Delhiwale: Living with avian royalty

Muhammed Ramzan, an attendant in a roadside washroom, is the proud owner of two ducks — Raja and Rani. He bought them a year ago at a bird market near Jama Masjid in Old Delhi.

There is no zebra crossing but they both seem bent on walking across the busy Zakir Hussain Marg. The evening rush hour commuters are staring out at the couple in great astonishment as their cars whiz past.

Raja and Rani are two ducks owned by Muhammed Ramzan, an attendant in a roadside washroom. (Mayank Austen Soofi / HT Photo)

We see these two ducks near the Oberoi hotel in central Delhi. What are they doing here? It turns out that they belong to Muhammed Ramzan, an attendant in a roadside washroom, one of the public toilets set up in the city during the 2010 Commonwealth Games. They are Mr Ramzan’s family. “He is Raja and she is Rani,” he tells us, walking towards the ducks. They hop over to the pavement and look on at the traffic.

Mr Ramzan bought the ducks a year ago at a bird market near Jama Masjid in Old Delhi. “I got them for Rs 3,000 each.” That’s his entire monthly salary. Why did he spend all his hard-earned money on two ducks? Mr Raman simply says, “My heart said so… I feel happy living with Raja and Rani.”