"Yes, I have. But I have also seen crabs... They are also beautiful..."

-- From the Marathi play, Rajju.

The conflict and debate between, and the realisation and acceptance of the sunder (beautiful) and the asunder (not-so-beautiful) is what Waman Tawde's Rajju (Bond/s) deals with.

"Asunder, not ugly," the playwright insists, vehemently. The play is essentially a comment on the society's apathy toward those who need help (asunder), on the superiority complex that comes so very easily to those who are in a position to help, to rehabilitate, to those who are sunder.

The playwright has chosen a leper as a symbol for something that needs to be rehabilitated. "The leper is just a symbol," Tawde insists, yet again. A bold choice nevertheless, given society's attitude toward leprosy and the fact that he has penned this play after a gap of 12 years. "Yes, it was a difficult decision to make but I needed to have something sopowerful, so asunder, as to need rehabilitation," he says.

But that is a subject that would have come most easily to Tawde anyway. The gap of 12 years between his last play, the much-appreciated, Chhinna and the latest, Rajju, was spent largely in his own rehabilitation -- the rehabilitation of a prolific playwright turned alcoholic.

"Chhinna was a huge success. I was appreciated a lot. I was awarded the Vangmay Puraskar at the age of 28. I guess I couldn't digest success. I began thinking I was a genius and took to drinking," confesses Tawde. A friend, Dr Nadkarni, was instrumental in bringing the playwright back to what he knew best -- writing and theatre. An employee of Standard Alkali, he had a tough time fighting his desire for drink. But soon, that all-consuming need made way for a passion to write on lepers and their secluded, boycotted world.

The play revolves around Isha (played by Leena Bhagwat), a leprosy patient, in an ashram. Divakar (played by AvinashNarkar), a middle-aged social worker of the ashram who has led a difficult life all throughout, feels the need for a woman in his life. He falls for Isha, knowing well that she is not the Suchitra Sen of Andhi -- the kind of a woman he often dreamt about. And after Isha falls in love with him, he meets Kejiriwali (played by Ila Bhate) the woman of his dreams. The play then progresses on whether Divakar rehabilitates Isha by marrying her or not.

What is more than evident at the rehearsals is that leprosy has really been used as a symbol. Isha does not wrap her fingers in white bandages, neither is she referred to as a leper. The play is a comment on society and its attitudes. "Nothing is beautiful or asunder. It is our attitude toward things that needs to be beautiful," says Tawde.

Directed by Mahendra Teredesai, the play opens on December 20. For more details contact: 579 2439.