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Surender Singh Negi moved from a remote Himalayan town to Delhi in 1987 – young, energetic, and by his own admission, “somewhat clueless.” He was drawn to the big city – but also to a bigger paycheck. He landed a job as an accountant at a pharmaceutical firm, placing himself firmly inside a burgeoning middle class.
Mr. Negi, who didn’t attend college, was able to purchase a three-bedroom apartment in East Delhi. There, he and his wife raised three children and put each of them through college.
One of them, Akhil Negi,…