There is no stutter, no long pauses between his words. Not even short ones. Martin Chalissery speaks with a clarity that you, without much thought, associate to his years of theatre, of public performances. But in a casual conversation, he has no script or song to give him his words of expression.
It’s coming from the experiences, especially the nasty ones he has had in recent days, and the clarity of thoughts he had shaped from those. To remember what happened to Martin, let’s now put here the name of his band — Oorali. That’s when you give that familiar nod, the oh-that-bearded-guy recognition. Martin is used to it, so that it seems to make little difference to him.
On a stage at the Regional Theatre in Thrissur last week, he had, as part of an act, shed his clothes. No, that would be incorrect. His clothes were torn away by a man in police uniform — played by his friend and actor Mallu P. Shekar. That part of the act is a reminder of what had happened to Martin on that dreaded day in March when he was taken away by the police. Everyone knows that story, but Martin would recount it patiently all over.
Performances of the Oorali band
“I was riding pillion with a man who didn’t wear a helmet. When he saw police on the way, he rode away, leaving me behind. The police came to me, wanted to know why he ran away.” In the end, they took Martin to the station. They were apparently checking for cannabis (ganja) and Martin appeared suspicious, with his long hair and beard. “I tried to tell them I am an artiste and on my way to a programme related with the Manushyasangamam against fascism that was going to happen in Thrissur.” He stopped talking when they didn’t listen and that’s when he was beaten up.
It’s a take on what that day had been like to Martin that was staged at the regional theatre, a video of which is on YouTube. He’s on stage performing, when the policeman actor (Mallu) comes to attack him, tears away his clothes to bare his naked body and kick it and punch it. As Martin writhes in pain, the policeman makes a little speech about how he loves his country. That’s again a reference to the recent discussions and debates over nationalism. Martin says, “They tell you to respect your motherland, after hiding how we treat our mothers, our women and children. It’s a lot of excitement, but they don’t see the reality in front of them. Nothing is stopping the real issues we have — not the strikes, or the discussions after that.”
Martin
That leads to the case of Rohith Vemula, the Dalit scholar who recently committed suicide. “No one wanted to deal with why it happened and how to stop it from happening. There were people to criticise and support. There were strikes and protests, but there is no end to the problems he faced. But then this young man had strongly worded the things he wanted to say, with a spiritual calmness.”
Some of these words, Martin reads out, at the end of his act, in Malayalam, from a piece of paper. Someone puts a piece of cloth around him then. “We chose to express this way because our body is our tool, our performance space. It is this body that the people at the hospital looked at and refused to treat because there were no visible injuries after the police attack,” Martin says. “But when you touch someone without their permission, it’s what leads to rape. We wanted to express this very strongly.”
That has been a one-off tribute to Rohith Vemula. The band has not performed it afterwards. In fact, Oorali is now touring along the state on two bikes, stopping to perform at different venues — stages or streets, interacting with the people who come to watch. “It’s called paatum parachilum — there’s music and there’s talking to and with the people.” There’s a lot of theatre influence, with all the members having once been active in theatre. “You might go for storytelling through music,” he says.
They would move all the way to Thiruvananthapuram, perform there at the Bharat Bhavan on May 1 and come back to Thrissur, their home ground. With Martin, there will be Saji on the guitar, Sudheesh the percussionist-cum-artist and Jaijea, their manager.
