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"Years ago in Stockholm during my puppet theater studies I had read a famous children’s book Lotta fran Dosjobro by Max Lundgren and Fibben Hald… It had stayed with me and became the genesis of Aisha’s Journey,” wrote Delhi based, internationally renowned puppeteer Dadi Pudumjee in a note to Parsiana. He was referring to Aisha’s Journey, performed by the Ishara Puppet Theatre group which he founded.This show debuted on July 20, 2024 at the Experimental Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA). It was followed on the next day by another Ishara performance titled Be Yourself. 

As part of the NCPA’s Summer Fiesta, an annual children’s festival designed to inspire and empower young minds through performances and workshops, the two shows displayed the Interweaving of puppets, objects, actors, music and dance. Pudumjee and his troupe also conducted three interactive workshops for children, teaching them the basics of puppetry and how to craft their own characters. "Both shows are for young and old, equally enjoyable by a family, and have something for each of us, a message, animation, beautiful music and words to take home,” Pudumjee wrote.

In Aisha’s Journey, an original and contemporary performance of an Indian adaptation of the much loved Swedish children’s book, performers and puppeteers Sheel, Vivek Kumar and Shamsul provided interesting vignettes on the stage showcasing Indians from different walks of life. The central theme of the show was that God plans to make the sun disappear because humans do not take care of our world. Panicked, the adults do not know what to do. So little Aisha takes it upon herself to travel to the heavens and try to make God change His mind. 

Through a magical telescope the child sees the beauty as well as the horrors of mankind as perceived by God. He promises Aisha that He will lend the sun to earth for another 20 years in the hope that mankind will change its wayward ways. The show had moving characters, memorable music and colorful backdrops through which audiences were taught the meaning of life. The message that Pudumjee brings home in Aisha’s Journey is that the world today needs peace, joy and compassion more than ever before, and it’s in our own hands to take this forward. 

Ishara’s next presentation, Be Yourself, is an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen children’s classic, The Ugly Duckling, a reaffirming life lesson for all. Constantly made fun of because of his looks, the poor duckling runs away from home. We watch his adventures as he journeys to find his place in the world. The duckling encounters many animals and birds that are different from him. He tries to imitate them to become their friend, but fails each time and is mocked. Eventually the duckling understands that he needs to accept who he is as that is the key to happiness.

"Be Yourself was created with two things in mind: the issues of trying to be other than oneself, and peer pressure in schools,” wrote Pudumjee. It was meant to make young children understand the meaning of inner beauty. In the performance, scripted by Shankhajeet De with music by Deepak Castelino, puppeteers and actors Muskan Arora, T. Joshua Chin, Umang Gupta, Kumari Yadav and Vivek Kumar depicted powerful and meaningful images of life to an enchanted audience.

 At the end of the show, the audience learnt that each puppet was made from regional textiles of India, showcasing the beauty of Indian weavers from different states. "Hopefully in the future these textiles will be exhibited in the lobbies of theaters where we perform with a narration to their history and region,” Pudumjee noted. Members of the audience were encouraged to come up on stage to interact with the puppets and performers. 

Pudumjee’s themes are universal, making people smile and clap their hands in glee, but also forcing them to think about the times we live in and ponder the meaning of life. Having established Ishara in 1986, Pudumjee has brought serious social issues to the fore through their performances. Since 2007, in partnership with UNESCO, he and his troupe have performed over 100 interactive shows across Indian villages and cities, using puppets as a medium to spread awareness about AIDS and the evils of drug abuse.

Pudumjee is also the guiding force behind the Ishara International Puppet Theatre Festival, which is attended by thousands of visitors each year. The first non-European president of the international puppetry organization UNIMA (Union Internationale de la Marionnette), Pudumjee has discovered and taught generations of talented puppeteers and performers. For his contribution to the arts, he was awarded the Padma Shri in 2011 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1992, the highest recognition given to Indian performing artistes.

Writing about his plans for the future, Pudumjee shares, "Our next project at Ishara is on the life and times of the famous artist Amrita Sher-Gill. The challenge is in how we can present her brief but exuberant 28 years of life in the style that Ishara works in. Using puppets as a means and not an end in itself to tell a story, the show will have music, both folk and classical, from India and Hungary, the cities she lived and loved in, Lahore, Simla, Paris, Budapest and others. We look forward to support in this endeavor.”