CHAOS AND CALM: BEAUTY AND FURY OF KRISHNA RIVER

Once in two or three years, the Krishna River goes mad. The raging tide and subsequent flooding appear terrifying, and the next few days will likely see Vijayawada city in a state of panic, anxious with sleepless nights.

A year ago, a similar situation arose: two days of heavy rainfall. The river’s restlessness surged to a level that no one, in their wildest imagination, had ever expected. The waters rose, swelled, and rushed, swallowing a part of the city and dislodging lakhs of residents from the safety of their cozy homes.

During the month when people suffered, as the scenes of devastation ran on the TV screen, I sat helplessly tied to my bed because of my major surgery. I couldn’t go out with my camera to capture the plight and unusual reality of suffering I had never seen in six decades in my city, where I was born and brought up. I was a little sad; I wished I could somehow show the world what my city was going through.

This year, the curse seems to be repeating, as if punishing humanity for its excesses and negligence, the repeated onslaught on nature. I think the river is roaring to reclaim its legitimate boundaries, where we, as maddening crowds, go on a rampage in the name of urbanization. It’s a warning, a reminder that nature is no longer waiting. Its patience ran out!

I didn’t miss this opportunity to capture the intense moods of nature’s anger!

I walked along the shores for three days, in the mornings and late evenings, and what I saw was a frightening phenomenon. The rush of waters roared as if they were in an urgency to seek their revenge, ready to swallow anything that came in their way.

I kept myself safe from the eager crowds and spooky river while focusing my camera, and I collected a few worthwhile images that I would like to present in six.