People of Karail and their German friends

Billowing smoke emanating from the Karail slum

At the Karail slum, a curious old man, who had probably not come across many foreigners, asked them about their visit. Hearing about their purpose, the old man said: 'We are very poor, we have nothing here. You are rich, show the pictures in your country and help us this way.' The threesome did not imagine that 'a few hours later, these words would become more than just a request' to them.

On March 4, a monstrous fire broke out and destroyed the entire Karail slum, leaving 38 people dead and hundreds wounded. Thick columns of smoke and ashes billowed up in the sky from the collapsing houses. The fire took merely an hour to turn the whole place into rubble.

At first, everyone considered the fire as an ordinary one that could be extinguished with little effort. Unfortunately for the poor people of Karail, the fire spread swiftly and set ablaze the adjacent structures since most of the houses in the slum were made of highly combustible materials. The cloud of smoke grew faster and soon the three foreigners saw the 'vast fire of catastrophic dimensions'.

People got panicky and ran to extinguish the fire with whatever they found within their reach. 'There were crying children everywhere and desperate mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters who tried not to lose their relatives while saving TVs, clothes and crates full of other stuff.' Along with the panic stricken slum-dwellers, their three German guests also had to run for their lives. Nevertheless, they took as many photographs as they could--just to document the plight of these people.

With 27 such photographs, the three photographers are holding an exhibition at the Goethe Institut. The blown-up large images project all the horror and helplessness of the situation the German photographers witnessed at Karail on March 4.

The exhibition also contains a long write-up describing their experience from their arrival at the slum to the journey back to safety. The trio gives a description of the welcome they were given by the slum-people on their arrival. 'The hearty hospitality of these people, who have almost nothing but themselves, deeply touched us,' they write. The Germans spoke to the inhabitants of Karail, with the help of a translator, about the many aspects of their daily life.

And finally, the threesome point to some of the basic requirements that these people immediately need. 'The most important is clear water and a drainage system. The inhabitants take water for cooking and washing from the polluted lake,' they note.

In the end, however, the German photographers could get to the safe side of the lake. While crossing the lake by boat, 'even now people invited us to go first,' recalls the trio in gratitude. 'We don't think that it was just a simple incident that we were there,' Sarah Rubensdörffer, Silvia Béres and Jakob Berr write. 'Remembering the old man's words, we feel that the moment, we entered the island, we took some responsibility that turned into a demanding duty, when we left.'

The exhibition remains open until April 13 from 2 pm to 8 pm daily except weekends and holidays.