier ’04

Nov. 7, 2003