Safdar is one of the main organisers of the biggest anti-communal campaign — in 1984 — in the history of Delhi. He also begins working in television, just as the video revolution begins in India. He writes his most popular work, the song 'Padhna Likhna Seekho'.

Janam tries to write a play on caste – and fails. Safdar begins writing for children; he writes plays and poems, including the well-known song, Kitaben, on the joys of reading.

Janam actors are a colourful bunch. Safdar plays a catalyst’s role in getting Ritwik Ghatak’s films to the world. A spectator recalls her first experience of watching a street play. Street theatre spreads rapidly through the country.
Guest starring Amruta Subhash.

Janam’s street plays are a hit. Audiences are gobsmacked by this new type of theatre. Safdar starts thinking about the theory of street theatre. In Karnataka, Samudaya pioneers street theatre.

Janam is formed in 1973, and the Emergency is declared in 1975. Safdar leaves Delhi, and falls in love. Moloyashree and Safdar get married in 1979.

How Safdar, like the proverbial grasshopper, joined college only one year after his brother, elder to him by four years. How resistance brewed in a coffee cup. How Safdar and others revived IPTA, and were thrown out of it.

Summer, 1987. The young narrator joins Janam and makes a disastrous debut in street theatre. And then discovers that he is a disaster at pretty much everything he tries his hand at. Safdar watches, amused.

January 2, 1989: Safdar dies; January 3: Thousands bid him goodbye, in anger and rage; January 4: Janam returns to the site of the attack to complete the interrupted play, led by Moloyashree.

January 1, 1989. Safdar is grievously injured in the attack. Three Janam actors move him from hospital to hospital, to try and save his life. The others escape, or hide. Among them is Moloyashree, Safdar’s wife.

January 1, 1989. A crisp, sunny, winter day, perfect for street theatre. The play is disrupted by a procession. It seems a small enough matter — but isn't.