Delhi's Street of Dreams | It would be true to say that you can smell Shadipur Depot - also known as Kathputli Colony - before you can see it. It is a place of enormous poverty but also enormous richness. It is a place where you might see miracles but also a place where you will always see a fight.

Shadipur is home to most of Delhi’s traditional entertainers - acrobats, magicians, dancers and the like. Here, to India’s shame, they remain - stuck between poverty on the one hand and international stardom on the other, consigned to their fate by bureaucracy and the ineptitude of the authorities. A place forgotten or unknown to most Delhi residents.

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Vishal Bhatt breathes fire above the Kathputli slum, New Delhi
A boy practices his drum in the street
Reenu, 15 and her brother practice their contortions
Raffan and Chi-Chi perform grisly street magic routine, Kathputli Colony
A boy shoots his catapult at a birds
A man covers his mouth as he crosses the open sewers in a main street of Kathputli Colony
A performer practices his tightrope walking act in the slums of Kathputli
Sravan Kumar washes before a performance. Sravan, a puppeteer and singer has lived in Kathputli Colony for 30 years
Residents scramble for free food after a temple food donation.
A child sells balloons while passersby chat in the lanes of Kathputli Colony
Chand Baba, an elderly magician, Shadipur Depot, Delhi, India
Judduchkra Iqbal, a magician, dresses for a show behind the Red Fort
A man throws a party in the streets of Kathputli Colony
Two sons carry their father home who is drunk. Alcohol and related violence are common in Kathputli Colony
Puran Bhatt, a puppeteer on his roof. Puran is an international star with a master class every year in France.
A boy walks through Kathputli Colony on his way to a performance
Bhagwan Das Bhatt, rehearses in his home. Das, a huge presence in Kathputli is one of many artists who travels internationall...
A man is beaten by an arcade owner with a belt during an argument
Kartall Bhatt listens to his father singing at their home. Kartall, 12, is being trained to sing but his voice may be ruined ...
Band member blows his trumpet during a street party in Kathputli
Artist Mohan Lal and his puppet horse
Musicians return to Kathputli Colony after a night's work