Reporting migrant crisis on bicycles

Two journalists with Asiaville news are pedalling their way from Delhi to Lucknow in search of the many stories behind the main picture

A lockdown at short notice that brought about the country’s worst domestic crisis as regards migrant workers resulting in the now-familiar harrowing visuals of lakhs of people walking back to their hometowns while bearing nature’s extremities.

This gist of the ‘migrant crisis’ unfolding in front of our eyes affected journalists Sruthin Lal and Dibyaudh Das as much as the third person. But the duo chose to report on the crisis in a way that peers in their profession hadn’t — by riding the highways between Delhi and Lucknow on their bicycles. The Asian College of Journalism graduates are now seven days into their journey, having cycled 312 kilometres. They record the stories they find on mobile gadgets and upload them on the Asiaville News portal.

Why ride a bicycle? “There is a power imbalance to the situation when you arrive in a car and approach people who are walking to ask questions. You also come with two or three people and with cameras and lights. But we wanted to get the raw emotions, uncensored from the affected people,” says Dibyaudh.

Sruthin puts the effort to a desire to practice ‘slow journalism’. “It helps find more stories,” he says, pointing out as an example how, on their way to Agra, the duo came across people in an Akhara (traditional mud wrestling centres). “We wanted to find the impact COVID-19 will have on a close contact sport like wrestling,” says Dibyaudh, adding, “We are not sure if we could have found such stories had we opted for any other mode of transportation.”

Along the route, the duo observes that average citizens had come out to help migrants because, in Sruthin’s words, “they see what the government does not see”. “Regardless of their faith, people were offering food and water to all those who were walking. There were many such groups at regular intervals. There was no Government or political party putting their money into doing these deeds. It was the common citizen,” Dibyaudh adds.

Some of the other stories they discovered were distressing. Like, a group of migrants who had been duped by a truck driver of their money and were walking to their native in West Bengal on foot. “We came across them around 100 kilometres from the UP-Haryana border. One of them had a foot injury. He had limped all the way,” says Sruthin.

With the heat wave affecting parts of northern India, the duo cycle from early in the day till 11am, and set upon reporting and meeting people until late evening when they do a bit more cycling. They still have another 237 kilometres to cycle before reaching their destination. After that, it will be “back to Delhi” as soon as possible because work awaits, the duo concludes.