Mission Delhi – Sush Pal, Vaishali
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] At first glance, this auto-rickshaw driver in Vaishali in the Greater Delhi Region looks like somebody out of the post-gender age—where it’s politically incorrect to…
Mission Delhi – Raju, Bapu Niwas
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This small house is all he knows of MK Gandhi. “That takhat,” says Raju, pointing to a wooden bed, “is Gandhiji’s vishram-asan on which he…
Mission Delhi – Kishen Pal, Central Delhi
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Kishen Pal is a determined citizen. Losing his arm in a 1990 accident, he was no longer able to work as a truck driver. Instead…
Mission Delhi – Dharmaraj, Kamala Nehru Park, Gurgaon
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Daily wage labourer Dharmaraj is lying flat on the grassy ground of Gurgaon’s Kamala Nehru Park in the Greater Delhi Region, his feet bare, his…
Mission Delhi – Shiv Nath, Usmanpur
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This rickshaw puller regularly clips his fingernails with great care. But the nail on his right index finger is unusually long—and for understandable reason. “I…
Mission Delhi – Bhumani, Connaught Place
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Her name is rather unusual. Bhumani. “I don’t even know its meaning,” she confesses. The fruit seller, 60, has been a familiar face of this…
Mission Delhi – Rathore, Sector 15, Gurgaon
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Dark, cool, silent and shaded, it has become his refuge. Every afternoon, he migrates inside this little space and forgets the world. This is one…
Mission Delhi – Sakeena, Central Delhi
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Sakeena regards herself as a modern woman with specific reasons to back her claim. “I earn my own money,” says the lady, asserting that she…
Mission Delhi – Shahji, Fatehpuri Mosque
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] As an ascetic, Shahji—as he introduced himself—has but one main mission in life: meditating alone in an Old Delhi mosque, hours on end. The 80-year-old,…
Mission Delhi – Ram Lal, Gurgaon
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It sure is not his most precious possession. It certainly is the most eye-catching. “It’s my guthi,” says Ram Lal, taking out the pouch from…
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