Mission Delhi – Shri Om Dhama, Connaught Place

Mission Delhi – Shri Om Dhama, Connaught Place

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Three hours ago Mummy made him paratha served with dahi and a glass of milk. He never drinks tea or any other adult drink. Now…

Mission Delhi - Deepak Kumar, Outside Vidha Sabha Metro Station

Mission Delhi – Deepak Kumar, Outside Vidha Sabha Metro Station

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla can’t cycle more than 30 minutes on an exercise bike, but rickshaw pullers somehow manage constant pedalling day in, day out. What’s…

Mission Delhi - Salma Sultan, Jangpura

Mission Delhi – Salma Sultan, Jangpura

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Salma Sultan hasn’t changed at all, down to the famous red rose tucked gloriously in her bun. The famous Doordarshan newsreader stopped reading TV news…

Mission Delhi – Meer Chand, Munirika

Mission Delhi – Meer Chand, Munirika

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He looks a bit like Derek Walcott. He has the same white hair, the same moustache, the same face cut as the Nobel-Prize winning Caribbean…

Mission Delhi - Soumya Singh, Auto Rickshaw

Mission Delhi – Soumya Singh, Auto Rickshaw

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Soumya Singh has big black eyes and a sunny smile. She doesn’t seem to be weighed down by life. It could be because she is…

Mission Delhi – Arshad Ali, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya's Dargah

Mission Delhi – Arshad Ali, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Dargah

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Sometimes the stuff you see in song-and-dance movies repeats itself in real life. In 2011, Hindi film Rockstar depicted its hero — a young Delhi…

Mission Delhi – Mirza Yaseen Beg, Midland Bookstore, Aurobindo Market

Mission Delhi – Mirza Yaseen Beg, Midland Bookstore, Aurobindo Market

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] They all have died. Almost all the legendary founders of Delhi’s great independent bookstores have left us. Anil Arora of now-extinct The Bookworm passed away…

Mission Delhi - Simona Anedda, Old Delhi

Mission Delhi – Simona Anedda, Old Delhi

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Most foreign tourists experience their fleeting glimpse of Old Delhi from behind the dust-free glass of their air-conditioned bus windows, with the bus circling the…

Mission Delhi – Elena Tommaseo, Lajpat Nagar

Mission Delhi – Elena Tommaseo, Lajpat Nagar

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is a white European woman in South Delhi. Her home, however, is not in places such as Jangpura, Hauz Khas Village, Defence Colony, Greater…

Mission Delhi - Salma, Lodhi Road

Mission Delhi – Salma, Lodhi Road

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She cuts quite a figure. A woman riding a cart all by herself — very often a little child is seen sitting on the cart…