Melting pot

Special Issue | In New Delhi, Chicken McCurry and on-call operators with names like Josh spur one of the world’s fastest-growing economies amid a city of caste systems and poverty | Jamie Dean

NEW DELHI— Strolling down the Rajpath, the broad, ceremonial boulevard in the center of India's capital city of New Delhi, an American might think of his own country's capital. Tall trees and sprawling lawns line a broad avenue flanked by a towering war monument and a dome-topped presidential residence. Groups of visitors snap photographs of the column-lined Parliament House, the seat of government for the largest democracy in the world.

But an American won't forget where he is for long. On the same boulevard, peddlers aggressively sidle up to tourists, hawking postcards, bracelets, and tiny chess sets. A tunic-clad snake charmer thrusts forward a thickly woven basket, peeling back its flat top to reveal its startling contents: a curled-up cobra that slowly unfurls, rearing its flared head.