Harvest by Manjula Padmanabhan

 

Author: Manjula Padmanabhan

Year: 1997

Genre: Futuristic Dystopian Play

Pages: 92

About the Author

Manjula Padmanabhan is a contemporary Indian playwright, journalist, cartoonist and has illustrated about twenty-four books for children. Her cartoon strip SukiYaki which appeared weekly in The Hindu reflected the theme gender politics, which was not much appreciated and consequently she gave up comedy. Harvest, her fifth play won the 1997 Onassis Prize for the Theatre in Greece. Her other critically acclaimed books include: Getting There, Hot Death, Cold Soup, Three Virgins and other stories etc. Her works explores the themes science, technology, gender and international inequalities.

Harvest

Harvest by Manjula Padmanabhan is an award winning futuristic dystopian play about commercialization of organ transplant in India. The play written in 1997 won the Onassis Award for Original Theatrical Drama. The play which contains three acts portrays the life of Om and his family who becomes the victims of an organized organ transplant scam and who their life becomes upside-down.

The play which was written in 1997 tells the story of 2010s when the world is very much advanced in technologies is set in Bombay. Om Prakash, a jobless Indian, agrees to sell his organs to a rich person for a very small fortune through InterPlanta Services. As a result Om loses all the control of his life and becomes helpless, story progress as the consequences of his actions reflects on his family as well, the story progress  

The plot of the play is people of third world nations becoming willing to sell their organs to people of  first world nation and how poor people are becoming victims of this power politics. The story revolves around the life of Om and his family and the events that take place after he secretly agrees to sell his organ to a rich receiver from a first nation country. He became blinded by the money and he hands over his life to a group of people who act as a link between the donor and the receiver. The story progress as the family losses its all freedom and the members become for or less like slaves.

The word 'harvest' signifies the production in plenty. In the same way the title of the play reflects the core theme of the play, harvesting the human organs. The human body is considered to be a product and people with money buy whatever they want from the poor. People with poverty are tricked into this trap by offering richness.

The playwright also foresees the negative side of too much depending on technology. The story mirrors a situation similar to that of the classic dystopian novel 1984. The family in the play looses all its control and freedom and is under constant supervision of an outsider. this is true in the present scenario with user privacy being given zero importance.

The play Harvest deals with different themes such as:

• Commodification of human life
• Power politics 
• Gender politics
• Colonialism
• Affluenza

Commodification of human life

Human life is commercialized in this play. The main character in the play sells his organ to a wealthy person to fulfill his immediate needs. The person in the donor end does not have the option to think about his life in a long run. The human life and human body becomes a commodity which can be bought by anyone with enough money. This brings us to the next theme;

Power politics

People of the first world nations do not receive the dignity and respect as the people of the third world nations do. They look down up on the people of third world nation as something like a toy, that they can by with their wealth. People with power rules over people without power. This power dynamics is many based on the element of money. People with money and power controls the life of those who does not have these.

Gender politics

Gender comes as another major theme in the play. The elements of patriarchy can be seen in the play indirectly. It is evident that the charter of Ma had lived in a patriarchal society and when it comes to Jaya, Ma tries to implant these ideas in Jaya. The victim later on becomes the victimizer, this reflects the psychology of power politics. Manjula Padmanabhan also subverts the idea that male prostitution is better than the deeds of Om.

Colonialism

The hint of colonialism is present in the play. Just like the colonial history of India, the people of Om's family looses their freedom and is being exploited by a foreign power. People of our own kind commits treachery by becoming blinded by the money and gives them self to the colonizer, similarly Om hands over his life to a foreigner for monetary benefit and puts his kin in danger. More over Jeetu's attitude suggest a colonial hangover that white people are in some way superiors to them. During colonial period nations lost heir land, just like that people lose their body here.

Affluenza

It is a condition where people become victims of materialism and people consider accumulation of wealth is the highest achievement. Need for money becomes the reason for Om to sell his organs and subsequently giving up the freedom their life.

The play ends with a tragic indication, a warning 'the mighty perish in their might.' The play remains open ended with its anti-climax and it is up to the readers perception to decide how the play end. More over this open-endedness of the play suggest continuing relevance of the issues discussed in the play.