Life of street vendors.

[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Everyday in the summer, sugar cane juice sellers Harsh and Ishwar can be seen walking through the back-lanes of Shahjahanabad. The Delhi Walla met them behind the building of now-defunct Jagat cinema, close to Jama Masjid.

Harsh was carrying peeled sugar canes on his shoulder; Ishwar had a makeshift juice machine.

Unlike other vendors who scream out of their lungs while passing through streets, Ishwar and Harsh do their business quietly. When stopped, they lower down the machine on the ground and crush a cane to extract its juice. Their customers are usually children.

“We bought the machine from Agra for Rs 1,500 Rs,” Ishwar says. Migrants from eastern Uttar Pradesh, they earn 200 Rs daily. I tried the juice. It was dark green.

Potential customer

Hand-made juice

Made in Agra

Target crowd

Dark green

Peddling along