a precious sari is awaiting the presence of a little boy to take it out of the closet and drape it around him while it waits the sari shares its secrets with anyone who cares to hold the forbidden piece of cloth close to their hearts this is the premise of mahesh dattanis upcoming audio play a little drape of heaven his first collaboration with new yorkbased immersive theatre platform this is not a theatre company the sitespecific audio play which lasts just over 30 minutes features actress swati das in the leadhaving been in the field for over three decades this isnt maheshs foray into the audio medium back in the early 90s the bengaluruborn playwright did quite a few audio dramas for the bbc i did radio dramas for bbc radio 4 for about 56 years now after all these years erin b mee from this is not a theatre company who i have known for over 25 years approached me and asked if i could write one once again i felt that the time was right for audio plays to come back says mahesh who is the first playwright in english to win the sahitya akademi awarddirecting soundsits a personal story mahesh says when asked about his inspiration for a little drape of heaven i remember my mothers godrej cupboard she had all her old saris including her wedding sari which is more than 70yearsold in that cupboard over the years i have seen her taking care of them and keeping them locked up they came out only during festive occasions otherwise they were too precious for everyday use so thats really where the inspiration came from a wedding saree that finds an unlikely user a little boy he addstaking us through the process and challenges of directing an audio play mahesh shares that the key is to evoke the images in the listeners minds here the protagonist is a sari which is in a cupboard so from the opening of the cupboard to the unfolding of the saree everythings been created with sound also since its a fabric there is a sensory experience being delivered through sound as well the visuals are there its just that you are not seeing it its a bit like when you are reading a book you imagine all the visuals in an audio play the sounds the dialogues and the effects have to come together to create those mental images thats the challenge he shares adding that even during online rehearsals he would shut his eyes and listen to visualise what kind of sound effects he should usekeeping up with the timesknown for always being up for experiments during the lockdown mahesh tried his hands at online masterclasses and his first hindi play hasmukh saab ki wasihat started streaming as a teleplay how has the transition to the online medium worked for the veteran thespian we ask mahesh says it has been a shift out of necessity more