SCENE 8 — SWYAMPRABHA MEETS BODHISATWA AT HOTEL
CHARACTERS
- SWAYAMPRABHA
- BODHISATWA
SETTING
A business hotel room. Neutral décor. A small table with two chairs. Kettle, cups, tea sachets. On the table: conference badge, show brochure, a paper map of Kolkata with a few places circled. Evening light through curtains.
SFX: muted city horns, corridor footsteps, distant elevator chime.
(Lights up. BODHISATWA stands by the table, jacket off, sleeves rolled, arranging papers neatly—an artist’s order disguised as professionalism. A knock.)
BODHISATWA
Come in—door is open.
(SWYAMPRABHA enters. She pauses at the threshold: a familiar face in an unfamiliar room. Hand tightens around her handbag strap. She is dressed a little nicer than necessary.)
SWAYAMPRABHA
Hi.
BODHISATWA (soft smile)
SWAYAMPRABHA.
(They look. Thirty years doesn’t speak; it stares.)
BODHISATWA
Thank you for coming.
SWAYAMPRABHA
When did you reach Kolkata?
BODHISATWA
Last night.
BODHISATWA (gestures to the chair—careful, gentlemanly.)
Sit. Tea?
SWAYAMPRABHA
Yes, tea.
(BODHISATWA moves to the kettle. He doesn’t rush. He doesn’t perform. That calmness makes the room more intimate. SWYAMPRABHA watches his hands—steady, practiced.)
BODHISATWA
Milk?
SWAYAMPRABHA
No. I like black.
BODHISATWA
Still the same.
SWAYAMPRABHA
Not in everything.
Are you staying here for the whole week?
BODHISATWA
Yes. Conference, workshop, and the show.
They gave me a schedule like I’m a schoolboy again.
(He pours tea, places her cup first, sits opposite—distance maintained. SWYAMPRABHA notices. Part of her is relieved. A bigger part… disappointed.)
SWAYAMPRABHA
You didn’t ping me yesterday.
I called a few times, but it wasn’t going through.
BODHISATWA
I kept thinking—
will you come today?
SWAYAMPRABHA
I almost didn’t.
BODHISATWA
Why?
SWYAMPRABHA (moves, looks around, through the window)
This looks like trouble.
BODHISATWA (doesn’t pretend otherwise)
Yes. It does. I didn’t choose the room.
But I choose what I do inside it.
SWAYAMPRABHA
And what will you do?
(He shifts a chair; their fingers nearly meet. He withdraws.)
BODHISATWA (meets her eyes)
See you.
Listen to you.
SWAYAMPRABHA
My life is service.
I get up, serve the house… the family… and go to sleep.
Then wake up and do the same.
BODHISATWA
Your life is you.
Service is what you do—not who you are.
SWYAMPRABHA (sips tea. Eyes stay on him. Fingers tighten around the cup.)
Tell me honestly—
why did you want to meet me here?
(Electric silence. He holds her gaze, answers without defense.)
BODHISATWA
Because it’s neutral. Peace. Privacy.
Is it causing trouble?
SWAYAMPRABHA
Trouble was already there.
Your presence just… showed it.
BODHISATWA
The art show is tomorrow evening.
I wanted you to see — what I’ve been doing.
SWAYAMPRABHA
I will come.
BODHISATWA
Thank you.
SWAYAMPRABHA
BODHISATWA…
why did you say that line?
BODHISATWA (pure innocence)
When you came back…
I felt fifteen again—for one minute.
And then I felt ashamed.
SWAYAMPRABHA
Ashamed?
BODHISATWA
Yes.
Because I was remembering something beautiful
while sitting inside a life I built with someone else.
SWAYAMPRABHA
Then why are we here—in a hotel room?
BODHISATWA
I wanted to see you.
Not to take you.
SWAYAMPRABHA
You think I came here to be taken?
BODHISATWA
No.
But I didn’t want you to feel… trapped.
SWAYAMPRABHA
I’m trapped every day.
Schedules. Belts. Lunchboxes. Being “good.”
SWYAMPRABHA (looks around again. Voice lowers. contd.)
This room is not trapping me.
This room is… freedom.
BODHISATWA
SWAYAMPRABHA…
SWAYAMPRABHA
Do you know what you did?
You created a want inside me that has nowhere to go.
BODHISATWA
I realized that later.
SWAYAMPRABHA
You’ll go back to Atlanta, and I’ll go back to my kitchen.
BODHISATWA
Yes.
SWAYAMPRABHA
So you called me here—
to give me tea and philosophy?
BODHISATWA
No.
To tell you that you were real.
Those days were not your imagination alone.
SWYAMPRABHA (turns from the window. in soft, shaken)
I carried it like a secret disease.
(A long beat. Her breathing is audible. She steps toward him—one step, then another—stops at the table. Ready for intimacy; it shows in her stillness.)
SWAYAMPRABHA
If I asked you…
to hold me for one minute…
would you?
BODHISATWA (loses his eyes briefly. It costs him. He opens—gentle, firm.)
No.
(SWYAMPRABHA flinches—not humiliation—something sharper, hotter.)
BODHISATWA
Not because I don’t want to.
Because I do.
And that is exactly why I won’t.
SWAYAMPRABHA (eyes fill—not tears. Heat. She nods, absorbing the paradox.)
You think real things sit quietly?
You think feelings behave because you speak politely?
SWAYAMPRABHA (stands—restless—goes to the window, speaks without turning.)
I came here thinking—
I don’t know what I thought.
BODHISATWA
What did you expect?
SWAYAMPRABHA (turns. Their eyes lock. She doesn’t lie.)
I came here so I could blame you.
BODHISATWA
I don’t want your guilt.
You already carried too much.
SWAYAMPRABHA
I should go now.
BODHISATWA
Can I walk you to the lobby?
SWAYAMPRABHA
No.
BODHISATWA
Okay.
(SWYAMPRABHA picks up her handbag. At the door she pauses—looks back once. BODHISATWA stands still, hands by his sides—no reach, no touch.)
SWAYAMPRABHA
Tomorrow… at the show.
BODHISATWA
Tomorrow.
(SWYAMPRABHA exits. Door closes.)
(Lights fade.)