In Memory of Raju

One “filler” skit that was often performed during the drama program was called “The Mulagapodi Farce.” It was performed either during the change of set, or during the intermission, but every performance always had this skit as part of it. It was considered a great comedy scene, and it was a grand success with the audience whenever it was played. It went something like this: A man unexpectedly visits his friend’s house while he is not at home. His wife, however, is at home – and she feels obligated to cater to him as he is a guest. In order to teach him a lesson so he does not come unexpectedly like this again, she decides to play a prank upon him. She starts frying chilli powder to make mulagapodi and picks up a stick and keeps it next to her. The man, smelling the pungent frying, ask her “What are you making?” The woman says “Oh nothing. We have a custom that whenever a guest comes home unexpectedly, we put freshly made molagapodi on his head, and beat him with this stick.” That man gets very scared upon hearing this, and quickly runs away, out of the house. The husband who is returning home at this time sees his friend running away, and asks his wife, “What happened?” The lady tells him “Your friend wanted to take away all our fresh molagapodi and our stick, and I refused to give it to him, so he got angry and ran away.” The husband gets upset – “He is a respected guest, if he wants our mulagapodi and stick we should give it to him.” So, he picks up both items and runs after his friend. The friend seeing the husband running towards him with molagapodi and stick gets even more scared and starts running faster. The man, trying to give his friend the items starts waving the stick in the air and running even faster to catch him. The wife is very happy she has tricked her husband and taught his friend a lesson… this comedy would go on for a while with all sorts of slapstick introduced into it. This “Mulagapodi Farce” would, without fail, have the audience rolling in laughter during every single performance.