One of the one percent in 13 million.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

We all start by being young. If we are lucky enough to live long, then at some point in our life, strangers on the streets start to address us as “uncle” or “aunty.” The ruder among these strangers might even call us “bhudda” or “bhudiya.”

And here in zila Ghaziabad’s Indirapuram Sector 2, a roadside eatery calls itself Budhiya Dhaba. The modest establishment is administered by a… well, the woman says she is the “budhiya” of Budhiya Dhaba.

The friendly lady is as endearing as an affectionate relative one might meet in a family wedding. She actually goes by the name of Shanti Devi. Shrugging at the unusual name of her business, she says, “What to say.” A smile breaks over her lips.

Shanti Devi set up the eatery two years ago. It was her husband who named it so without first checking with her, she says, sitting this quiet afternoon on the dhaba’s wooden cot. “Since your uncle had already got the banner printed, I thought let it be.” Following a brief pause, she says, her knee scrunched up under her chin, “The name isn’t misleading. I’m no longer young, I have crossed 50.”

Shanti Devi used to operate a tea stall in Rahul Vihar, where she has her house. “I thought this area has scope for better earnings, so I closed the chai stall and opened the dhaba.”

In the eatery, Shanti Devi alone does the entire cooking from start to end. A lunch thali comprises of dal, subzi, four rotis, rice and an onion-mooli salad. Dal and subzi change daily; today it is aloo-shimla mirch and moong masoor. “Already two, and only one diner came so far,” she says.

The dhaba’s clientele comprises of labourers working in the vicinity. “In the winter, most labourers go back to their villages… I’m waiting for the season to end,” Shanti Devi says. Her husband, Sarvesh, a tempo driver, is currently down with fever. Her son, Lalit, used to drive a cab, and is searching for a job.

Minutes later, a young man enters. Shanti Devi addresses the day’s second diner as “beta” and starts making rotis. “Beta, after so many days… everything fine at home?”

Soon the thali is served. The customer carries it outside, settling down on a string cot, under the nicely warm sun. Meanwhile, Shanti Devi graciously agrees to pose for a portrait beside her eatery’s banner. See photo.

[This is the 604th portrait of Mission Delhi project]