DHABA ON DEVON AVENUE excerpt by Madhuri Shekar

DHABA ON DEVON AVENUE by Madhuri Shekar

Beth Blickers APA Agency 135 West 50th Street New York, NY 10020 bblickers@apa-agency.com

CHARACTERS NEERAJ MADHWANI: M. Early 50s. Owner and head chef of Dhaba Canteen. Born in India, moved to Chicago when he was 8. In the very early stages of a Parkinson's diagnosis.

ADIL JAISINGHANI: M. Early 50s. A successful entrepreneur and Neeraj's brother-in-law.

Moved to the states from India when he was 20.

RITA MADHWANI: F. 25. Sous chef of Dhaba Canteen. Born and raised in Chicago.

LUZ FUENTES: F. Mid 20s. Line chef at Dhaba Canteen. Moved to the states from the Dominican Republic when she was 8.

SINDHU MADHWANI: F. 30. A consultant at a firm like McKinsey. Born and raised in Chicago.

SETTING Primarily the kitchen of Dhaba Canteen on Devon Avenue, Chicago. Present day.

COMMONLY USED WORDS AND PHRASES Baba - father Amma - mother Maamu - maternal uncle Chottu - little one Bhai - brother/friend Dada - paternal grandfather Dadima - paternal grandmother Sindhi Kadi - a vegetable curry dish Magaz Kheema - goat brain/mutton curry Arre - an exclamation for emphasis Dhaba - a hole-in-the-wall or roadside restaurant traditionally found by the truckstops of Pakistan and North West India.

Sindhi - an ethnic+cultural community originally from the province of Sindh in modern-day Pakistan, united by the language of Sindhi. Either Hindu or Muslim in their religious practice, but culturally an amalgamation of Hindu, Islamic and Sikh influences. Hindu Sindhis were forced out of their homeland during the Partition of 1947 and most have not been able to return since, due to the diplomatic tension between India and Pakistan.

Commissioned by Victory Gardens Theatre; Artistic Director Chay Yew

SCENE 1 Kitchen of Dhaba Canteen, night. RITA, 25, and NEERAJ MADHWANI, 53, stand at one of the stoves, Rita is dressed for work with her apron and hair tied back.

Neeraj is slowly tasting Sindhi kadi (a classic Sindhi vegetable stew) that Rita has made.

At another station stands LUZ FUENTES, 23, their line chef, earbuds in, listening to music, her bare arms covered with tattoos, folding freshly washed and dried linens and towels and putting them away.

Rita watches her dad as he tastes. Waits. Neeraj shakes his head. Frustrated, Rita takes a spoon of the stew, blows on it and tastes it.

RITA It’s fine.

Neeraj takes another taste.

NEERAJ It’s flat.

RITA It tastes the same as it always does.

NEERAJ It’s missing something.

RITA What? Salt? Amchur? (a beat) Sugar?

Neeraj shoots Rita a look, like “Sugar? What is wrong with you?” Rita shrugs, like, “I don’t know, you tell me.”

NEERAJ It’s missing something deep, early in the process. In the body. The soul.

He stands and looks at the dish, hard, almost like he’s xraying it. Rita waits. She leans on the counter.

2.

RITA It’s Sindhi kadi, Baba. We’ve made this a million times.

NEERAJ Let’s start again.

RITA Again?

NEERAJ You’re not getting it right.

RITA (sputtering) I’m not It’s/ fine NEERAJ /It’s flat. Once more. Put this aside.

Rita takes away the pot as Neeraj starts rummaging in the produce drawer.

RITA Baba, come on. It’s almost midnight. I need to help Luz clean up. (lowering her voice) Linens’ not her job to begin with.

NEERAJ It must be in the prep. The lotus.

* Neeraj pulls out some lotus stems. Rita puts the pot of kadi in the sink and glances at Luz, who shoots her a sympathetic glance. Rita pulls out a stool at the prep counter for her father.

RITA

Would you at least sit down?

NEERAJ (ignoring the stool) Now, here we go. Lotus stems. The heart of Sindhi cuisine. (he holds up a piece)

3.

See the mud coating right here? That’s how you know it’s really fresh. Practically pulled from the earth. The lotus flower is something beautiful that grows out of the mud. That’s what your Dadima told me - why the lotus is so important to our food, to who we are.

Because even when we Sindhis end up in the mud, we manage to grow something beautiful. (he sniffs the stem) The trick is to remove the mud with a blunt knife before you wash them.

*

He picks up a knife.

RITA BABA careful NEERAJ I can handle a knife RITA Let me cut it for you NEERAJ (end of discussion) Am I shaking?

Rita watches carefully, worried as Neeraj continues. He scrapes off the dirt, dunks the lotus a bowl of water, then continues with the knife.

NEERAJ Slice the stem at a slant, like this. And remove what’s left of the mud, inside these holes, with a toothpick.

He rummages around for a toothpick. Rita grabs one and hands it to him.

RITA That’s what I do, Baba. This is exactly how I do it. Every time.

Neeraj carefully scrapes the lotus using the toothpick.

NEERAJ This is going to be the centerpiece of the dinner. Almost everyone who’s going to be there grew up having this dish at least once a week in their homes. It has to be perfect. Prep to finish. It takes time but it’s worth it. If something’s a delicacy...?

*

4.

Rita shakes her head but complies.

RITA You need to be delicate with it.

Rita plucks a lotus stem out of the hot Sindhi kadi with her bare fingers, blows on it, tastes it.

The landline rings.

RITA I don’t know. It tastes good to me.

NEERAJ Good or fine?

Neeraj picks up the phone.

NEERAJ Dhaba Canteen.

Yes, that’s me.

RITA Luz, would you mind digging out a couple of tomatoes?

LUZ Want ‘em prepped?

Neeraj covers the phone with his hand to speak to Luz. NEERAJ No. Give her the whole ones.

I want to see you do everything, prep to finish. (back on the phone) I’m sorry, could you repeat that?

Luz passes her a couple of whole tomatoes. Their fingers graze and Rita drops the tomatoes.

RITA Shit.

LUZ Sorry.

*

5.

RITA (rattled) No. Um. Sorry. (the tomatoes are bruised) I’ll just get them myself.

Rita looks for tomatoes in the pantry, feeling for the best ones. She listens in on Neeraj’s conversation. As he talks, she goes back to the counter to keep prepping - chopping onions, garlic and tomatoes.

NEERAJ Did you say Mr. Sinha doesn’t work there anymore? Keshav Sinha?

Right, so if you could just connect me to him I see. No, we had re-negotiated a lowered rate - for the mortgage It has to be in his records.

Look Yes, that’s fine.

Neeraj extends the landline cord as far as it would go and comes back to the counter to examine Rita’s prep. He picks up a piece of garlic.

NEERAJ (covering the mouthpiece) Finer. Smaller. (back on the phone.)

Yes. Right.

I’ll send it to you again. Okay. Goodbye.

Neeraj hangs up.

RITA (low, since Luz is in the room) Was that the bank? At this time of night?

NEERAJ (tasting Rita’s work) Business hours don’t really apply to me. Not when I’ve been with them for 30 years. (the garlic) Finer. Mince it well.

6.

RITA It gets cooked down. You can’t tell the difference.

NEERAJ I can tell the difference. Every layer needs to be perfect. You can predict the end of a dish at any point in its process. You can tell if it’s going to succeed or fail.

* *

RITA And it’s not succeeding for you?

Neeraj tastes all the uncooked prep ingredients. Rita looks at the landline phone - worried.

Neeraj tastes the stew on the stove.

RITA What’s/the bank saying NEERAJ (tasting the uncooked ingredients again) /Maybe it’s the tomatoes. They’re in season but not as fresh - maybe it’s our vendors RITA Our guests are going to love this, Baba, I promise you.

NEERAJ It needs to feel like their mothers and grandmothers made it for them. That’s what’s missing right now. I don’t feel my mother in this. I don’t feel your mother in this. I’m not... I don’t feel...

RITA (baffled) That’s... kind of a tall order.

NEERAJ It’s the only thing that matters. This kadi, it’s not...

He snaps his fingers, trying to find the word. He stares at the dish again, frustrated.

NEERAJ Your Dadima is missing in it. That’s the problem.

We need to find her diary. Her notes. That’ll show us the way.

*

7.

RITA (lost) What? (looking at her watch) You want to find it right now? I need to help Luz and you need to get/ some sleep

* * *

NEERAJ /Fine, let’s do the Magaz Kheema.

*

RITA Magaz? Why? He searches the freezer NEERAJ We’re making it for the anniversary, of course. Can’t have a tasting menu without Magaz.

RITA Uh NEERAJ Where is it? It’s not with the rest of the mutton.

RITA We don’t order it anymore, I took it off our list.

NEERAJ Why? RITA No one’s ordered any of the Magaz items for over a year.

NEERAJ What kind of Sindhi restaurant doesn’t serve magaz?

RITA Most people don’t know the difference. If they’re looking for mutton and for brains, they go to the Pakistani restaurants, they go to Bangladeshi ones NEERAJ This recipe originated in Sindh. It’s not Bangladeshi. It’s not Pakistani. It’s ours.

RITA But nobody orders -

8.

NEERAJ This is my restaurant.

A beat.

NEERAJ Magaz is one of the most delicious items we offer. The Magaz was what Bill Daley wrote about when he reviewed us. It’s iconic. (trying to soften) I know you’ve been trying to help. But this is not what I was talking about. You can’t just - change things.

He grabs his jacket and starts putting it on. His movements are slightly jerky, just slightly.

RITA Where are you going?

NEERAJ To the halal grocery. We’re going to make this tonight.

Look for that diary.

He exits, slamming the door shut. Rita looks in his direction.

LUZ Think the grocery will be open right now?

RITA They’ll open it for my dad. Trust me.

LUZ So... I’ve always wondered. Have you like, actually eaten the magaz yourself?

Like actually eaten brains? Goat brains?

Rita starts clearing up the prep space.

RITA Of course. I grew up with it. Not really for me, though.

LUZ Yeah, I think it’s hard to get over the brains part. (pause) Is Chef all right?

9.

RITA We’ve got a lot riding on this anniversary dinner. You know that business hasn’t been...

*

LUZ Sure.

RITA And there’s some stuff going on with the bank. This dinner really needs to go well. We’ve invited like, everyone. We’re bringing all the regulars back. The old crowd. The press.

That’s why we’re doing a full tasting menu. And there’s a journalist coming from the Tribune tomorrow to do a profile of him and the anniversary. It’s a lot, I know. But... I wish he would just sleep and take his meds and keep up with his appointments, because I can handle the work, like, I can handle...

*

LUZ You gotta take care of yourself.

RITA Me? LUZ The thing that happens, when you start becoming a caretaker? You drop to the bottom of your priority list. Especially women. We do this to ourselves all the time.

RITA A caretaker! He’s not even letting me hold a knife for him. (wiping down a counter furiously) Like this whole Magaz thing. Like if he’d just listen to me. The last time someone ordered Magaz Kheema, it was a bunch of drunk frat boys who rolled in right after the kitchen closed and looked at the menu and one of them screamed I’ll have the TEMPLE OF DOOOM!!! Had to kick them out all by myself.

LUZ Is that the Indiana Jones movie?

RITA You haven’t seen Temple of Doom?

LUZ Nah.

*

10.

RITA It’s crazy racist. I mean like, insanely offensive. But Kate Capshaw looked hot as hell all tied up for her human sacrifice. Between her and Princess Leia in a slave costume I never stood a chance.

Luz shoots her a quick grin.

LUZ Is that when you ‘knew’?

RITA It should have been. I was a bit slow, though. I guess I still am.

They look at each other. Luz looks away. Rita starts helping Luz with the laundry.

RITA Listen. Are we cool?

LUZ Yeah. Of course.

RITA (pause) For real?

LUZ Yeah.

RITA I’m just kind of following your lead. You haven’t really - we haven’t talked about what happened LUZ It’s fine. It was fun. We work really hard. If we didn’t get ourselves off once in a while RITA Yeah, but I’m like technically your boss and wait, it was fun? It was - it was good for you?

LUZ Yeah.

I got good news yesterday, and you helped me celebrate. So. We’re cool.

*