This is a series of sketches documenting the migrant exodus of 2020, based on the thousands of photographs on the internet reported by photojournalists across India. The first Covid lockdown was implemented by the government in March 2020 without safeguarding the livelihoods of scores of migrants, who often move to cities, sometimes with their families, in search of work. Left choiceless, they quietly made their way out of these cities towards their home towns and villages, on foot and various other [often unimaginable] modes of transport - many were physically injured, emotionally battered, even losing lives.
Each of these images were deeply moving and painful to look at, demanding the viewer to actually LOOK at these people - their faces, their postures, what they were wearing and carrying, their tattered footwear, what their eyes were saying...I felt anger, shame and guilt as I sifted through them; as I looked closer I wanted to avert my gaze as mine met theirs. There was a finality to their gait, as if to say - this is it, we're done, we're never coming back and we're never putting ourselves through this again.
And so as they walked home over a span of two months, I simultaneously started to draw. Because to draw felt like a way to remember.
The idea was to draw these images just as I was seeing the photographs. Simply the migrants and their belongings, monochromatic against a stark white background without the distraction of their physical context. I indulged in a slight manipulation of the subjects in these pictures, in that I intentionally magnified the intensity of what they must've been feeling and laid focus on their eyes, making the migrants look straight back at the viewer, which is not necessarily the case in the photographs. In this way, I wanted the migrants and the viewer to look at one another, hoping that in the act of doing so, something that is dormant, forgotten, apathetic or indifferent, stirs in the heart of the latter.
101 ink sketches | Personal project | June - August 2020 | Hand-drawn
1 - Based on image by AFP via NDTV
2 - Based on image by AFP
3 - Reference image by PTI via India TV
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5 - Ref image by The New Indian Express via The Logical Indian
6 - Ref image by AFP via scroll.in
7 - Ref image by Danish Siddiqui, Reuters via Aljazeera English
8 - Ref image from NDTV
9 - Ref image by Vijayta Lalwani via scroll.in
10 - Ref image by Prashant Nadkar via The Indian Express
11 - Ref image by Adnan Abidi for Reuters via scroll.in
12 - Ref image by G Ramakrishna/ The Hindu
13 - Ref image by Harsha Vadlamani
14 - Ref image by Sunil Ghosh/Hindustan times
15 - Ref image by Harsha Vadlamani
16 - Ref image by Adnan Abidi/Reuters via thewire.in
17 - Ref image by Yuva P
18 - Ref image by Suraj Singh Bisht / The Print
19 - Ref image by Ayush Goel / The Week
20 - Ref image by Manvender Vashist /PTI via thewire.in
21 - Ref image by Supriya Sharma / scroll.in
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23 - Ref image by PTI via Deccan Herald
24 - Ref image by PTI via India Today
25 - Ref image by Arun Sharma/PTI via The Print
26 - Reference image by PTI via thewire.in
27 - Ref image by Adnan Abidi/Reuters via scroll.in..A migrant worker rides a cart with his family on a highway as they return to their villages during the 21-day nationwide lockdown; in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of New Delhi, March 27th 2020.
28 - Weary migrants workers lug crashed hopes en route their homes: people moving to UP from Maharashtra via MP. Ref image from The Hindu
29 - A migrant pulls his bicycle, with his packed belongings, as he walks home from Gurugram. Ref image by PTI via thewire.in
30 - Ref image by PTI via scroll.in
31 - Ref image by ANI photo via Hindustan Times
32 - A migrant worker from Bareilly walks back to his hometown with his 4 year old son. Ref image by Biplov Bhuyan/HT
33 - A exhausted child sleeps on a suitcase wheeled by his mother. Ref from a screen grab via NDTV
34 - Ref image by ANI photo via freepressjournal.in
35 - A young mother carries her 5 year old son as they head towards their home town Aligarh from Ghazipur on the third day of the 21-day national lockdown. Ref image by Amal KS/HT
36 - The daughter of a migrant worker carrying her belongings walks along a railway track in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of Delhi, to return to her home state of Bihar. Ref image by Adnan Abidi/ Reuters via scroll.in
37 - Ref image by Money Sharma/AFP via scroll.in
38 - Ref image by Ajay Aggarwal / HT photo
39 - Ref image by Express photo via The Indian Express
40 - Ref image by PTI via The Week
41 - Ref image by Altaf Badri/AP photo via Quartz India
42 - Ref image by PTI via thewire.in
43 - Ref image by Reuters via Deccan Herald
44 - A migrant worker feeds his newborn baby as he walks on the highway on the outskirts of Delhi, looking for transport to return to his village. Ref image by Adnan Abidi/Reuters via Quartz India
45 - Ref image by Biplov Bhuyan / HT photo
46 - Ref image by AP photo via news18.com
47 - Ref image by Prashanth Vishwanathan via Bloomberg
48 - A young migrant mother cooks food by the roadside in Jalandhar, Punjab, while waiting to board a special train to her home in Jharkhand.
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50 - A migrant worker eats food offered by local residents one a highway in Ghaziabad. Ref image by Adnan Abidi/Reuters via Quartz India
51 - A railway staff distributes food packets to migrant workers travelling in a Shramik Special train at Prayagraj Railway Station, UP. Ref image by PTI via The Hindu
52 - Migrant workers and their families board an overcrowded passenger train in Mumbai, on March 21st, 2020. Ref image by Prashant Waydande/ Reuters
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55 - A migrant looks through a widow during his departure from Odisha by 'Shramik Special' train at Panvel Railway Station, amid the COVID-19 nationwide lockdown, in Navi Mumbai, May 9th, 2020. Ref image by PTI via Deccan Herald
56 - Cadets of Scouts and Guides refill water bottles of migrants travelling by Shhramik Special trains at Prayagraj Railway station, UP, 31st May. Ref image by PTI via New Indian Express
57 - Ref image by PTI via The Print
58 - Children along with their migrant family wait to board a bus to reach their native place after arriving from Mumbai via special train at Prayagraj railway station, UP. Ref image by PTI via Outlook India
59 - Migrant workers trying to return to their homes wait for trains in Ahmedabad, on May 17th, 2020. Ref images by AP photo
60 - A volunteer distributes food packets and water bottles among migrants travelling in a train to reach their native places, in Jabalpur, MP, 27th May 2020. Ref image by PTI via thewire.in
61 - Migrant workers board a train through windows in Danapur station, Patna, to reach their native places during the nationwide lockdown. Ref image by ANI photo via New Indian Express
62 - Social workers distributed water bottles and bananas to migrants who travelled by Shramik Special train, at Charbagh railway station, in Lucknow. Ref image by PTI via thewire.in
63 - Stranded migrants arrive at Danapur railway station from Kerala by special train, amid the COVID-19 lockdown in Patna. Amidst criticism over the Railways charging stranded migrant workers for ferrying them home, payments for 45 special trains as on 4th May were made by originating states, barring Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka. Ref image by PTI via The Tribune
64 - Migrants rush to board a Shramik Special train at Danapur railway station to reach their native places, in Patna. Reference image by PTI.
65 - Ref image by PTI via @live_mint
66 - Healthcare workers screen migrant workers before letting them board Shramik Special trains. Reference image by PTI via New Indian Express, 29th May
67 - A Shramik train, that carried 1200 passengers, arrived at Dankuni, Hooghly district, West Bengal from Ajmer, Rajasthan. Confusion prevailed when trains carrying migrant workers arrived at destinations other than where they were supposed to. Railway authorities switched routes in a bid to ease congestion of the network. However, already stressed passengers were reportedly not intimated of the change in route leading to further chaos. Ref image by Salil Bera via The Week
68 - Reference image by ANI photo via Hindustan Times
69 - Ref image by Reuters via news18.com
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71 - Ref image from Navbharat Times
72 - According to a Railway Protection Force’s report, around 80 people had died in Shramik Special trains between May 9th and May 27th, 2020. Ref image by PTI via Hindustan Times, 27th June
73 - A woman carrying her child sits in a painted circle as she waits to board a special bus for Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, at a railway station in Patiala. Ref image by PTI via Outlook India
74 - A healthcare worker sanitises the luggage of migrants who arrived from Mangalore by a Shramik Special train at Jodhpur railway station. Ref image by PTI
75 - A health care worker sanitises the belongings of migrants who returned from Jaipur by a special train at Danapur railway station in Patna. The use of sodium hypochlorite, which has been sprayed on people as a disinfectant, may have a harmful effect on them if there is even a slight variation in its concentration, according to a senior resident doctor at AIIMS Delhi. Ref image by ANI photo via Hindustan Times
76 - Ref image from Aljazeera English
77 - Migrants who were returning to their homes in Uttar Pradesh were sprayed with sodium hypochlorite by a team on sanitising duty at the Bareilly bus stand. Migrants who had walked from Delhi and Noida were told to sit at the bus stand by officials who said that they would be taken on buses and would be given food. Instead, much to the shock of the group, which also consisted of women and children, men in protective suits hosed the group down with the chemical in an attempt to sanitise them and their belongings. Screengrab from various videos on twitter and YouTube
78 - Migrants hang on to the door of a moving bus in the outskirts of New Delhi. Ref image by Adnan Abidi/ Reuters via cnn.com
79 - Migrants try to hail a bus in New Delhi. Ref photo by Altaf Qadri/AP via cnn.com
80 - Migrant workers try to board a crowded bus in Ghaziabad on March 29th. The state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana arranged for hundreds of buses to ferry migrants home, causing chaotic scenes as thousands descended upon bus stands trying to claw their way into and onto buses. Ref image by Adnan Abidi/ Reuters via cnn.com
81 - Migrant workers crowd up outside a bus station as they wait to board buses to return to their villages, in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of Delhi, March 28th. Ref image by Anushree Fadnavis via Reuters
82 - Migrants travel in a truck to reach their villages, in Jabalpur on May 11th, 2020. Ref image by PTI via New Indian Express
83 - In Guwahati, stranded migrant workers leave on a truck after the lockdown was announced, on March 24th. Ref image by PTI via The Hindu
84 - A migrant worker passes a baby to his mother through the window of a bus that is heading from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh at Anand Vihar ISBT station, March 28th, 2020. Ref image by BCCL
85 - Some migrant workers sit atop a bus provided by the government, while others walk along an expressway to their villages in New Delhi, 28th March. It is an exodus unlike anything seen in India since the 1947 partition, with the 21-day lockdown leaving thousands of migrants with no choice but to return to their village homes. Ref image by Altaf Qadri/ AP photo
86 - Migrant workers and their families board a truck to return to their villages in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 29th March, 2020. Ref image by Amit Dave via Reuters
87 - Migrant workers raise their hands as policemen ask them for their destination as they wait for buses along a highway with their families, on the outskirts of New Delhi. Ref image by Reuters
88 - A migrant worker runs behind a truck as others try to board it to reach their villages, in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of New Delhi, 26th March, 2020. Ref image by Adnan Abidi/ Reuters via thewire.in
89 - Atleast 30 migrant workers managed to travel a distance of 1500km in a truck from Maharashtra heading to UP by covering the trailer with a large plastic sheet, thereby avoiding police at checkpoints. But they soon were caught by the police at Khatauli town, UP, after nearly three days of travelling. Ref image by PTI via Deccan Herald
90 - Migrant workers inside a truck in Jabalpur, travelling back to their villages. Ref image by PTI via Outlook India
91 - Migrant workers climb out of a refrigerator truck after they were stopped by the police as they try to return to their villages, in New Delhi, March 30th, 2020. Ref image by Danish Siddiqui via Reuters
92 - Six container trucks carrying over 500 migrant workers from Yamuna Nagar in Haryana to Bihar and West Bengal were seized in UP’s Muzaffarnagar. The migrants said they paid Rs.2500 each to the container owners for the journey. The owners would be interrogated, said the police. Ref image by PTI via Deccan Herald
93 - Migrant workers and their families board a truck to return to their villages in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Ref photo by Amit Dave/ Reuters via NBC news
94 - Migrant workers jump over the road divider at Anand Vihar, New Delhi, to catch a bus to the Lal Kuan terminal in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. They had travelled only six kilometres to Vaishali when the central government announced a ban on all movement of buses. The Delhi police forcefully removed them and asked them to return to their city homes. Ref image by Shahid Tantray for thecaravanmagazine
95 - A rush of migrant workers throng to board buses arranged by the UP government, with many riding on the roofs, on day 5 of the nationwide lockdown, at Lal Kuan Bus stand, March 29th, Ghaziabad. Ref image by Ajay Aggarwal/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
96 - Police try and contain the crowd as migrant workers rush to catch buses to take them home at the Anand Vihar ISBT in New Delhi during the nationwide lockdown, March, 2020. Ref image by BCCL
97 - Migrant workers and their families are held behind a barrier at a police checkpoint close to Anand Vihar Bus terminal, New Delhi, March 28th. Ref image by Anindito Mukherjee via Bloomberg
98 - Migrant workers travel on crowded buses as they return to their villages in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of New Delhi, 29th March, 2020. Ref image by Adnan Abidi via Reuters
99 - Thousands of migrant workers seen at Anand Vihar Bus Terminal on day 4 of the nationwide lockdown, 28th March, New Delhi. Ref image by Biplov Bhuyan/ Hindustan Times via Getty Images
100 - A rush of migrant workers throng to board buses, with many riding on roofs, on day 5 of the nationwide lockdown, at Lal Kuan bus stand, 29th March, Ghaziabad. Ref image by Ajay Aggarwal/ Hindustan Times via Getty Images
