In Photos: As Cold Wave Grips Delhi, A Tale of Those Awake at Night

“It is certainly colder than other years. But we do not really have an option,” said Sonu Chawra, a security guard.

Auto drivers huddle up around a fire at around 2 am on one of the coldest night so far. 

(Ashna Butani/The Quint) 

As the cold wave grips Delhi, with the city recording 1.8 degrees as the lowest temperature one night this week, not everyone is indoors. On one of the coldest nights this winter -- 5 January -- The Quint met delivery executives, auto drivers, and security guards who keep the city functional at night, despite the cold.

Most are daily wage labourers who migrated to the Capital from other places in a bid to earn a livelihood.

A few rounds of south Delhi on the night of 5 January revealed the class disparity at play. With Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) of housing societies, civic bodies and private companies providing workers with the bare minimum, they make do with what they have in order to get through the coldest night of the winter so far.  

“It certainly feels colder than other years but we do not really have an option,” said Sonu Chawra, a security guard who mans a guest house in south Delhi’s East of Kailash. He and a few other security guards huddle up next to a fire, with planks of wood.

Sukhdev, 48, a security guard in a south Delhi colony, said, “My wife, who works as a domestic help nearby, tells me where I can find scraps of wood, or wooden planks. I carry this to my guard post every night.” He begins his 12-hour shift at 8 pm. There's no guard room for Sukhdev to sit inside.    

Sonu, a security guard in a south Delhi colony, sat on a chair under a tree next to a fire he had built. Wrapped in a shawl, he said, “I chose the security guard job as it is more stable. When I reach home in the morning, my family has already begun their day. My daughter is already off to school. She comes back at 2 pm so I see her for a few hours.” He travels from Madangir by bus every evening. 

At the gates of an upscale residential colony, three security guards come together to make their fire. “This year, for the first time, the RWA has given us these glow-in-the dark, warm jackets,” said Surender Mishra, 50. The guards, however, had asked the RWA for heaters this year. Mishra, who hails froom Uttar Pradesh's Jaunpur, travels from Badarpur border in a bus daily to get to work. The guards are paid Rs 10,000 a month and all of their salary is gone into running the household. Little money is left to buy warm clothes or coal for fire, said Mishra.

An empty road, a rickshaw and a police van at midnight. With the minumum temperature in the capital dropping to 3 degrees celsius early on Thursday, it was one of the coldest nights of the winter so far. At Lodhi Road, the temperature touched 2.8 degrees celsius.  

“Lakri ka koi bharosa nahi hai (You cannot trust the wood),” said Surendra Mishra, a security guard, adding that it can burn out anytime. The guards here look for wood to burn when they take rounds of the colony. If it runs out, they do not have an option but to work without it, they said.

An empty road in south Delhi on one of the coldest nights so far. The roads see very few cars, and occasionally, a gig worker on a bike.

Ajay Kashyap, a Swiggy delivery executive, who works from 7 pm to 1 am, said, "I wear  my own jacket as the jackets given by the company are not warm enough." Workers claimed they have to pay the company Rs 300 for jackets in winter. The same goes for raincoats in the monsoons. 

A group of auto drivers in front of a fire they've built, with their autos parked behind them. They work till the morning. Since autos are given on rent, one person drives the auto during the day and another drives it at night. “Most of us have our own autos, we give them out on rent during the day,” said Ajay Singh, 27.

“If we do not do drive autos at night, what will happen to those who require transport at night? We get around two-three passengers per night, mostly nurses who work in hospitals till late. We see a lot of petty crime at night. That’s why our job is important – someone needs to be around on the streets...” said auto driver Ajay Singh.