DAY 4: The Playwright's Burden


Panel discussions give me the heebie-jeebies. First, there is the pressure of sounding intellectual. Not intelligent. Intellectual. To sound intellectual, one’s conversations must be peppered with a fair quantity of textbook words, words which no regular person would use in daily parlance. Yes, parlance is one such word. I could have just said speech right? Then there is the fact that panel discussions happen generally in well-lit halls and not darkened auditoriums, which means you can see the audience. And, clearly read their expressions. Was that a smile or a smirk? Was that yawn a response to my gabbing? Is he laughing with me or at me? And, of course, if you are camera shy like I am, the cameraman darting around for candid shots does not make it easy to focus. And with my luck, he is almost certain to click me mid-speech which will make me look like a yawning baboon.

To read the rest of my blog, click here
https://frontline.thehindu.com/arts-and-culture/the-playwrights-burden/article65517690.ece

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