By R. Paul Dhillon – Editor DESIBUZZCanada

When the ancient Greeks invented the art form called the Stage Play – it was meant to put the real face of society in front of itself like a mirror that reflects the truth. And a good, well written play’s aim has always been that.

And  WEEDS – Ik Sureeli Taan Da Vahda -adapted from Harpreet Sekha’s story Weeds- by KP Singh and staged by director JasKaran with Presentation by Thespis Club Surrey at Delta Rec Centre – does exactly what the great Greek artists intended by putting out the ugly, dark truth of current Indo-Canadian society where a nexus of greedy unethical media, immigration devils and sordid businesses, everything from sweet shops, restaurants and the like are pillaging, raping and sucking dry international students and other wanna-be immigrants to Canada, who are also not innocent and have thrown themselves knowingly into this Devil’s pit and now must pay the price with money, young women with their bodies and others who get thrown into the fire via suicide, accidents, crime, murder etc. 

It’s a vicious circle with no clear way out and those who make it will suffer the trauma for years to come.

The play focuses on a typical local Radio station which got its license by begging the community to help them get it from CRTC (everyone knows who this station might be) and are now actively trying to hide the truth of abuse and power play by businesses who give ADs to the station as a form of protection racket so the station is too busy pushing what the advertiser wants while committing ethical genocide by blocking their journalists and talk show hosts from telling the truth. 

In the play, the lead news director quits because station Boss won’t let her tell the absolute horror stories of local Indian students and other abuses because its either about their big advertisers like Promise Immigration or it will harm their own business. It’s money over journalistic ethics. 

As a working journalist with over 25 years in the business and been editor of all local magazines and newspapers, I know all about this but I wrote what I wanted and what was the truth and continue to do so in our publications DESIBUZZCanada and DESIBUZZbc and always will stand up for the truth. 

The traditional Indo-Canadian media -radio, newspapers (print) and tv – are all dead and now you get the truth instantly on social media and apps like WhatsApp are changing the flow of information drastically. 

But the ethical dilemma presented in WEEDS – Ik Sureeli Taan Da Vahda remains and the community has to call out those who protect the corrupt, wicked and bad actors. The Weeds analogy from the Sekha story is effectively used by the playwright that if weeds are not dealt with in time, they will destroy the entire grass and similarly if media is not doing its job in exposing the truth, it will destroy the community.

Interestingly – the play was supported financially by Sukhi Bath motors, a business that has done a lot of advertising but believes in social causes – and the director JasKaran is a radio and broadcast host and journalist.