Scene 1 – Ma is watching Tv with headphones on and Jeetu is sitting between his knees and both Om and Jaya are siting either side of him. Jaya calls on Jeetu to speak to her but Jeetu dismisses her. Jaya is concerned and Om taunts Jeetu calling him selfish for only thinking of himself. Jeetu speaks and is scared that he don’t want to live like this and taunts Om back showing his covered bandages around his head and eyes. We get to see that Jeetu’s eyes are taken off for transplants. As the guards have taken the wrong person instead of Om, Om tells that he received a lot of injections to match Ginni’s body and he wonders if it is a success or not as Ginni can be infected with Jeetu’s diseases and cold. Jeetu is disappointed and Jaya tries to console Jeetu. Jeetu gets mad at Om and Jaya and the air of silence drops. Jaya , Jeetu and Om continue to argue and Jeetu is mad at Om as he did not stood up when the guards came to take Jeetu instead of Om calling him a coward. Om tries to reprimand by talking to Ginni if she comes online but Jaya is suspicious about Ginni but Om taunts them that she will believe him and it would not have been a problem if Jaya and Jeetu were not filthy and fornicators. Om questions Jaya fidelity.
The warning sound starts and in the third sound Ginni appears on the screen of the Contact Module to talk to them. Om and Ginni starts a conversation. Ginni asks if Om can see her clearly and he says he can see. Ginni tells him that she can now see clearly because of his eyes but Om states that it is a huge mistake but Jaya intercepts and Ginni di not understand the entire situation and shuts down Om. Jeetu suddenly walks and starts having a conversation with Ginni. Jeetu is in love with Ginni but Ginni talks about the next phase. Jeetu is confused about the next phase and Om shouts that Jeetu is the wrong person and Jaya struggles to hold Om back. Ginni tells about the next transplant and Jeetu is aware that she needs more organs from him. Ginni still believes Jeetu is Om and Ginni asks if he is willing to give and Jeetu is willing and orders the gurads to take Jeetu away to the clinic for the next transplant. Jeetu tells Jaya about Ginni and how she is beautiful and how she saw her naked body at the clinic. There is a knock on the door.
The guards arrive and Om is ready to go with the guards but the Guard 3 grabs Om pinning him to the wall. Jeetu surrenders himself and the guards take him away and Jaya watches sadly while Jeetu is taken away. The guard locked the bolt from outside door and Om shouts at them. Jaya sits and Om moans while Ma sits and watches the TV program without a disturb. Jaya calls Ma and tells her about Jeetu but Ma is unbothered and does not care about Jeetu. Jaya tells her to get involve and snatches the remote and smashes the Tv on the floor. Ma and Jaya fights regarding the remote while nobody knows that Om is sitting next to the door listening to something else. As Jaya taunts Ma the boots at the corridor is growing bigger and the door opens with the Agent 1 entering the house.
The Agent 1 looks for Madam Indumati or Ma who has ordered VideoCouch Enterprises. The Agents installed the SuperDeluxe VideoCouch Model XL 5000 in the room with around 750 video channels in the TV. Jaya tells to stop such nonsense but Ma dismisses her saying it is what she has ordered. The Agent 1 explains everything about it’s features and ask Ma to sign the delivery unit. Ma is suspicious of the Agents and tells them if they would not run away with the TV after she sign it. The installation is done and activated and the Couch speaks addressing what the tech usually addresses to the customers regarding their facilities.
The Guards have literally seal the nest that brings open air from outside and Jaya wonders how she is going to breathe. The Agent 1 replies that it is self sufficient and it is a comfort unit. Jaya keeps arguing but the Agents consistently tells that it is on the hands of the operator and it will not stop until she delinks it. The installation process is done and they leaves while Jaya runs and demands to know everything about it but they departs and she tells that it is still not at peace and not yet at peace.
Scene 2 – After five days later, it is night and Jaya is worn out and unslept. All of a sudden the noise of warning sounds emerges. The Contact Module does not have a face on it but it hovers Jaya. There was a voice calling out to Jaya. Jaya tries to dismiss the voice and the Contact Module but the voice tells Jaya not to be scared and Jaya tells to leave her all alone. When Jaya sobs and tells to leave her alone, the Contact Module stops from a comfortable distance. After a moment of silence, Jaya asks if it has gone and the Voice replies to her that it has not gone yet. Jaya asks who is it and the voice knows her name and Jaya is shocked to know that. Jaya wonders if the voice is the friend of Ginni and the voice agrees with her. Jaya and the voice converse about Ginni and Jaya wonders that Ginni is fine as she has taken everything including Jeetu and Om from her. Ma is locked into a sarcophagus and Jaya is all alone. Jaya considers everything unnatural and abnormal and the voice tells his name as Virgil. Virgil and Jaya converse and Jaya does not believe Virgil and she does not want to pretend like they know each other and they are friends. Virgil decides to show himself to Jaya and demands her to come to Contact Module.
Virgil moves the Contact Module to show his face to Jaya to hold it and push the click button from the panel under it to switch on the Contact Module screen. The Contact Module screen is on and the face that Jaya sees is Jeetu. Jaya is shocked to see Jeetu and wonders if he is Jeetu. Jaya is surprised and she does not believe Virgil for it cannot be Jeetu. Virgil tells her whether she is happy or not and does not like the way he appears. Jaya screams and demands to know what happened to Jeetu. Virgil tells everything to Jaya that Jeetu was willing to sell his entire body parts to him. He tells her that the west has two definitions of death which is the self death and body death. It depends on her whether Jeetu is dead or alive for her as Jeetu is alive in different body(Virgil). Virgil also tells her that Ginni was not real and Ginni was actually Virgil all the time. Virgil shows how his sound looks like when he is a few decibels higher away.
Jaya and Virgil argues about Jeetu. According to Jaya , Jeetu was happy and he was himself even when he was sleeping in the streets but Virgil thinks that he was willing to give his body and his life was not any better when he was living in the streets. Virgil exposes about the truth of Contact Module to Jaya that every conversation was recorded even when the module was off and Virgil knows everything about Jeetu and what excatly had happened before in the room. Virgil discloses everything to Jaya that he knew that Jeetu is not Om and Jeetu was more available than Om so he took him and even he was infected with a disease Virgil proves Jaya that he is healthy and good. Virgil also disclose about what he has saw what Jaya was doing, toilet being shared, sneeze and cough and food shared and others. Virgil tells that Ginni was a computer animated wet dream. Virgil tells that Ginni was just a fish and a dish to hook someone for the bait. Jaya tells Virgil about his cannibalistic attitude.
Virgil tells Jaya as they both converse that Virgil was actually a man before and he was old and sick and now he is okay that he got a young healthy body to live on. He wants Jaya now and not a man for a man was just a part of the job and not the job itself foe he wants a child bearing woman. For the reproduction purposes, they look for young couples without a child and Om told him he was not married and they knew he lied for there was a polygraph to detect. Virgil told her that Om skin and blood matched him so they chose him as a donor. But Jaya questions to Virgil that he has taken a wrong man but Virgil replies that Jeetu is Om’s brother and he was a better match for him than Om. Virgil tells her that they look for young man’s body to live on and young woman for the reproduction purposes.
Jaya asks Virgil why they cannot reproduce on their own so Virgil tells her that there was a competition between younger and older generations. They used to live longer and longer but due to competition they lost at the cost of birds and flowers, bees and snakes and they had to make amends and decided to make a program that preys on young man from the poorer sections of the world while gaining fresh bodies. Virgil tells her that this is his fourth body transplant in fifty years. Virgil tells that his wife left him with a child and he never got to see his child and he wants to make Jaya pregnant with his child. Jaya dismisses Virgil but Virgil is consistent saying that she wants to be a mother and a child and she has always yearned for it but Jaya dismisses it saying that a seer has already told her that the stars have denied her right to be motherhood. Virgil constantly tries to seduce Jaya to submit herself to him so that he can reproduce but Jaya asks if it is going to be Jeetu’s or his. Virgil tells that it is Jeetu’s body but he in uncertain if the child is gonna look like Jeetu or not but the child can have her voice as well. There is a knock on the door again.
The Guard 1 enters and Virgil asks the guard to come for a contact again. Virgil tells that the Guard is here to make Jaya reproduce child with Virgil. Virgil tells that the Guard will implant a device on Jaya to make a baby and if she is ready for the procedure. Virgil tells that he wants to travel around the world with her but the place which Jaya lives is too dangerous for Virgil. Virgil tries to persuade Jaya by telling her that he would love to share everything with her but Jaya dismisses him saying that she wants real intimacy connection and without it is never for Virgil risks his physical intimacy. The Guard 1 knocks on the door and demands to enter the room. Jaya stands strong and protest against the Guard saying that she cannot have her and her body and demands Virgil to take his body risk to her. The Guard 1 connects the speaker phone to Virgil and Virgil converses with her again.
Jaya then tells Virgil that she has come up with a game. Virgil is protesting against Jaya and tries to seduce her but Jaya dismisses it. Virgil tells her that the guards will break the door and she will left with no choice but to surrender but Jaya tells him that if they force the door to open then the glass will pierce through her throat. Virgil mocks Jaya that the food she eats have anti suicidal drugs and she can never kill herself. Jaya warns him to test the strength of the drugs. Virgil tries hard to convince her that he loves her and admired her strength but Jaya tells him to risk his skin for her. Jaya stands out herself for her now and she decides to set a new rules for everything saying that she will kill herself if the guard tries to discomfort her and she will kill herself no matter what happens. She is collecting all the pills and medicines to stay awake and tells Virgil to leave her truly alone and do not make any sound. Virgil protests but Jaya blackmails him saying that she will die knowing that he lost to a poor and weakless woman and she will derive pleasure out of it while she dies. She tells Virgil to truly leave her alone for she wants to enjoy all alone, eat three instead of one and watch TV and take long showers. She tells Virgil to take some rest for he has a long journey to take and it is going to be a hard one implying he needs to risk his skin to come here to Jaya. The play ends with Jaya settles comfortably and watches Tv filling the room with rich and joyful music.
Themes in Padmanabhan’s Harvest Play – https://getsetnotes.com/themes-in-manjula-padmanabhan-harvest/
