One Needy Person Feeds the Other Ninety-Nine

Delhi: The view deters, of people squatting for food in front of hotels by the lanes of Matia Mahal, disturbing my inner peace, raising the question of our duty towards humanity.
The street named Matia Mahal starts from the West Gate (Gate No.1) of Delhi’s famous and historic Jama Masjid. It’s lined with multiple restaurants selling Mughlai cuisine.
“These are destitutes, labourers, ragpickers, beggars and helpless people, who come here for food,” says Mohammad Shamim, who runs a cloth shop here. The categories of people waiting for food outnumbers the variety of foods the area is famous for.
Ask anyone here about their meal, it will make your mouth water. “I get to eat delicious and VIP food every day, which even you may not be getting. Today I had nihari for dinner,” Tej Bahadur tells The Citizen. He is a daily wage worker at a mechanic’s on the Jama Masjid road, sleeping on the footpaths at night.
“Hotels like Rehmatullah Hotel, Salman Hotel offer food to us.” Well known restaurants in the area include Karims, Al-Jawahar, Cool Point, Aslam Chicken and the Ghareeb Nawaz hotel, pulling in a large number of people searching for non-vegetarian food.