Into a newsstand person’s soul.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

While his family is known by all as Buttonwale because of a shop specialising in buttons, Amir bhai himself administers the family’s other business, here in Old Delhi’s Pahari Rajaan, just beside Bhai Rajjo’s grocery. An electrician, he mends household appliances. Other than his usual customers crowding the repair shop with faulty toasters and mixies (and even handbags with dysfunctional zips!), the friendly man also draws the neighbourhood’s idle folks itching for timepass gupshup. This humid afternoon, he agrees to become a part of our Proust Questionnaire series, in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences.

The natural talent you’d like to be gifted with.
Ability to fly, so that I don’t have to deal with the great crowds of Old Delhi streets, and I could simply soar above the roofs when I have to go from this gali to that gali.

Your main fault.
I smoke 10 cigarettes daily.

What would be your greatest misfortune?
It has already happened. Deaths of my mother and father. And also the fact that they went away before seeing my shaadi (wedding).

Your favourite occupation.
Talking with wife Hadiya.

Your idea of happiness.
When I’m in the Sunder Nursery gardens, surrounded by grass, flowers, and trees.

If not yourself, who would you be?
A government employee.

Where would you like to live?
Sunder Nagar, It is posh, it has silence.

Your favourite colour.
I have two favourites—Black and white.

Your heroes in real life.
My late father, Mister Muhammed Zaheer. He struggled a lot, rising in life on his own from the level of zero to the level of hundred.

Your favourite names.
Muhammed, Ibrahim, and Isa, which is the name of my son.

What do you hate the most?
Ladai-jhagde (fights and squabbles).

The military event you admire the most.
I don’t like wars, but I like to watch fighter jets in the sky.

What is your present state of mind?
I’m thinking of visiting my parents’ graves this evening in Dilli Gate Qabristan.

Faults for which you have the most tolerance.
Customers’ khit-khit.

Your motto in life.
Follow the responsibilities, and follow them fully.