The beautiful Delhi instant.

[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]

The Delhi Walla was walking one night in Mathura Road, central Delhi. I reached a pavement where a couple of homeless people were sleeping. One man was awake. Lying on a woolen blanket, he was lovingly patting a black dog. “She is Kaali,” the man said and identified himself as Ramesh. “I have no one in Delhi except her. I met her six years ago in this very place and since then she is living with me.” A DTC bus whizzed by. “I may go hungry but I make sure that Kaali gets her roti every night.” In the morning, Ramesh buys her bread and milk. During the day, he has to be away in Bhogal, a nearby market, where he works as a labourer. “I tell Kaali to stay in this pavement when I’m off to duty and she obeys me.” When Ramesh returns in the evening, Kaali never leaves his side. Patting her again, Ramesh said, “I have been betrayed by insaan (human beings) but she has always been nice to me. She is my family.” At that instant, Kaali turned her head towards Ramesh and wagged her tail. It was a beautiful moment.

The classic moments in Mathura Road