Sandbox Collective (Bengaluru) and Santoshpur Anuchintan’s In Search of Goddess Sitala, at Tapan

A multimedia theatre performance that reflects on the lives of contemporary female impersonators in Sitala Jatra or Sitala Mangal, a rich and diverse but now endangered performatory ritual mostly found in rural West Bengal. Sitala (from sital, meaning cool; literally, the cool one), a non-Aryan deity, is the much-dreaded goddess or mother of diseases in spring, desperate to attain worship from the people. Written by Gaurav Das and Srijukta Dijo Nityananda, and directed by Gaurav Das.