India, May 25 -- In the municipal hustle of metropolises, one often runs into people who stand out for the simple fact that they are above the conventional seductions that motivate most other people. The majority are overwhelmed by the daily vicissitudes of living, or pursuing the same goals of money, power, consumerism or winning the rat race of success. But there are some who live in their own world, of trying to do something different, of pursuing an unusual creativity, of being above normal considerations of cost and benefit, of being, in short, possessed by the passion of a different yardstick of satisfaction.

One couple that I have come to know recently in Delhi, who typifies this difference are Sanjay and Shampa Sircar Das. They a...