A MUSEUM OF BUTTONS

A Play in One Act

by
Aditya D. Dave

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

KRIPALU KAKA Bored old man, dying, around 77 years in age.

CHAMELI BAI Maid of the house, pretty, around 23 years in age.
PRINCE DAYALU BATT Master of the house, working man, around 44 years in age.
CHAUREEZ PRINCE JHA-BATT Mistress of the house, posh, around 36 years in age.
DIL PRINCE BATT Teenager, angsty kid, around 18 years in age.

The action takes place in the main hall of the museum of buttons in the year 2014.

SETTING:
We see the main hall of the MUSEUM OF BUTTONS. The BHATTS live there and are the
caretakers of the place.
The back wall is filled with rows various buttons of all sizes and shapes arranged with precision.
There are lights above each such display, but these have not been turned on. Off centre
towards the left there lies something like a big calendar which has only the number hundred
written on it in bold letters. Beside it is a round wall clock.
To the right is a small, square dining table. It is made of a dark wood and is well polished so that
it shines when light happens to fall on it. There are three cheap plastic chairs arranged around
it.
The centre stage is empty and to the left there is a cot and another plastic chair. The cot is seen
from the side by the audience and the chair faces such that it is parallel to the cot. The
arrangement should imply that a centre table must be placed in the space enclosed by the two,
however there is none.
The door to the right leads out of the museum, the one to the left leads to the various members
rooms.
AT RISE:
The stage is lit by a dim yellow light, throwing minimal shadows. The wall clock shows the time
as a quarter to eight.
KRIPALU lies on the cot, dressed in a white jhabba and lehenga. He is partially covered by a
rough, unkempt bedsheet. He is unshaven and uncombed. An arm of his hangs down from the
side of the cot. Beside it, on the floor, are his spectacles, some newspapers, a jug of water and
a glass. Also there are many bottles of tablets.
CHAMELI is sweeping the floor in the centre stage in a hurry. Simultaneously, she is talking on
her cell phone. She is tastefully dressed and sparsely made up. She does not look like a bai.
CHAUREEZ is arranging the plates on the dinner table. She is over dressed in heavy, loud
clothes. Her make up too in over the top, with heavy mascara and a dark lipstick giving her a
gothic look in contrast to her clothes.

CURTAIN UP
KRIPALU: (Crying out loud) All my life I was haunted by death and now die haunted by life.
Stupid mind, be still! I do not need these memories now.
(All ignore him)

CHAMELI: Yes babe, I tell you Ill be there tonight, dont you worry! (Pauses for a second). Dont
weep, dont weep, see, let the skies do the weeping tonight. We? We shall laugh at the fates
and stay happy in the storm
(CHAUREEZ makes a distasteful face)
CHAMELI (continuing from above without a pause, with a flourish in her voice) We will sail in the
eye of the tempest. Then lets see who can beat us, huh, your Shikhar is only a mere mortal.
(Enter DIL)
CHAUREEZ: (To DIL) Baboo, if the bai is done with all her over the phone drama na, tell her to
start cleaning the buttons. She did such a bekkar job of it in the morning. What must all the
people have thought.
(DIL turns to CHAMELI, but before he can open his mouth she cuts him off with her hand)
CHAMELI: (Still talking into the phone) Alright, yea see you tonight. Bye. (Cuts the phone, and
looks at DIL). Yes Master Batt, please inform Madamoiselle that I did a perfectly reasonable job
in the morning. I have been raised into