METRO ANGEL, DEC-2015

A Photo Essay of events that occurred between my home and office along the Chennai Metro line on Dec/2/2015; the day of collateral damage.

When I woke up on the morning of Dec/2/2015, after 37 hours of non-stop downpour, there was disturbing quietness that prevailed across my street. It seemed to be a normal dawn as I switched on the television with my routine cup of tea and until then; I never knew my city had been destroyed by the colossal 475 mm of “unrealistic” rainfall, I never knew there were thousands of people stranded on the upper reaches of their buildings trembling in fear and desperately waiting for a rescue, I never knew hundreds of people had already lost their lives and I never knew; the landscape of my city was changed forever. Unable to hold on, I boarded the metro train with one of my close friends to capture the impact along its pathway until my office. But what I went through over the next 8 hours was more emotional than disturbing; as I saw which seemed so far will never be seen. A photo essay of how the juvenile Chennai metro line proved to be an ANGEL for thousands of people fleeing Chennai on the fateful day of Dec/2, the day that rewrote not only the rules; but also the topographical map of an entire city…

Essay Starts...

The dawn of Dec/1/2015 was greeted with an unusual downpour that had certain indications in it, that; it isn’t going to be a normal one. And it did, for it didn’t take a break for the entire day and poured relentlessly. The cold that I carried over from previous day helped me to take the wise decision of staying indoors, as I spent the entire day in darkness and restlessness. When I braved the rains and stood on my terrace, the impending disaster was still not evident as this guy rushed in his car to his home piercing the thick sheet of water that had accumulated as a result of overflowing flood water drains. Then I ran downstairs seeking shelter…

After the disastrous morning news on Dec/2/2015, drove to my friends place to pick him up and embark on an ambitious journey from my home until my office and return back as soon as possible. While on my way, this doggy seemed to be afraid and confused with no idea of direction…but so were thousands of people around it…

As my friend was gearing up, I went up his terrace to peep into the compound of legendary Lucas & TVS factory. The birds were calm and wind was nil, it seemed a perfect setting for me for the winter to set in, in few weeks from now. However; I still was not aware that hell was broken loose on other side of the city…

This isn’t backwaters of Kerala; this is the inside of Lucas & TVS factory after incessant rains that mercilessly pounded the previous day. I slightly began to understand the magnitude of overnight rains now…

It was when we reached the CMBT Metro Station that I began to gain sense of the disaster that had struck Chennai. Mind boggling was the situation, that we were completely overwhelmed by the crowd that was in an “exhausted” urgency to leave this city. As we were stuffed to rats inside the metro train I never believed we would get down at Hilton, just 9 Kms away, to a view that was as unimaginable as this. The arterial Inner Road of Chennai had turned into a waterway with Olympia Tech Park, which houses my office, braving the floods…

Stranded people from various buildings, hostels and offices slowly emerge as rains ease for a moment. It now seemed to be a real crisis, with hordes of men and women rushing into the metro station with a bleak hope of escaping this sudden curse from nature. I stood with an unbelievable gasp filling my face…

As the day progressed, it was peak hour traffic and the first boat emerged before the gate of Olympia. It was just one day since I came to my office last, and the changes it had undergone in that short moment was mind boggling and difficult to believe. Nature takes millions of years to transform, but when she had; all she needs is hours to throw life out of gear or even wipe out it completely…

Chennai will be Chennai. Bus or Boat, there’s always the rush and you need to be strong. Where the Volvo buses were plying, it was now the rule of boats and this transformation in just a day will make the most creative of film makers’ crazy…

Landscape of Chennai changed in a single day. Metro above, boat below and only water in-between, I even never imagined I will see this visual someday right in the middle of Chennai…

For those who lost their homes, it was a pathetic moment. But those who had nothing to lose, it was playtime as this boy attempted to make a surf board…

A packed boat before Hilton Chennai, Valet parking not available though…

The magnitude of the destruction was evident with multiple flights of coast guard helicopters. They were obviously speeding towards the Western suburbs for rescue missions as these would be submerged in excess of 10 feet under the water that was released from one of the reservoirs “serving” the city…

Then, the unexpected and the undesirable occurred. Massive downpour that sent shivers down the spine of thousands of people who were waiting in the metro for the next “doubtful” train. It was indeed one of the most fearful moments…

As the rain ceased, the next boat emerged from below the metro station. On this fateful day the metro proved to be a savior…

Even the Hilton was blackened out…It was one day when there was unchallenged equality in Chennai as poor, moderate and rich came to the streets. Nature is a master…

Thousands of people thronging the metro station with Hilton in the background…There were days when people would stand and stare at this majestic building and the posh cars parked within it. But on this fateful day, even the Hilton felt ashamed and tried as much possible to hide from the crowd below…

At last she emerged from the pouring rains…as an ANGEL to carry away the suffering children. She was the special train sent completely empty by Chennai Metro to clear the riot grade crowds at each of the stations in the Alandur to Koyambedu circuit…Look at the edge of the crowd standing on the platform and they extended in full strength over the entire length of the station…with thousands still rushing in from flooded streets below…

Unimaginable crowd, unimaginable capacity, as the doors struggled to close in each of the compartments…It was an emotional moment to see people fleeing the city that was a lifeline to them until yesterday…

Doors closed; it was a long, agonizing journey over the next 9 Kms…the longest to anyone who travelled by metro on this fateful day.

Even during those moments of crisis, few managed a smile to my photograph. I could only wish their miseries quickly disappeared as they appeared…How painful it is to see your home getting submerged under multiple feet of water, carry your entire life savings in just one bag and have your life turned upside down in just one night…

The ANGEL departed, carrying away atleast a thousand strong crowd. And she did this again and again, without a word of discontent…Look at the platform now, so would be the residential areas all around Chennai as I was witnessing the biggest EXODUS of my lifetime…

Walked over to the other side of the station and what I saw was even more discouraging. Water gushing out of the streets like a wild stream into the main road that seemed to be the receiving river. People living there would have gone through the worst nightmare of their lives…

With crowd piling up for the next special train officials discussing the action plan to handle all of these in a single day, while they were trained to handle all of these in a month…The rains began to ravage again without mercy…

It was dusk and I decided to catch my train with scenario going out of control, patience and choice. I went through all of these to get that one shot, and after a day of people deluge I lost my confidence. I boarded the train that came on the track towards Alandur, for I much needed that window space to capture the alpha shot of this journey. As the train moved at snail’s pace, the first sights of destruction gifted by river Adyar emerged…

This is it, the alpha shot. Entire crowd in the train moaned in disbelief and agony as the bridge over river Adyar was submerged cutting the city into 2 halves. No one ever thought they will be separated from their loved ones within the city itself…I used high ISO on the 5D Mark-3 to precariously capture the shot as I was crushed from behind by a massive wall of people and the entire city was rendered in a deadly black with 100% power shut down…

River Adyar flowing over Ekkatuthaangal Bridge, I promise, no one on the train accepted this sight normally…there were signs of hopelessness and fear…

A building on the banks of river Adyar submerged until the second level. I felt happy for it though…and over the bridge are scattered debris which demonstrated the ravage Adyar orchestrated early in the morning when she was flowing even higher…

This isn’t a wild Western Ghat stream shot from Konkan Railways. This is the road to Ashok Pillar right in the middle of the city shot from metro…This is exactly where I drive through in my car and this is exactly where I grin in traffic every morning below that sign board which would be reading take left to Chennai airport. On this mind boggling day though; nature took over and chased away the entire population, their cars and their hopes…It seemed to be a deserted street, sorry, a deserted river…

My car, with flood all around…God showed certain mercy to her and my dream…

After the rains had completely ceased, she was safe and secure…I have no one special in my life, except her. If she had been taken, I would have broken…I still believe God showed the biggest mercy to me; for if he had wanted, he could have taken it all from me…

At the end of day, the administrators had completely failed in mitigating this “predicted” natural fury through shortsightedness, pathetic planning, meaningless bureaucracy at the most meaningful of seconds and least of the concern for the lives and property of lakhs of common people. Most of Chennai that exists today is a complex product of political influence and money might, with complete ignorance or oversight of the elements of topography and nature. Satellite images of Chennai separated by “just” a decade would reveal the stunning transformation she had undergone to satisfy the “unreasonable” demands of a disproportionate population. With losses estimated in the range of USD 1 billion for Chennai alone, millions of money that went into expanding this once content city have gone to rubbish. Yes, the rains were abnormal, but; we have no one to blame apart from ourselves for enhancing this abnormality into an inerasable agony. Looking beyond this crisis, just another year is all we are left with to correct, stabilize, adhere and ensure we don’t become refugees in our own land…