Mohammad Rafiq is the only one works as a bhishti around Jama Masjid. He lives close to the Hare Bhare Shah Dargah adjacent to the mosque and earn Rs 200-250 per day. “ Sometime the daily profit is just Rs100. That is just not enough to survive. I do it to keep the tradition alive, but do not know how long it will last,” he says. The demand of water is now extremely limited and Rafiq needs to work just couple of hours to finish the job. A few decodes ago, bhishtis were called to spray water on the ground during outdoor events, such as exhibitions, but that practice has also declined.
Mohammad Rafiq is the only one works as a bhishti around Jama Masjid. He lives close to the Hare Bhare Shah Dargah adjacent to the mosque and earn Rs 200-250 per day. “ Sometime the daily profit is just Rs100. That is just not enough to survive. I do it to keep the tradition alive, but do not know how long it will last,” he says. The demand of water is now extremely limited and Rafiq needs to work just couple of hours to finish the job. A few decodes ago, bhishtis were called to spray water on the ground during outdoor events, such as exhibitions, but that practice has also declined.
Mohammad Rafiq is the only one works as a bhishti around Jama Masjid. He lives close to the Hare Bhare Shah Dargah adjacent to the mosque and earn Rs 200-250 per day. “ Sometime the daily profit is just Rs100. That is just not enough to survive. I do it to keep the tradition alive, but do not know how long it will last,” he says. The demand of water is now extremely limited and Rafiq needs to work just couple of hours to finish the job. A few decodes ago, bhishtis were called to spray water on the ground during outdoor events, such as exhibitions, but that practice has also declined.
Mohammad Rafiq is the only one works as a bhishti around Jama Masjid. He lives close to the Hare Bhare Shah Dargah adjacent to the mosque and earn Rs 200-250 per day. “ Sometime the daily profit is just Rs100. That is just not enough to survive. I do it to keep the tradition alive, but do not know how long it will last,” he says. The demand of water is now extremely limited and Rafiq needs to work just couple of hours to finish the job. A few decodes ago, bhishtis were called to spray water on the ground during outdoor events, such as exhibitions, but that practice has also declined.
Mohammad Rafiq is the only one works as a bhishti around Jama Masjid. He lives close to the Hare Bhare Shah Dargah adjacent to the mosque and earn Rs 200-250 per day. “ Sometime the daily profit is just Rs100. That is just not enough to survive. I do it to keep the tradition alive, but do not know how long it will last,” he says. The demand of water is now extremely limited and Rafiq needs to work just couple of hours to finish the job. A few decodes ago, bhishtis were called to spray water on the ground during outdoor events, such as exhibitions, but that practice has also declined.
Mohammad Rafiq is the only one works as a bhishti around Jama Masjid. He lives close to the Hare Bhare Shah Dargah adjacent to the mosque and earn Rs 200-250 per day. “ Sometime the daily profit is just Rs100. That is just not enough to survive. I do it to keep the tradition alive, but do not know how long it will last,” he says. The demand of water is now extremely limited and Rafiq needs to work just couple of hours to finish the job. A few decodes ago, bhishtis were called to spray water on the ground during outdoor events, such as exhibitions, but that practice has also declined.
Chand Miyan sells flavoured drinks at Jama Masjid and is one of the few vendors using water supplied by the bhishtis. On average, he buys about 100 litres of water a day. “Most stall owners now use bottled water, but I only use the sweet water from the well inside the Hare Bhare Shah Dargah to make the sharbat,” he says
About 500 m for the Jama Masjid us Sakkon Wali Gali, a lane named after uts occupants (“sakka” also means water carrier). “Bhishtis were settled here during the reign of the Mugal emperor Shahjahan. Our ancestors supplied water to the fort,” says 56-year-old Aqa Bhai, a resident. The lane once teemed with bhishti families, but of the 100-odd resident living there now, none work as water carriers. Mohammad Ali, the last person who lived here and worked as a water carrier, died two years ago.