Glimpses of an iconic citizen.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

A familiar figure in turban and tie, Charanjeet Singh, 80, is the longtime face of Wenger’s. The Connaught Place confectionary traces its inception to 1924, and the genial gent has been with it since 1965 (the young diploma holder from Khanna in Punjab arrived in Delhi in 1962, worked as a shift-in-charge at the Imperial hotel before being hired as a resident engineer for the cake shop’s then newly imported air-conditioning plant. He retired as a manager in 2004, but continues to work in his beloved workplace!).

Over the decades, more than one generation of Delhiwale have accumulated fond memories of their cake shop chitchat with the soft-spoken “Sardarji.” He is always sighted behind the “advance counter,” at the confectionary’s far end, his face exuding kindness and serenity. Encounters with him could be as fleeting as an exchange of “namaste-ji,” or as elaborate as the sorting out of some complicated detail on a birthday cake order. To hear him talk is like being transported into that long-ago time when the world was rumoured to be less rude. 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. He is seen here with colleagues Kanta Prasad, Ramesh Singh, Ashok, Kamleshwar Prasad, Salil Das, and Mohit.

The principal aspect of your personality.
I talk to others with love, and try to make the person I’m talking to feel nice.

Your main fault.
I get easily impressed.

Your favorite occupation.
To always work, to never retire.

What do you appreciate the most in your friends?
The ability to speak truth, to talk properly, to be neat and clean.

Your idea of happiness.
When the person in front of me is speaking to me, or to anybody else, with love and respect.

What would be your greatest misfortune?
Whatever God does wil be ok.

If not yourself, who would you be?
Army man.

Your heroes/heroines in real life
Saravjeet Kaur, my wife.

Your favorite food and drink
Rajma-chawal, and any paneer dish. Limca.

Faults for which you have the most tolerance.
I feel sad if somebody talks rudely to me, but I forgive.

Your motto in life.
Always feeling grateful to God.