Khem Singh Bhati

I’ve been here at the Supreme Court of India in the Old Lawyer Chambers for quite a while now. If you head over to 120 Sansad Marg, you’ll find our space. It’s an old building, the kind where you can feel the history in the walls and the dusty stacks of files. It gets pretty crowded around here during the day with all the legal activity and people rushing between the courts. Most mornings start with the sound of tea being poured and the rustle of papers. Being in room 120 means we see a lot of the same faces every day, lawyers and clerks just trying to get through their lists. It isn’t a fancy office by any means. We have some old wooden desks and chairs that have seen better days. The light coming through the windows hits the piles of documents just right in the afternoon. People often get lost looking for these old chambers because the layout is a bit confusing if you aren't used to it. We just keep things moving as best we can. Sometimes the fans are a bit loud and the hallways are narrow, but that is just part of working at the heart of the legal system here in Delhi. We spend most of our time just handling the paperwork that comes through and making sure everything is where it needs to be for the court sessions. It’s a lot of manual work but someone has to do it.