Shiv Subrahmanyam could have neither found a more apt title for his piece than THE MOVING FINGER WRITES (English) nor a better director than Atul Kumar for transmitting his clogged and verbose text to absurd action. At a level, the piece came across as a critique of the banality of the lives of two urban, upper middle-class couples but it then got messily entwined with loose ideas of Indian nationalism and identity. Atul Kumar's passion for the understated, absurd, symbolic and the aesthetic however salvaged the text and in fact did more to justify the critique that it had purported to raise. The two couples played by Chandan Roy Sanyal, Trishla Patel, Mukul Chadda and Yuki Ellias did good justice to their respective roles.

Naushil Mehta's HUN TANE GAMU CHU? (Gujarati), a series of short separate scenes made popular jokes all the more popular as they got enacted by some of the most versatile actors of the Gujarati stage. Directed by Utkarsh Majumdar, the cast of the play had actors Dilip Joshi, Vaishalee Thakkar, Ami Trivedi and Leena Shah. As is evident from the title, the scenes focused on jokes about couples and their need to reiterate their love for each other. Although Dilip Joshi clearly stole the show, the others were quite competent too and together they managed to get the comic timing of each piece right. 'So sweet' as someone remarked in the audience.

Saurabh Shukla like Shiv Subrahmanyam could have at least got the title of his piece right. Since that didn't happen TEA FOR TWO (Hindi) which was directed by Salim Arif ended as two unconnected scenes that left the audience with little to reflect on. Although it started off well, it ended in a very vague manner, the missing gaps obvious. If any case can be made for the title, it can be said that Lubna Salim who played one of the characters did a decent job of making the tea while being sleepy and convincing the audience that it was for real.

Tipping his hat to the greatest bard in history, playwright Ramu Ramanathan very cheekily (this is my guess) titled his piece ALL THE WORLD'S A SHARE-A-CAB. But he did so with due respect to his text in which the minor headaches associated with cab sharing are blown out of proportion. Cab sharing, a common feature in the urban landscape of Mumbai acquired a complex dramatic dimension that evening. Its absurd moments found their counter balance in a sub-text that spoke of dignity and humility. Rehaan Engineer's direction was simple and elegant. The actors supported by the light design for the piece created a wonderful illusion of space and time and of the sense that either one of them could have been in the others' shoes. Although actors Niraj Kavi, Anu Menon and Ayesha Raza in their respective characters were supporting actor Suruchi Aulakh's character and her narrative, they each stood out in this apparently bizarre cab ride.