Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The elderly citizen is sitting cross-legged on a low platform outside the Sufi shrine of Hazrat Chirag Naseeruddin Roshan Dehlvi. The shrine gives its name to the larger South Delhi locality around it. Introducing himself as Chand Baba, the man graciously agrees to take part in our Proust Questionnaire series, in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. The principal aspect of your personality. I live by this dargah. Why should I lie? I beg, I ask for alms from the visiting pilgrims. I use the money I collect to support my family in zila Jaunpur in UP. My wife, our son, his wife

Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Many decades ago, in the hill town of Nainital, a second-hand book dealer called Dana Mian walked the hills with a coolie carrying a steel trunk filled with books on his head. Decades later, in Central Delhi’s Mahila Haat, second-hand bookseller Dilshad Ali arrives every Sunday with several street trunks crammed with used books. He takes the books out of the trunks and lays them on plastic sheets, turning his allotted space into a makeshift bookstall, like the dozens around him. He has been a fixture of Delhi’s Sunday Book Bazar for 25 years. His stall is particularly popular with lit students because it stocks all the English authors taught in

Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] She keeps no hats in her closet, but, metaphorically speaking, she wears many. Yasmeen Shah is a businesswoman, a single parent of two, a drawing-room singer of old Hindi film songs, an accomplished cook of Kashmiri khana, and devoted caretaker of Zoonie, her elderly Persian cat. This evening in her book-filled Central Delhi apartment, she graciously 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. Your idea of happiness. When I’m sad, I walk out of my house, get into the car, start driving aimlessly along the roads, playing sad ghazals in the stereo. The songs

Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Proust Questionnaire is a confessional parlour game immortalised by great Parisian writer Marcel Proust, who answered it twice at different stages of his life. His responses to the same questions changed the second time, reflecting how people evolve. For years, we have brought this Parisian parlour tradition to the Indian capital, inviting Delhiwale from diverse walks of life to reveal themselves through its questions. Today, on Proust's 155th birth anniversary, our special guest is Thierry Mathou, the ambassador of Proust's homeland, France. The genial diplomat graciously answered the famous questionnaire despite his embassy being super-busy in the midst of preparations for the French National Day reception on Tuesday. Notwithstanding the

Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Young Aamir is eating rajma-roti while watching YouTube videos on his phone. See photo. This routine of meal-by-mobile has become part of our shared humanity, connecting citizens across lives that are otherwise vastly different. A shop assistant in Central Delhi, Aamir is on his lunch break. This afternoon, he graciously agrees to join our Proust Questionnaire series, in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. The principal aspect of your personality. I’m a good person. I respect my elders, I’m kind to people younger than me, I never fight with people my own age. Your favorite qualities in a man. The ability to work diligently, and to

Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Heat and dust. Autos and buses. The evening rush is surging along Central Delhi’s Mathura Road. A sluggish stream of noise and impatience beneath the grainy gold of a dying sun. Abruptly, an otherworldly figure in sherwani and astrakhan cap appears like an apparition, wading through the exhaust and commotion with fluent grace. Poet Mateen Amrohi is returning home from a book launch. He graciously agrees to join our Proust Questionnaire series, in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. The principal aspect of your personality. I write prose. I write poetry. Where would you like to live? Two places. Delhi, where I already live, and

Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Dekho dekho, a new star is born. Varun, 21, a fresh Business Administration graduate, has occasionally been seen helping his father, a veteran bookseller, sell used books at the latter’s stall in the legendary Sunday Book Bazar. A few weeks ago, Varun opened his own bookshop, MK Books, on Netaji Subhash Marg (sandwiched between Jain Book Depot and Book Adda). The bookstore is also manned by his father. This evening, the young man graciously agrees to join our Proust Questionnaire series, in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. The principal aspect of your personality. I’m a very jolly person. Even when feeling sad, I

Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] He keeps his laminated identity always handy, right inside his pants pocket. The Aadhar card informs that Lakhi Sahu, son of Garbhu Sahu, was born on the New Year’s day in 1957. This makes him almost 70. Isn’t he too advanced in age to be a rickshaw puller? Lakhi Sahu shrugs. He has been in this profession in Delhi since 1984. Sitting on his rickshaw’s passenger seat, he graciously agrees to join our Proust Questionnaire series, in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. The principal aspect of your personality. My ancestral land in my village in Darbhanga, Bihar, is no longer with me. My

Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The cart is heaped with chikoos. In the gathering darkness, the brown-skinned fruits are resembling potatoes. Yet the cart glows. The pink bougainvillea, placed by fruit seller Chahat, is brightening up the pile. This evening, the young man graciously agrees to join our Proust Questionnaire series, in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. Your favourite flower. No, it is not these pink flowers that I pluck daily from a roadside hedge to decorate my cart. I actually like the rose. What do you appreciate the most in your friends? Dost ban gaye dushman (friends have turned enemies). Paisa hain paas Toh duniya hain paas Paisa na hon paas Toh yeh

Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Eyeglasses cover a good part of his shirt. He is also holding very many of them in his right hand. Citizen Shaan is a street hawker of eyeglasses. This afternoon, while on the job, he graciously agrees to join our Proust Questionnaire series, in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. What is your present state of mind? I’m thinking about how to leave Delhi for good. Where would you like to live? I’m 48, too old to keep walking the streets all day. I want to return to my village in Saharsa, Bihar. Delhi is no longer a good place to live. Too much noise, pollution,