India's homeless at the mercy of 'sleep mafia'

Delhi

WHEN midnight approaches in Old Delhi and a thick, freezing fog settles over the city, the quilt-wallah Farukh Khan sits on his corner, watching the market for his services come to life.

They shuffle up one by one, men desperate for sleep. The bicycle rickshaw pullers, peeling one of his 20-rupee (S$0.40) quilts off a pile, fold their bodies into strange angles on the seats of their vehicles. The day labourers curl their bodies on the frigid sidewalk, sometimes spooned against other men for warmth.