One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] This muggy evening, on the staircase of a Connaught Place subway near Charkha Park in G Block, she is sitting in a gold salwar-kameez, her face painted gold. Beside her are gold-coloured props. A bottle of milk stands nearby. She introduces herself as "gold woman." She might well be Delhi’s first. This is her 15th day. The so-called Goldman first surfaced in CP weeks before the Covid pandemic, and the act has since spread as a way of making a living. There are now two or three gold men in the area, though not always seen on the same day. In gold-coloured costumes, with their exposed skin painted

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Clocks cram the shop. They cover the walls, hang from hooks and stand on shelves. There are grandfather clocks, round clocks, square clocks, big clocks and small clocks. Their wooden cases, glass fronts and faded faces make the room feel out of step with the present. A few pendulums hang motionless behind the glass. Not one of the clocks is showing the correct time. None seems to be moving. The clock repair shop in Old Delhi’s Urdu Bazar feels timeless, though it has existed only since 1970. At the far end sits Saddam. His father, Suhail Akhtar, was a repairer and collector of old clocks who died

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Sir Syed Street is never still. The Old Delhi gali is always packed with people, fruit stalls and small shops. An upper-floor restaurant with large glass windows offers a clear view of the decorative lanterns hanging inside. Old balconies and spiralling staircases overlook the street. Signs, wires, carts and shopfronts compete for attention. But this evening, the most arresting sight is inside a little wayside shop. A brown-and-black striped cat is asleep on the glass counter of Elahi Watch Maker. Beneath the glass are rows of watches in their boxes. Behind the sleeping cat, watches and clocks cover the walls. The cat has stretched its paws across the

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Socks are stacked in neat piles atop a small folding table. Black, grey and white pairs fill every inch of it. Riyaz, known in this Central Delhi market as Bablu Bhai, is standing behind the display. His forehead is lined, his hair partially grey. His face does not belong to someone who has spent his working life selling just one thing. Bablu Bhai is from Muzaffarpur in Bihar. His father spent his entire life farming the family's tiny plot of agricultural land in the village. Today Bablu Bhai sells socks in the national capital. His only son installs air-conditioners in Dubai. One son-in-law sells frocks on Delhi's

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Every inch of the street stall is filled with pendants, prayer beads, and amulets. The cramped lane leads to one of Delhi's busiest shrines. This rainy afternoon, the friendly young man at the stall often looks up as people pass, meeting their eyes with a slight nod and, occasionally, a quiet "hello.” Meraj, 22, has been helping his father run the stall while hunting for a job. Among all his brothers and sisters, he is the first to graduate from college. His father never went to school. His mother studied until Class 8. Early this year he completed a Bachelor of Computer Applications from Ambala’s Maharishi Markandeshwar

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The lunchtime rush is over. A few customers are still lingering over chai. Others have drifted out into the afternoon heat. Ayush Kumar finally has a few spare minutes. For the past year he has worked as a waiter at this neighbourhood café in Central Delhi. He is tall, lean and dressed in the café's red polo shirt and a black cap pulled low over his forehead. At 19, Ayush’s face still carries traces of adolescence. He tends to be cordial with customers but never too friendly. He speaks gently, as though careful not to take up more aural space than necessary. These days, as the country once

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The afternoon heat is oppressive, the humidity makes it doubly oppressive. In such a hostile weather, a citizen is sitting on the roadside. A pair of crutches rests beside him. Whenever someone walks past, he quietly raises his arm, gesturing for alms. He introduces himself as Asghar and, after a few minutes of friendly chitchat, settles down to explain how he reached this point in his life. Asghar is from Godda district in Jharkhand. He came to Delhi when he was 12 years old in search of work. His first job was washing dishes in a small eatery. He stayed there for some years. As he grew,

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Countless Delhi roads are named after notable individuals. Few of us Delhiwale stop to consider what these people did to merit this form of immortality on our navigation apps. One such road runs alongside the French Embassy in Chanakyapuri. It is named not after Napolean, nor Proust, but after a French intellectual arguably less familiar to most of us Indians. Yet André Malraux looms large in France’s national imagination. A novelist and statesman, he ranks among the most influential French figures of the twentieth century. His ashes lie in the Panthéon in Paris, the immortal resting place of some of France’s most revered giants, among them Voltaire

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The first thing a passenger notices in the auto rickshaw is that this is no ordinary Delhi auto. It sustains a sprawling world. The auto has two fans, a small LED television, a mirror on the ceiling, a rear-view camera, charging points for mobile phones, free Wi-Fi for passengers, a stack of tissue paper, a couple of newspapers, a pen, mineral water bottles, and the national flag. The back bears a photo poster of the driver himself. Rajesh Sinha, aka Raj Bhai (that’s the name grandly displayed on the auto), has been driving on Delhi roads for more than a decade. The vehicle is a 2015 model, but