A neighborhood's future. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A cat’s drawn-out meow cuts through the squawking of chickens. These sounds, typical of Old Delhi, recede as the empty yard fills. The morning assembly at Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya (SKV) school No. 2, Zeenat Mahal, Lal Kuan, begins with a drumbeat. In January 2013, the girls-only school made a fleeting appearance in a leading daily when it was selected for the annual Times of India Social Impact Award—because it “had gone from being one of the worst government schools not long ago to achieving 100% pass results for the last five years”. All the 1,246 students are Muslim and come from the Walled City. This Urdu-medium school not only mirrors the academic merits of