Clockwise (from top left): Milan, Sudip, Raja, Saroj, Alok and Somnath. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Saroj wants to become Shah Rukh Khan. Friend Alok idolises Amitabh Bachchan. Raja sees himself as a future math teacher and Milan has his sights set on joining the army.

All residents of shanties in the Keshtopur-Dum Dum Park area, these adolescents are part of a proud group that has the unique distinction of being invited for two years in a row to the International Children?s Theatre Festival in Delhi, organised by a UNESCO group.

Back from their second Delhi sojourn with the production Ekta Mather Janyo, on Monday, the group of seven from Eso Natok Sikhi, a theatre training centre, was bubbling with ideas from the new friends they made, inspiration drawn from varied experiences they had and fond memories of the fun times they lived.

?Our performance, which followed a production from Uttaranchal, was on the second day of our visit,? said the eldest of the troupe, Sudip Sinha, 16. ?It was amazing to meet new people and watch them perform. We made friends from Lithuania, Bangladesh, Russia and many states of India.?

Replete with success of the first National Children?s Theatre Festival that the organisation conducted earlier this year, the members? enthusiasm has taken them all the way from Calcutta to Manipur, Hyderabad, Cuttack, Kochi and Delhi for performances.

Their ?sir? Tapas Das, trainer and president of Eso Natok Sikhi, said: ?I have been working with these children for years now. Most of their parents are daily wage-earners or domestic helps or unemployed. Most of them hate the idea of studying and would do anything to shirk it.?

He added: ?Here, at the centre, they have fun while rehearsing or travelling as part of assignments. This is a break from their bleak lives that also lets them hone their histrionic skills.?

As Saroj Mondal put it: ?We watched performances by all the other groups and tried to learn from them. But the most fun part was doing everything together for over five days? from the train journey to dancing on the hotel terrace with festival participants from Bangladesh.?

Somnath Dhali, 14, who can?t get over the Tomar Dekha Nai Re jig that he wowed his new friends with, summed it all up: ?Why do all good times have to end? We wish we can do it again.?