The world has indeed become strange, hasn’t it? For most of us, childhood was filled with outdoor play, and rainy days offered the perfect excuse to curl up on the bed with a book or two. After all, that was ‘entertainment’. Some of us, who were even more voracious readers, would skip the outdoor play and stay up late at night challenging ourselves to gobble up book after book. But now, entertainment equals staring into the abyss that lies beyond our beloved ‘screens’. This is one of the realities that pains Capt SN Ahmed, a retired Army officer, author, and theatre enthusiast who has published a one-of-a-kind book called Das Paise ka Postcard.
“It is a collection of four fictional Hindi plays. I ardently love theatre and feel like people need to realise that apart from OTT and cinema, books and theatre are wonderful modes of entertainment,” he shares with CE.
While the plays are unrelated, the author reveals that each carries a special theme. The first play, which borrows the name of the book itself, underscores the importance of writing letters in an Army man’s life. “How many of us today get anxious when we see those blue ticks on WhatsApp? The need to receive an immediate reply is in stark contrast to the old days when there was no choice but to wait patiently for a letter to arrive,” Capt Ahmed says. His second play, Sandhya Tum Kahaan Ho, follows the story of an old man with Alzheimer’s searching for his daughter. The third play, Baasira Mata Ki Jai, is a humorous take on traditional values and family dynamics, specifically focusing on the importance of not wasting food. “The fourth, Doorbell, takes you into the life of a housewife, who is generally labelled by society as ‘free’ and someone who ‘doesn’t have challenges’,” explains the author.
Capt Ahmed is reluctant to choose his favourite play but eventually relents, chuckling when asked if it is the first play, Das Paise ka Postcard. Perhaps it is the Army theme that earns it a soft spot.
The child of an IAF officer, Capt Ahmed grew up in air force stations across the country. These stations were far away from the bustling cities, and as fascinating as that may seem to us city birds, he confesses that it was often lonely. “I coped by becoming a voracious reader, devouring any magazine or book that came my way,” recalls the author. But family tradition demanded that he follow in his father’s footsteps, and so, a young Ahmed joined the Army.
A great writer is born out of great learnings in life. And for Capt Ahmed, his time spent in the Army was full of lessons. He shares, “My first posting was at Siachen Glacier. Standing in that war zone, at over 22,000 ft above sea level, I understood the importance of life, how tough God has made us human beings. The temperatures fell to negatives, but we survived there, serving our motherland. I realised that if I can go through that, nothing can break me.”
But after six years, he knew he had to quench his thirst — for writing. Picking up the pen as his profession, he became a copywriter at an ad agency. During this time, he started acting in plays and went on to write some too. Neck-deep in his passion, he never looked back.
For Capt Ahmed, writing was a new chapter, one that unravelled beautifully in ’90s Hyderabad. He shares, “I came here over 30 years ago when the major places were Abids, Charminar, and Secunderabad. And then one day, Hitech City happened. After that, there was no looking back. The beauty was how we managed to attract big MNCs but never lost our culture. A friend once told me, ‘Ek baar Hyderabad ka paani pi liya, toh wapas aana hi padega’. And it has been absolutely true in my case — Hyderabad is my Karmabhoomi and in many ways, my Janmabhoomi too.”