Delhiwale: Mashak wallas, past and present

In Delhi's Sunday Book Bazar, a rare guidebook reveals the fading legacy of mashak wallas, with Muhammed Rafi as one of the last practitioners.

It all began one afternoon in Delhi’s Sunday Book Bazar, on fishing out the first edition of an out-of-print guidebook on the Walled City. Published more than 35 years ago, ‘Old Delhi: 10 Easy Walks’ was authored by two Englishwomen, Gaynor Barton and Laurraine Malone. The cover shows a man standing in front of the Jama Masjid. He is in check lungi, with something slung on his shoulder. It is a mashak, an old-fashioned goat-skin bag. Long ago in Purani Dilli, a mashak walla would draw water from the well, pour it into his goat-skin bag, and hawk the water from house to house.

A man in pants-shirt is sitting on a wooden cot. He introduces himself as a mashak walla. Muhammed Rafi concentratedly studies the photo on the book’s cover, and recognises the man--“Bhoore!” (HT)

Today, Jama Masjid still stands in the same place where this photo was clicked. But the mashak walla is not to be sighted. A bit more exploration of the area reveals the presence of a functioning well. And just beside the well, a tea stall. And hanging from the tea stall’s wall: mashaks! A man in pants-shirt is sitting on a wooden cot. He introduces himself as a mashak walla. Muhammed Rafi concentratedly studies the photo on the book’s cover, and recognises the man--“Bhoore!”

Centuries ago, water-sellers roamed the labyrinthine alleys of Shahjahanabad, selling well water in mashaks—just as contemporary vendors now sell “refrigerated cold water” from metal trolleys. Mughal emperor Humayun was said to be once drowning in the Ganga and rescued by a water carrier, Nizam, who gave him his mashak to swim over the river. This story is mentioned in the Humayun Museum, which opened last year in Delhi..