One of the one percent in 13 million.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Every year his ageing umbrella helped him survive the wet monsoon months. The umbrella lately suffered from a slight cut in the middle.

Pavement barber Rameshwar Thakur have been administering his hajamat (shaving) stall for more than 35 years. It’ lies on the border between New Delhi and Old Delhi, near the historic Ramlila Maidan. The gentle-mannered gent had acquired the beloved umbrella years ago on the occasion of a family wedding. Being the souvenir of a cherished time, he found it difficult to let go of the torn umbrella. At one point, he had it mended by a pavement cobbler. That was a temporary relief.

Rameshwar Thakur bought the new umbrella some weeks ago for 130 rupees from Seeta Ram Bazar. It too is black, has the same size, and, as with the previous umbrella, it is installed atop a metal pole, which in turn is balanced atop two bricks. “This way the chhaata is high enough to shield my customer as well as me, and we both stay protected from the rain.” A majority of his regulars are the area’s rickshaw pullers, he says. Since the establishment doesn’t have a chair, the customers are obliged to sit cross-legged on the ground to get a shave.

The stall stands beside a cluster of dense peepal trees. That little oasis of shade stays cool even in the summer’s peak heat. Scores of rickshaw pullers lounge under the leafy trees during sweltering afternoons.. On waking up from their brief naps, a few of these pullers at timeswalk to Rameshwar Thakur’s stall for a shave.

The barber lives alone in a rented room in nearby Himmatgarh, while his family remains in their distant village in Bihar’s zila Poorvi Champaran. Truth be told, Rameshwar Thakur didn’t have to leave home to make a living. Hajamat is universal, and a hajamat stall will find customers in every place where there are men. “People have more money in Dilli,” he explains. “A barber’s daily earning here will always be a bit more than a barber’s daily earning in my zila… the little difference helps a lot.”

Moments later, Rameshwar Thakur’s friends join him for timepass gupshup—see photo.

[This is the 586th portrait of Mission Delhi project]