Manjula Padmanabhans Harvest develops an absurd narrative

of the structure of representation and power in the contemporary

globalized culture. For Harvest allegorizes the relationship between the
First and Third Worlds, literalizing the fundamental practices of
globalization as its central dramatic situation: the Third World provides
the raw materials that the First World consumes for its own survival
and expansion (Wadsworth, 1725).
The relationship between the West and the East, which is
masterfully created by Padmanabhan, can be described in no other
way than parasitic. The West embodies this highly technological, welleducated, and forward thinking white savior archetype that has been
utilized throughout history to justify colonization across the Eastern
world. However, what Padmanabhan allows the audience to see is the
deterioration this First World standard of living inflicts upon Om and
his family, destroying their Indian lifestyle, values, and contentment
(Wadsworth, 1725). The West is not only portrayed, but the Western
view on the merits of the Eastern world and its inhabitants is literalized
in the InterPlanta Services, which remove the organs from Indian
citizens in order to sustain the lives of a Westerner. The raw materials,
which we think of in our reality as plant-based or animal-based
products, are redefined as the organs of the people living in the East.
These raw materials are the only element the Western world cares for,
and they will protect and spoil their goods until it is time for them to be
extracted.
However, the West is not the only force being examined in
Harvest, Padmanabhan takes a close look at the Eastern world and its
deterioration at the hands of the West. Om and his family represent the
various ways in which Easterners can attempt to survive this
colonization. Jeetu becomes the goods, used and disposed of without a
second thought. Om is reduced to the stereotype of the Easter world as
weak, cowardly, and passive attempting to hide from his duty to Ginni.
Ma assimilates and loses everything about her that is authentically and
inherently Indian, locked inside of the technological world of the West.
Finally, Jaya whose futile attempts at resistance represent the
opposition to colonization and the unavoidable failure that comes along
with such opposition. The family is reduced to nothing and yet the
world continues, the West keeps consuming and the East continues to
suffer at their greedy hands.
Manjula Padmanabhans Harvest is a striking piece of nonWestern theatre because it embodies elements of Eastern, particularly
Indian, culture while also examining the larger problem between East
and West. This piece of drama examines a global problem through a
particular lens and manages to capture that conflict in a striking and
thought-provoking way.