Indra

Artistic interpretation by Riley Logan (@genderbinaryisforlosers on tumblr)

### Known Physical Features

Star-shaped tattoo on her left pinkie, damselfly tattoo in unknown place, numerous piercings

## Voice

### First Heard

Season 5, Episode #1: March 2008

**Indra** is the narrator of the fifth season of Within the Wires. She left messages for Nan on an answerphone over ten episodes, spanning their ten-year acquaintance.

> *"I was so sure that I’d be some kind of brilliant protest artist. The unchained voice of dissent in this Society. Maybe I am. It’s not as simple as you think it is when you’re a twenty-three year old idiot idealist."* **--Indra in *Episode #1: March 2008***
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## Biography

### Early Life

At the childhood centre where Indra grew up, she was recommended a career in "communications", writing press releases or other PR roles. She rejected their suggestion to become an actress and director instead.

When Indra was 22, she dated Chunhua. At some point in their relationship, they travelled together to the Catskills and saw Kaaterskill Falls. Although it was a popular tourist spot, Indra felt as if they were exploring a forgotten world, and Chunhua wrote the poem "Rainbow Dust" from the memory of the waterfall. Indra later believed it described their relationship with its intangible, superficial beauty, and that Chunhua felt she couldn't connect to her on a deeper level. Indra and Chunhua were both members of Gorgeous Watkins, an amateur theatre group that also contained Sophie Tennant, Orisa, Liv, Chunhua, and Heather.

### Meeting Nan

Indra met Nan in March 1997, after she stayed back to talk to her after a Gorgeous Watkins performance. Indra took an immediate liking to Nan, and left her several drunken voicemails at 4 o'clock in the morning. She read her some poetry she had written, and had had notes prepared for the phone calls. Nan called back two days later with a much more succinct and sober message saying that she would love to meet up. The two began dating which the other members of Gorgeous Watkins, particularly Chunhua, objected to on the basis of her working for the government, which their theatre group was allegedly attempting to criticise and undermine. On the whole, Indra's friends did not get on with Nan, and Indra often found herself trying to play peacemaker when they all spent time together.

In 1997, Chunhua was cast in a production directed by Indra. By October, Indra regretted the casting, as it had become an issue. During one rehearsal, Chunhua stormed out, and Indra had to call her and leave a voicemail to try and get her to come back. When Indra and Nan moved in together in 1999, Indra did not invite Chunhua to their housewarming party out of fears that Nan was jealous, and this caused an argument, because Indra did not tell Chunhua about the party until after it happened. In July, Chunhua's birthday celebration consisted of the entire cast and crew of the latest Gorgeous Watkins production going out for drinks together.

In July 1999, Indra had recently moved into a flat with Nan and the two were getting used to living with each other. They preferred different handsoaps, and Indra often substituted items on their shopping list for things that caught her eye, frustrating Gwen's cooking plans.

In September 2001, Indra went to Glasgow with Chunhua, Liv, and Sophie to go to a salon Liv was doing. In January 2002, Indra called Chunhua from Bath to tell her about a cafe with "Chunhua energy" but abruptly hung up when she started to reminisce about the old days and once again begin to imagine a future with Chunhua, despite still being with Nan.

One night in 2000 or 2001, after a performance which about 8 people attended, including Trish Geddings (Liv's girlfriend) and Nan, the group went out to the pub. The bartender served them doubles for singles and they all got very drunk, to the point that upon exiting the bar, Liv attempted to steal a motorbike adorned with Society flags. The owner of the bike exited the bar across the street and starting shouting that he was going to have her arrested. Nan proceeded to de-escalate the situation, winning a great deal of admiration from Indra.

### Breakup

In January of 2002, Indra, starting to feel suspicious of Nan after finding a letter addressed to Gwen Nettles in their home, took a trip to Bath which was apparently on invitation from a local theatre company but actually was sought out specifically to get away, on Indra's later admission. By March 2002, Indra had broken up with Nan after she accused her of surveilling Gorgeous Watkins for the IID. Despite her own intense anger, Indra believed that Nan would get over the breakup quickly, and was offended at her failure to attempt to defend herself or explain her actions. On her own end, she had several imagined arguments with Nan while drunk and/or in the shower, which only made her more angry, and she called Nan several times to express this.

### Settling Down

Gorgeous Watkins also broke up at some point between 2002 and August 2003. Liv and Indra caught up and contemplated starting a new theatre company, but the next night she had disconnected her phone and vacated her apartment, not telling any of their friends where she was going. Indra suspected that she was pregnant and wanted to keep the baby, so had decided to go and look for somewhere to go off the grid. She didn't have any proof of this, though.

In 2003, Indra was offered a job in Norwich as "not-quite Artistic Director" in a theatre company called The Chapel in Norwich. She was chosen based on her experience with "guerrilla theatre" and the fresh approach and perspective she could bring to the company to stop it going under. While moving out of her old flat, she found a number of things of Nan's and called around her friends and acquaintances to see if it belonged to any of them, before finally relenting and calling Nan. In September, she moved to Norwich. Her original plan was to stay for a year and then return to her old city, but ended up staying long-term. She took a part-time job teaching theatre to post-graduates at a university, and continued to direct. She also got married to Helen, who was an engineer.

She wrote and directed a play that was a departure from her old work - it had characters, a plot, and was not deliberately obtuse. Its subject was betrayal in a relationship. It sold out the whole season, got excellent reviews, and even won a local award.

In March 2008, Trish came to Indra's office at the university and greeted her like an old friend, although Indra didn't recognise her. After Indra embarrassed herself thinking she was Heather, they caught up and Trish told Indra that years after they had dated, Liv and Trish had a fight when Liv became pregnant, confirming suspicions that Indra had in 2003, and then she moved away. She sent a letter to Trish from Oslo, and then lost contact. Trish believed she was trying to find the Cradle. Indra decided to look into the Cradle more, since one of her students was working on a piece about them as well. She later called Nan about the incident, and expressed an interest in talking with her again, saying, "It's been two years, Nan. I miss you."

## Additional info

* The name "Indra" comes from the Sanskrit "indu" and "ra" meaning "possessing drops of rain". Indra is also the name of the Hindu god of sky and rain. The name "Indrani" means "queen of Indra" and is a Hindu goddess of jealousy and beauty.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Season 5, Episode #6: July 1999
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Season 5, Episode #3: March 2002
3. ↑ Season 5, Episode #10: March 1997
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Season 5, Episode #1: March 2008
5. ↑ Season 5, Episode #7: October 1997
6. ↑ Season 5, Episode #5: September 2001
7. ↑ Season 5, Episode #4: January 2002
8. ↑ Season 5, Episode #2: September 2003