Safar - The Journey, is a tale of exodus from imaginary homelands and of perpetual, irrepressible longing for such paradises lost. Writer, Director, actor Pervaiz Alam weaves a haunting tapestry that unfolds the saga of double dislocation, hence double the pain - albeit one merely empathised while the other survived.

Woven through the personality of the protagonist Vishal - descendent of a Hindu family that migrates from the Pakistani Punjab to India when the country strikes a "tryst with destiny" in 1947 - is the golden thread of memories. Memories that are not entirely his own, but of his parents; memories of a paradise lost. Vishal is an heir to his ancestors' trauma, a legatee of the pain that runs like the thickest thread in the tapestry of his being. In the debris of these shattered dreams lurk demons that visit him, haunt him at every turn of the play. He's a man swamped by history.

Vishal's own outward dislocation from his twice-removed imaginary homeland, ushers a new journey within as he arrives in England.

Here he meets up with the two corners of what forms a lasting triangle of his life that continues to veer seamlessly from reality to haze, and from dream to reality. Seema, played by Hina Baxi, the first acquaintance, hails from Benaras. Young and enterprising, her story cuts right through the ideological clutter that fogs Vishal's genius.For her, her flight from her homeland is a route that elevates her above the archaic mumbo-jumbo of stifling traditions; it's her chance to dump her cross in the sacred river, and swap it for a sparkling new life lead by an engaged ambition. She has blown away the burden of any such irritant residual delusions of her previous life that vex Vishal. The third corner of this triangle is ebullient, Tariq played by KK Tandon, a Pakistani immigrant completely surrendered to a lifetime of 'so whatism.'

With the inter-play of past, present and future with psychology of the three individuals the stage is set for a fascinating, striking and disquieting tug of war of ideas, survival and indeed, emotion.

Occasionally, 'Safar' defies all conventions, takes risks that almost knock the breath from you and emerges as a masterpiece that haunts the memory.

Pervaiz Alam gives a disturbingly accurate performance as the man swamped by history. KK Tandon and Hina Baxi excel in their grim realism that evokes the tensions and tragedy of the time with powerful
directness.

Despite a historical context to the subject, the playwright succeeds in creating a psychological time and space within which the conflict between fear and the basic human need for bonding and love is acted out. The play contains strong language of sexual nature.