Ajitabh Sengupta (above) plays Ghazanfer Hussain, an old man who has Alzheimer’s disease and who believes Pakistan was created just yesterday and is do kadam door (two steps away). During the rehearsal, as Alam moved chairs to clear the way for Sengupta, he said, “I want to convey two ideas through this play. One is the supposed centrality of Pakistan for Muslims of the subcontinent. Two, the title is satirical. Since Pakistan is a necessary evil for Indian Muslims today, we dismiss the idea by saying Rahe Naam Pakistan Ka.” Alam said he was also attempting to plug the holes in the recorded history of Partition: “Pakistan’s creation is always seen from a political and religious angle. My idea is to look at the non-academic, apolitical accounts which don’t find mention in history books.”