In the crowded lanes of Mumbai's Chor Bazaar, where antique clocks fought for space with faded film posters, Arjun Malhotra clicked his camera without looking through the viewfinder. He was India's most sought-after photographer, tall, impossibly handsome, the kind of man magazines called billionaire with a lens. He could have been in Paris or New York shooting supermodels under golden hours, but every Sunday he came here, hunting for faces that no one paid to see. That morning the light fell differently. Between two rusty trunks, a girl sat on a plastic stool painting on a piece of cardboard with brushes made from her own hair. Her kurti had more patches than cloth, her fingers were stained indigo and crimson, but her eyes, god, those eyes carried an entire ocean inside them. Arjun forgot to breathe. He raised his camera. She looked up, annoyed. Photo mat lo, she said, voice soft but sharp. I'm not a monument. He smiled, the slow dangerous smile that made heiresses cancel their weddings. I know, he replied. Monuments don't move me. You do.

In the crowded lanes of Mumbai's Chor Bazaar, where antique clocks fought for space with faded film posters, Arjun Malhotra clicked his camera without looking through the viewfinder. He was India's most sought-after photographer, tall, impossibly handsome, the kind of man magazines called billionaire with a lens. He could have been in Paris or New York shooting supermodels under golden hours, but every Sunday he came here, hunting for faces that no one paid to see. That morning the light fell differently. Between two rusty trunks, a girl sat on a plastic stool painting on a piece of cardboard with brushes made from her own hair. Her kurti had more patches than cloth, her fingers were stained indigo and crimson, but her eyes, god, those eyes carried an entire ocean inside them. Arjun forgot to breathe. He raised his camera. She looked up, annoyed. Photo mat lo, she said, voice soft but sharp. I'm not a monument. He smiled, the slow dangerous smile that made heiresses cancel their weddings. I know, he replied. Monuments don't move me. You do.