In an examination hall, a professor sits idle for three hours, counting strange things like chairs, number of fans, ink pens and ball pens. Bored, he decides to quit his job until he meets a watchman who has been sitting idle outside an office for 30 years. Yet, he wants his son to follow his footsteps as it brings a fixed salary. Perplexed, the professor leaves the school premises. This is the plot of Oob, one of the satirical shorts penned by the famous writer, Bhisham Sahni. As a birth centenary tribute to Sahni (born on August 8, 1915), Kopal Theatre will present a staging of his short stories at National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), this weekend.

Naseeruddin Shah rehearsing for Sahni’s short story, Samadhi Bhai Ramsingh