Himangshu Prasad Das (standing) and Pranami Bora (sitting) enact the drama on a bus on Wednesday. Picture by Eastern Projections

June 27: Dipen Bora, a pot-bellied, middle-aged man officer-goer was dozing in the bus when a girl’s voice woke him up. To his utter amazement he found a young couple fighting openly in full view of passengers.

The trigger was the girl bringing up marriage and insisting that he find a decent job and meet her parents to ask for her hand.

“Well, get a job first,” screamed the girl. “I don’t care how but get it.”

“What am I supposed to do? Rob a bank? Steal?”

A few more arguments later, the boy suddenly turned towards the passengers and asked for contributions so that he could bribe somebody to get a job. In all, he would require Rs 5 lakh.

When the boy actually held out his palm, Dipen Bora fished in his pocket for a fiver. The man sitting next to him gawked. The young college students didn’t know how to react.

Then reality dawned when the couple broke into a laugh and told the astonished passengers that they were modern-day lovers enacting a scene from a short play Aey Sohoror Romeo Juliet. The play, conceptualised, designed and directed by Himangshu Prasad Das and Pranami Bora, students of the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi, highlights unemployment.

From Chandmari to Noonmati, Kachari to Khanapara — this entire 20-minute “scene” was enacted again and again on different buses plying on different routes, taking the commuters completely by surprise.

In fact, Das and Bora played the “impromptu” roles of Romeo and Juliet with such brilliance that the passengers had no inkling that the argument between the lovers was “staged”. And what followed was a thunderous applause after every performance.

“Unemployment among educated youths has become a major cause of concern for the state. Educated youths lack proper avenues. So, many have resorted to bribing in order to get hold of a plum job. The play is a satire on the current state of affairs in our society,” said Das, a third year student at NSD and a native of Mirza, on the outskirts of the city.

Asked as to why they chose such an unusual “proscenium” to stage their play, Das said buses are the lifeline of the city used by a majority of the people.

“The idea was new and unique. Many in the drama fraternity were sceptical when they heard of our idea for the first time. But we are happy and satisfied after today’s performance. We have succeeded in passing on the message to the masses. At times we were even told off by a few commuters and bus conductors. But when the play ended and the mystery was revealed, all laughed and applauded us,” said Bora, a second year student at NSD.

“It was a complete surprise for me. I took both of them to be usual lovers arguing over marriage. But when they told the audience that they were staging a play, the idea simply touched my heart. It was a nice way of spreading awareness against the bribe culture prevalent in our society. I thoroughly enjoyed the play,” said Meghali Deka, a schoolteacher, who saw the new-age Romeo and Juliet perform on her way home to Dispur.