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Theatre actor Cyrus Dastur's narrow escapes from near death situations poses the security question

Destiny is forgiving. Sometimes. Other times, an evening out to your favourite coffee place could turn out to be a horror that you can never escape from. In that regard, death and destiny share a relationship that blows hot and cold. You could be in a situation that turns fatal but as an individual you may not be a victim of the fatality. Cyrus Dastur's destiny has been kind enough to lead him to the dark corners that death often frequents but he hasn't come to be introduced to its counterpart as yet.

I met him at a time when the city was fraught with tension and still trying to breathe normally after the asthmatic terror attack that brought the city's integral systems to a standstill. He was apprehensive, telling me soon after that he felt like he was taking his chances once again. In a country, where safety has become a joke, he strongly says that politicians should go beyond their usual "cabinet meetings and talks" to do something. Actions, not words, are the need of the moment.

The first time that Cyrus gave death the slip, he was in Delhi for the screening of his play, When God Said Cheers!! On October 5, 2005, he was on the 19th floor of a Gurgaon hotel when an earthquake shook the building to its foundations. Luckily, there were no fatalities. He thought if it was an omen since his play was opening to audiences two weeks from then.

He went ahead with it and returned for its daily performances over a week from October 27 to 30. On October 29, Cyrus and a friend ventured out to the bustling Sarojini Nagar market for an evening stroll. His friend was insistent that they have juice from a certain place called Shyam Juice Centre but Cyrus thought the stall had sub-standard hygiene and insisted they go to Pizza Hut at Connaught Place.

On their way back, they started getting calls from friends and family asking them of their whereabouts. He was then told that soon after they had left the market, there were a series of bombings, one at Sarojini Market that put the death toll at 43. "The hardest part was that we had to put up the play in the same evening. I was required to deliver my dialogues in a lighter vein as the play demanded it. It was difficult to do that when we were still shaken up."

Late in the evening, on November 26, Cyrus attended a friend's art show at Kitab Mahal from where he went to CST to drop a friend who stays in Dombivili. Having done that, he headed towards Bade Miya (for takeaway food) just behind Colaba's emblematic Leopold Café. Having cancelled a plan to watch a movie at Metro Cinema, he went home instead. And then the calls came again, asking about his well being and safety.

"It was a déjà vu of sorts. And to think that I was at the Trident the evening before! In a way, you feel guilty of having survived it all when you think of all those didn't. It's like, we shared the same moments in time with just a few seconds here and there that differed and things changed so much."

Cyrus says that life has changed for him since the Delhi incident in tangible ways. "I have become a more expressive person. I think if this is my last chance of expressing something to another, I shouldn't let it go. Safety is just a myth nowadays."

Asked if he feels like a cat with nine lives, he says with a smile, "Well then, I have exhausted two chances. I must not push it too far!"

Pic/Narendra Dangiya
Location courtesy: Crossword bookstore, Kemps Corner