Coarsely Indecent and Perverse Sex in Asif Currimbhoy’s ‘The Doldrummers’

Abstract

Asif Currimbhoy is the greatest Indo-English dramatist of our times. He
began his career of play-writing in 1959 and he has written more than 30 plays.
Variety and versality are two prominent qualities of his plays. He has written one -
act plays like The Clock and The Refugee, two- act plays like Goa and The
Doldrummers, three -act plays like Inqilab and four-act plays like Sonar Bangla. He
chooses his subject matter mostly from a distinctly Indian experience and weaves
various threads from the myths, folklore and other public events of the contemporary
society into it. He handles with ease all forms of plays whether Farce, comedy ,
melodrama, tragedy or history. To keep the play alive on the stage , he employs
many theatrical devices and this dramatic scene is generally considered his forte. He
is just interested in impressing and controlling the minds of the audience but, as
Meserves say, “He has something to say, something he must say, message to deliver,
a vision to fulfill”. The Tourist Mecca, The Doldrummers, The Darjeeling Tea and
This Alien ….Native Land are categorized as his romantic plays. They are not
romantic in the conventional sense and most of the characters are aliens or Anglo -
Indians. Sex and wine play a great part in these plays and it seems that in such plays,
Asif Currimbhoy’s pen touches the boundaries of indecency.