Affective Ecology: Presenting ‘Tragedy’ in the Performance of "Zindagi Ne Ek Din Kaha" (One Day the Life Spoke, 1996)

Referring to the performance of "Zindagi Ne Ek Din Kaha" (One Day the Life Spoke, 1996), the paper attempts to address one of the biggest human made environmental hazard, Bhopal Gas Tragedy (December 3, 1983), and critically analyse the knotting of performance and ecology. Inspired by the sequence of events in the aftermath of the 'tragedy', the paper adduces the creative mien of "Zindagi Ne Ek Din Kaha" and argues for an unpacking of “the experiences of ecological relationship” (Woynarski 2015) with respect to ‘tragedy’. In this vein, the paper carries out a ‘aesthetico-philosophical’ deliberation on how ‘tragedy’ was conceptualized in the performative moment of being "vikṣipt" (unsound mind). The paper argues that since being "vikṣipt" testifies a performative ‘inability’ to express feelings and thoughts when one encounters a tragedy, an ecology of theatre construes the thought of feeling a tragedy and the feeling of thinking the inexplicable.