We Shall Dance Again

“The soul comes from without into human body, as into a temporary abode, and it goes out of it anew, it passes into other habitations, for the soul is immortal. It is the secret of the world that all things subsist and do not die, but only retire a little from sight and afterwards return again. Nothing is dead, men feign themselves dead and endure mock funerals… and there they stand looking out of the windows; sound and well, in some strange disguise.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson ‘We Shall Dance Again’ is the story of the multitude where soul is the essence. Witnesses come to the stage, perform the parts as ordained and then depart. It is the mirror by looking at which one may identify oneself and then seek the ultimate where all contradictions vanish and love reigns supreme. 1. The Awakening: Siddhartha has come a long way from the dingy lanes of Kolkata to New York to address a galaxy of world’s who’s who of medical fraternity. But once back home, he is gloomy and loveless. It is now that Bharti happens and ushers awakening in him. When she expresses her desire to be his wife, though in their next incarnations, he is so thrilled at the very thought of being with her for a lifetime that he slips into hypnosis. A horse struggling in a river in spate while ferrying a prince holding his beautiful princesses close to his chest unfolds his past. 2. Prophet's Blessing: Prince Omar: King Faiz is blessed by a seer, and his third wife, Fatima gives birth to a male child, Prince Omar, affectionately addressed as Omar. Earlier, he had married twice but both his queens died while delivering still-borns. He had then thought of having incurred Allah’s wrath. 3. West Comes East: Princess Laila: Aristocrat Sandy falls in love with Prince Omar while they are studying at Oxford. She leaves England to marry him and becomes Princess Laila. 4. Dadi Maa: She is Siddhartha's grandmother and also his companion in struggle in fighting deprivation. Siddhartha's elder brother, Dalip, is his mentor in creating lilting Arabian music. 5. The Earthquake: Dalip marries Gauri who is quarrelsome and has no sense of shame. She demolishes a part of their grand Kolkata house triggering an earthquake. A heartbroken Dalip turns drunkard and an opium addict. 6. The Enigmatic Triangle: Sonia, Mathur and Siddhartha. Mathur loves Sonia, but she loves Siddhartha and is dying to marry him. And Siddhartha, he only likes Sonia – he is searching his soulmate whom he had lost during his journey to the world of mortals. The triangle, caught between liking, love and rejection, writhes in pain. 7. Tales of Melancholy: While Sonia bares her heart to Siddhartha, an ornate attic in their rented house cries in pain before her. It too has been deserted by its master, Gora, the only son of the owner of the house. Gora has left for the US in search of greener pastures. 8. A Punishment: Siddhartha agrees to stay with mysterious Sonia for those two months he is in Delhi. The punishment starts revealing itself in the guise of her mad love for a totally clueless Siddhartha. 9. Love in Attic: Sonia weaves a world of magic and charm around Siddhartha. He is frolicking in hypnosis. 10. The Banishment: Siddhartha is freed when Sonia seals the punishment on him. But what the punishment is, he does not even know. 11. The Last Laugh: Siddhartha redeems the pledge he took in Kolkata – he is now a leading medical man in the IIMS, Delhi. The family has emerged out of the darkness and depression. 12. Absurdity Incarnate: When Dadi Maa goes on fast to coerce a totally unwilling Siddhartha to change his decision of not getting married, he marries Kranti – a bundle of contradictions – only to rue his decision of yielding to his Dadi Maa. Kranti drives him insane to the extent that he loses his equanimity. 13. The Revolution: Whereas an earthquake demolishes the buildings, the revolution ushered by Kranti’s nefarious designs dismembers the family - their last laugh changes into unceasing cries. 14. Twelve Hours in US: Dr. Pathak, Sonia's husband, meets Siddhartha in New York in a medical conference and invites him to his place. When Siddhartha is alone with Sonia, and she reveals her eternal love for him and his punishment too, he is flabbergasted. The ambience around him lightens up for a moment when the reality stands smiling before his eyes. But a few photographs clicked before his departure by Dr. Pathak, freeze his three-dimensional pulsating existence into two-dimensional lifeless pictures. 15. Nirvana: Dejected and in pain, Siddhartha is led to Nirvana by Bharti. For them, physical form becomes redundant as they now belong to a different world where love rules supreme. Their souls talk and love in void. He is transformed to Siddha. 16. The Death of Siddhartha: Dadi Maa, Bharti, Sonia and all those whom Siddhartha loved are feeling the warmth emanating from his pyre. In that multitude, he can communicate but only through Bharti and talks as Siddha to all. Everybody is in tears but Bharti is calm. For this world, Siddhartha is dead but for Bharti, her Siddha is within her.