Begging in Delhi: Meet Shobha Ram, whose 'job' just got decriminalised

Shobha Ram is among the estimated 100,000 beggars who roam the streets of Delhi - the national figure is believed to be over 500,000

“Agar baat karni hai toh pehle paani pila do (If you wish to chat, please buy me a bottle of water first).”

“Photo chahiye (You want a photograph)?” “Do bread pakore khila do (Buy me two bread pakoras).”

On the face of it, Shobha Ram comes across as a master of the barter — unflinching and persuasive in his demands. On closer inspection, he is as helpless as all the others who swarm the perimeter of the Pracheen Hanuman Mandir on New Delhi’s Baba Kharak Singh Marg every day, sometimes for years. “Forty-six years I’ve been here,” he says, four fingers of