Harvest

A futuristic satire on the trade in live organs from the Third World to the West.Om, a young man is driven by unemployment to sell his body parts for cash. Guards arrive to make his home into a germ-free zone. When his brother Jeetu returns unexpectedly, he is taken away as the donor. Om can't accept this. Java, his wife, is left alone. Will she too be seduced into selling her body for use by the rich westerners?Harvest won first prize in the first Onassis Cultural Competition for Theatre and was premiered in Greek at the Teatro Texnis, Athens. It has also been performed by a youth theatre in the UK, broadcast by the BBC World Service and made into a feature film, directed by Govind Nihalani, titled Body, which was screened at the Regus London Film Festival. The play is also studied by many colleges and universities to explain how globalisation works.Manjula PadmanbhanBorn in Delhi to a diplomat family in 1953, she went to boarding school in her teenage years. After college, her determination to make her own way in life led to works in publishing and media-related fields.She won the Greek Onassis Award for her playHarvest. An award-winning filmDehamwas made byGovind Nihalanibased on the play.She has written one more powerful play,Lights Out!(1984),Hidden Firesis a series of monologues.The Artist's Model(1995) andSextetare her other works.(1996).She has also authored a collection of short stories, calledKleptomania. Her most recent book, published in 2008, isEscape.Apart from writing newspaper columns she created comic strips. She created Suki, an Indian comic character, which was serialized as a strip in theSunday Observer.Before 1997 (the year her playHarvestwas staged) she was better known as a cartoonist and had a daily cartoon strip inThe Pioneernewspaper.As playwright1984 - 'Lights Out'2003.Harvest. London: Aurora Metro Press.As Author and Illustrator2013.Three Virgins and Other StoriesNew Delhi, India: Zubaan Books.2015.Island of Lost Girls.Hachette.2011.I am different! Can you find me?Watertown, Mass: Charlesbridge Pub.2008.Escape. Hachette.2005.Unprincess!New Delhi: Puffin Books.1986.A Visit to the City MarketNew Delhi: National Book Trust2003.Mouse AttackAs IllustratorBaig, Tara Ali, and Manjula Padmanabhan. 1979.Indrani and the enchanted jungle.New Delhi: Thomson Press (India) Ltd.Maithily Jagannathan and Manjula Padmanabhan. 1984.Droopy dragon. New Delhi: Thomson Press.Comic Strips2005.Double talk. New Delhi: Penguin Books.