An eye on the nation's migrants

It's said that the eyes are the mirrors of the soul. And the neglected soul of India's migrants was reflected in the photographs that emerged in their crisis during the lockdown, which, lest you have forgotten, is still an unresolved problem. In some of them, the subjects stare straight back at the camera. It isn't a defiant gaze. Nor is it that of a sufferer. Instead, it's the listless look of people who know that they have miles to go before they sleep. If anything, the eyes convey surprise - and sometimes even happiness - at a photographer breaking down the wall of anonymity that this country has built around them.

Neha Vaddadi recognised that. The graphic designer was recently working with Hyderabad Urban Lab (HUL), a research organisation in the southern city, on a project that involved looking into the issue of jobless labourers moving back home during the pandemic. The photographs are what struck her. "There is something about those images," Vaddadi says, adding that they show how the authorities deal with the migrant population as mere statistics. "We have this almost nebulous concept of them. But these are individuals. I saw children, mothers, pregnant women, old men, young men and people with disabilities who have - in whatever capacity - built their lives in the urban sphere. But we have anonymised them, we don't look at them as people with stories," the 30-year-old says.

So, Vaddadi selected a bunch of photographs after sifting through the Internet, and used them as inspiration to sketch a series of illustrations. The plan is to complete two a day till she hits 100. She says, "I first eyeball the image. I don't want to edit it; I don't want to make it a product. I want it to be as raw as possible, so that the essence of the image is retained without glossing over any details."

The result is a collection of 40 illustrations so far on her Instagram page, which tell the combined story of how a section of Indian citizens were left to their own devices because not just government machinery, but even societal conscience failed them. Look closely at the video embedded with this article. The resolute woman in it - who is carrying her child on her shoulders since he's too tired to walk - really did have miles to go before she slept. But where were most of us looking? Vaddadi says, "I think that one's privilege comes under the microscope when lakhs of people leave for home in a situation like this. I am sitting comfortably in my living room and my life hasn't really changed. Sure, I can't have the kind of fun I used to before the lockdown. But I mean, how dire must the situation be when you have to pack your bags and walk for days?"

Neha Vaddadi

So dire, that the affected people had to keep calm and carry on till they reached their villages. That resolve reflects in the dignified, deadpan gaze of the photographed migrants. "The way they are staring back at the camera person, it says that they are not the ones who are guilty. They are not looking down when they are walking back home, because they know that something unjust has happened to them. That's why the eyes are important, because there is that back and forth between the viewer and the viewee," Vaddadi says, pointing at the direction we, too, should be looking in to face our country's reality for what it is.

Log on to @nehavaddadi on Instagram

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news