Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A longtime staffer at Ghalib Academy, a literary institution in Central Delhi, Aslam is a very quiet man. Yet his presence is strongly felt, perhaps because of the calm he exudes even while standing still. See photo. This evening, he 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. Your favorite occupation. I work in this building devoted to shayari (poetry). I make chai for visitors. I serve them biskut and water. I do all kinds of other work, when needed. I arrange things in the auditorium each time it hosts meetings and conferences. I’m an

Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] This weekday evening too, Asghari Begum is busy at work. She collects discarded things from the city’s footpaths and also doubles as an unofficial parking attendant at an informal roadside parking area in Central Delhi. While keeping an alert eye on the passing cars to see which drivers might need a parking space, she 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? Ghar mein ladki, bahar ladka. (I’m a woman at home, a man outside.) Your favourite occupation? Eating the roti that I earn through my own hard work. Just now,

Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] This dusty afternoon, Shiv Kumar, a rickshaw puller, is waiting for customers outside a bus stand in Ballabgarh, Faridabad, in the National Capital Region. He 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? Do paise mehnat karke kamata hoon, aur shanti se ghar pe rehta hoon (I earn two paisa through hard work, and live peacefully at home). Through hard work, I have built my own house in Ballabgarh. It has three rooms. Your main fault? I have never done anything wrong. Not in my Bihar. Not here in Ballabgarh. I’m

Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The first thing you notice about Davinder is his infectious smile. He has been working at Delhi’s India International Centre for 17 years, for a long time as an assistant steward in the Dining Hall. A month ago, he was moved downstairs to man the bakery counter, beside the entrance to the Lounge where IIC’s la-de-da members gossip over Assam tea and masala-cheese sandwich. Davinder lives in Badraula village in zila Faridabad, some 50 kilometres from work. That distance makes for a long day. Every day he leaves home on his bike at 11.30 in the morning and returns 12 hours later. By then everyone in the house is asleep except

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