The street play by Manish Patadia and his theatre group, which constituted an important part of the event was appreciated by all and the performance by the artiste who played the role of the “daughter” earned her great applause While congratulating her, Morari Bapu presented her with Rs.500/- as a token of appreciation of her role as Vhali.
The play is based on the theme of Vhali, the daughter of a Gujarati fisherman returning home to give birth to her child. When the fisherman attempts to go out to sea to hunt a whale shark to earn extra money, things start going wrong with his own daughter, Vhali. A doctor who examines Vhali also explains about the protected status of the whale shark to the fisherman’s family and Vhali extracts a vow from her father to protect the fish instead of hunting it.
“The play touched an emotional chord and left many people, including Morari Bapu with tears in their eyes towards the end” reported Joshi.
Among those present at the event with Morari Bapu were Commandant Naresh Kaul of Okha Coast Guard, Mahesh Thakkar of the Dwarka Nagarpalika, Raju Dave of the Okha Gram Panchayat and Vivek Talwar of TCL.
Morari Bapu concluded by pointing at the WTI logo, “This is a picture of a deer on the logo. In the Ramayana, when Lord Ram went to kill a deer, he had to lose Sita. If you destroy any life then you will have to lose something in your house. This message is from the Ramayana.” An apt message to take home coming from a popular religious conservationist.
