Heart to heart: Vinay Mahajan and Charul Bharwada at a guest-house in Calcutta. Photo: Rashbehari Das

A man, a woman and poetry. That?s the team and its mission is to change society. Sounds clich?d? Not after you?ve met these ?socially aware? human beings ? Vinay Mahajan and Charul Bharwada, husband and wife, who?ve given the thumbs down to their corporate careers. Instead, they have taken up social activism. And verse is their weapon even though none of them is formally trained in the art.

At the helm of Loknaad ? a social forum they formed in 1998 ? Mahajan and Bharwada were in Calcutta last Friday to stage Insaan Hain Hum ? a play based on the communal violence and hatred that rocked the nation following the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.

In fact, December 6 has had a significant role to play in the lives of Mahajan and Bharwada. It was after the Babri debacle that the two decided to take the plunge into social work. Thus, Mahajan, an agricultural engineer and an IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus, and Bharwada, an architect, bid goodbye to their corporate jobs. ?But there was nothing dramatic about the decision,? explains Mahajan, slouching on the sofa at a south-Calcutta guest-house. ?And it wasn?t even a spur-of-the-moment thing. We?d been thinking about it for quite a while and we both thought that the time was just right for the change,?

For the first few years after quitting, the couple did very little. ?We had to do a little bit of freelancing as we had to survive. We spent most of our time exploring, in planning,? says Bharwada, who first met Mahajan at a cultural programme at IIM Ahmedabad. From day one, their wavelengths matched beautifully. They both discovered that their ideas and aspirations were very similar. ?It was a very different kind of a bonding. Unlike most other contemporaries, neither of us dreamt of a high-flying lifestyle or a five-figure salary. After all, how long can you go on selling soaps or designing buildings?? asks Mahajan.

Their first show, Insaan Hain Hum, was held at a jam-packed hall in Ahmedabad. ?We?d no idea of how people would react,? says Mahajan. ?We were just jumping into it. There were high court judges, lawyers, social activists and theatre people in the audience. Many of them came to meet us after the show and said they could actually feel the pain of those about whom we were talking. Theatre actors told us that they found it amazing that a play could be staged without costumes.? The songs in their productions are composed by Mahajan while Bharwada writes the script.

But did it take courage to chuck their jobs up for something as different as social work? Didn?t it involve a lot of sacrifice? ?Courage, maybe, but definitely no sacrifices,? iterate both the husband and the wife. ?If we?ve lost something, we?ve also gained amply, albeit in a different form ? appreciation, moral support and even ideas from common people whom we have reached through our plays. And that?s our success and we?re really glad that we didn?t stay in the corporate rat-race,? adds Mahajan.

While their plays took some time to come through, the duo decided to travel extensively. ?Travelling in Gujarat and also some other states was quite an eye-opener,? says Mahajan. ?We found that people in rural parts are not as unaware as we think them to be. Our experiences tell us that city-dwellers are much more ignorant of social realities. Take the instance of the 2002 riots in Gujarat. We were shocked to see that the locals were treating the violence casually. It seemed they couldn?t care less,? marvels Mahajan. ?One day, there would be riots and the next day people would carry on with their lives without even a murmur in protest,? adds Bharwada. ?We found that shocking. Surprisingly, we?ve received a fairly good response from villagers on certain issues ? child labour and poverty, for instance,? she says.

Thus, so far, travelling has been a part of their lives. It?s also often been very hectic. ?At times we are doing eight to nine shows in a row? it becomes very difficult to catch some sleep between shows and moving around. But on the whole, it?s a rewarding experience,? says Mahajan, who also admits that they have to go through months, at times, when they don?t come by even one performance.

Without regular jobs, Mahajan and Bharwada live on the little they earn through small-term research projects they do for various organisations. The couple also records its own songs on cassettes they produce by taking loans. Mercifully, none of them feels the pressure to fall in line with their contemporaries who are doing plum jobs in corporate offices. ?This is an experiment ? and it has 50-50 chances. Our families know that and even appreciate our work. That?s more than what we can ask for,? adds Mahajan. ?Initially, some of our friends found it hard to fathom why we were giving up our jobs for this. Then, they saw our point.?

Till now, the couple has staged more than 200 shows across the country. But there?s still a long way to go, they insist. The show has just begun.