15 February: O Shopper, Stop!

Metropolitan Mall - outside corridor
One 'being stopped' exercise and one improv session
Performers: Padma, Smita, Swati, Ruchi, Shibani, Bopana, Shena
Documenter and observer: Niranjani
Audience No.: 5 to 10

We had planned to do the Do in Khirki village, but because of rain moved to the covered corridor outside Stoppers Shop in Metropolitan Mall, Saket, across the road from Khirki.

Bopana prays for the rain to stop

It was an all girl gang – which we realized was taken more ‘tolerantly’ than seriously. In the corridor we performed a slow motion walk which morphed into a Stopping exercise, similar to what we had done in Galleria, Gurgaon, but much slower to begin with – and, of course, between women only. While it raised a few questions, no one really stopped to watch for long (stopping, was presumably for shopping only!) – and comments such as ‘ladki log kuch kar rahe hain’ and the usual ‘shooting ho rahi hai kya?’ were the only reactions.  A couple of guards watched on with mild amusement.

We then moved to near where the security check was happening, with the idea of miming a parallel check and seeing what developed. It turned into an improv, which the performers enjoyed doing, but with not enough cohesion to hold either as a performance or as a public intervention. Lesson: be clear on motives and don’t fall into improv indulgence!

Similar to Khan Market, audience was distant and not forthcoming. Ah how to crack the South Delhi Sophisticate? What do do we do ?