THE CONSCIENCE KEEPERS: Anwar Ali and Durjoy Guha at the vigil. Pictures by Sanat Kumar Sinha

Where did Anwar Ali spend Id? Standing on the pavement in front of St Xavier’s College, from dawn to midnight, and not at home with his wife and two-year-old daughter.

How did Durjoy Guha spend Saptami? Standing in the rain opposite Park Street police station, holding an umbrella over the photograph of a man he never knew. Not at his para puja with wife and 21-year-old daughter.

Durjoy, 55, and Anwar, 37, had taken it upon themselves to keep the candle burning for justice from September 28, a week after Rizwanur Rahman was found dead.

Volunteers and visitors have come and gone, but these two — strangers till last month — have soldiered on, refusing to budge from what they call The Shrine, steadfast in their demand for truth and justice.

“We have to sacrifice something to achieve something,” said Beckbagan boy Anwar, explaining why he did not celebrate Id on Sunday and why he turned up in front of Xaviers early in the morning and stayed put till midnight, 21 days on the trot.

Durjoy, his comrade in arms and “elder brother”, had no plans to take a break during the Puja days, till the decision to end the vigil was taken on Saptami. “My daughter may be missing me at home, but I’m doing this for her generation,” stressed Durjoy, a resident of Mayfair Road.

The two have emerged out of nowhere — till the vigil started, Durjoy was spending his days at his petrol pump on SN Banerjee Road, while Anwar was taking a break from teaching accountancy and business — as the conscience-keepers of Calcutta.

What has kept them going? “The amazing response from the people of Calcutta. How can we leave the vigil when every minute there are people stopping to light a candle, sign on the protest pages and urge us to carry on?” demanded Durjoy. “Close to 50,000 people have come forward to support the cause and encourage us,” added Anwar.

What had started as a candlelight congregation by a few, soon became a silent conflagration of a multitude. “This is the first spontaneous, non-political protest platform that the city has seen in ages and it has given the powers-that-be a real taste of people power,” felt both Durjoy and Anwar.

The duo’s role has ranged from the mighty to the mundane, from mobilising popular support to keeping The Shrine clean and quiet. They have regularly wielded a broomstick and spade to clear the litter and scrape off the wax. And every day, they have distributed the food donated by the supporters among students and the destitute.

“We wonder what we will do after the vigil ends this midnight,” smiled the tireless twosome on Thursday evening. “For three weeks, this has been our world.”

The CBI probe and the action against top cops are definite goals that have been achieved by the people’s movement on Park Street. But for Durjoy and Anwar, their selfless struggle would be worth it if the message that rises from the candles of conscience is: “Let no one say that we the people can’t do anything; we can and we will.”