Delhiwale: Cheap samosa for a richer life...

Rakesh and his choice of ‘Dilli’ over UP

Fifteen years later, the sum of his life’s work in Delhi is this tiny mobile samosa stall. At least this is how it appears as one sees Rakesh sitting by the footpath in a small central Delhi marketplace. His establishment consists of a single-burner stove, a chippy karahi (wok), a straw basket, two cans for two types of chutney, and a steel tray partially filled with samosas.

Deep-frying a fresh batch of samosas, Rakesh says he returns to his rented room in Shastri Park only by 9 pm.

“Yes, this is what I have been doing everyday in Delhi for these pandrah saal (15 years),” says Rakesh, a 57-year-old UP native. His family lives in the village, close to the Ganga river. Couldn’t he have sold his samosas nearer home, may be in Allahabad, 40 kms from his village? Rakesh looks amazed by the question, as though it were something too simple to respond to, but he patiently explains. “Dilli is a richer city, you earn more in a single day here than you would in Allahabad.”

He reveals that the national capital has given him more than just the stall he carries around in his arms during his daily hawking.

“It is because of the money I have earned in Dilli over the years that I have been able to arrange the weddings of my three sisters and my two daughters.” Two of his younger daughters are yet to be married. “Being the only man in the family, I had to get out of the village to secure the future of our girls.”

The successive weddings cost Rakesh a fortune. “I had to borrow money for each wedding… I still have to pay back the dues.” Rajesh’s two remaining daughters will also eventually get married, he says.

“I will have to keep making samosas. My debts will last until my death,” he rues.

Deep-frying a fresh batch of samosas, Rakesh says he returns to his rented room in Shastri Park only by 9 pm.

“I will then cook dal-roti for my dinner…eating outside is too expensive.” He at once makes a clarification. “My customers are people like me, labourers and rickshaw pullers — they too don’t earn much…so, I sell my samosas cheap,” he asserts in a matter-of-fact tone.