Kathmandu:

A play exploring the dark murky world of paedophilia was staged at Gurukul by SathSath in partnership with Youth Expression Forum and Rotaract Club of Lalitpur on November 18.

The play titled Aale, which is also an eponymous character, tells of the woes of children forced to find their fate on the streets. But the pathos of the story is made even more poignant as the story unfolds through the perspective of a newspaper editor.

The child finds himself coming to realise the rags to riches story when a foreigner named Mel comes to the child as a god-sent redeemer. However, it doesn’t take long for the redeemer to turn into a predator, even as he baits the child with the promise of good money.

The play progresses with the realistic portrayal of the nightmarish condition of street children and how they become victims of child molestation.

But even more frightening is how, despite knowing of their predicament, they succumb to the predators.

Further from the sight of the predators, an even more horrifying monster called ‘poverty’ stalks their lives.

Directed by Nawaraj Budathoki and written by Deepti KC, the play boasts of brilliant performances by child artistes Arun Karki, Sonam Tamang, Saroj Gole and KC herself, who convinces the audiences with no less authority, as a frustrated newspaper editor.

SathSath is an NGO that has been working with children living and working on the streets in Kathmandu, and has been instrumental in raising issues relating to street children time and again.