India, Aug. 19 -- In Connaught Place, after sundown, a bald man in a black suit and tie is sitting alone, without even a mobile phone, on a low cement ledge close to Anil Book Corner, shut for the day. He is looking down. A few feet away, Delhi continues. The one-way road behind the solo citizen is crammed with cars and autos. The showrooms on the other side of the road are glowing with light.

The sight of someone alone in a crowded space is an ordinary one in a big city. It brings to mind poet Emily Dickinson's haunting portrayal of loneliness as a "horror not to be surveyed." Perhaps nowhere in Delhi is the poignant loneliness of the big city more visible than along the main avenue of Chandni Chowk, home and workplace to countless migr...