| By Money Sharma | |
Jan 26 ‘13, Around 9:00 pm: My photojournalist friend Mitesh Bhuvad (PTI) and I were chatting, gossiping and planning the stuff to shoot the next day. Since it was going to be a Sunday, I was least concerned about going out from my home and doing an assignment, till the time we started discussing about The Super Car show which is organized every year by Gautam Singhania, owner of the clothing major Raymonds and was scheduled to take place on Sunday. Mitesh had been covering the same event for the past few years and with his flowery conversation and explanation of the past experiences, he managed to convince me enough to come for the event. I finally agreed upon joining him and covering the event for Fotocorp (Mumbai-based news photo agency) and made plans to reach there by 9 am, as scheduled.
Jan 27, 7:45 am: As decided, we met (with Mitesh coming almost half an hour late) and started our travel to Mahalaxmi Racecourse in Mumbai through local train. Since it was an off day, the train had enough room for us to get occupied and make a space at the door of the train and enjoy the ride hanging at the door. The travel time was best utilized by both of us discussing about the images, camera, experiences and shooting encounters as usual.
Jan 27, 7:45 am: As decided, we met (with Mitesh coming almost half an hour late) and started our travel to Mahalaxmi Racecourse in Mumbai through local train. Since it was an off day, the train had enough room for us to get occupied and make a space at the door of the train and enjoy the ride hanging at the door. The travel time was best utilized by both of us discussing about the images, camera, experiences and shooting encounters as usual.
Some of the most exquisite cars at the show 9:00 am: We reached Mahalaxmi station and took a walk to reach the Racecourse after covering the distance of almost a kilometer till the other corner of the compound. It was a foggy morning, most of the cars were covered with dew and many being cleaned as the people had started coming in. With a plethora of expensive super cars standing and making their enthralling encounter with people around, everyone just looked fascinated. Some were posing along with the cars, some busy clicking, and some were just making weird erotic sounds (yes, that’s the right term) after seeing the features of some of the cars. Since I have not been so keen in shooting still objects (or standing cars for that matter), I was busy creating something which could be offbeat and create stuff worth watching.
Gautam Singhania 10:00 am: After a short Press briefing from Gautam Singhania about the event, we were set for the car rally which was scheduled for the route starting from Racecourse to Nariman Point, Worli Sea Face, Sea Link and taking tour of some parts of suburbs and then back to the origin. We (media persons) were given few open shade Maruti Gypsys which were supposed to take us along with the running super cars so that we can take some pictures.
The cheering crowd Having some snacks and keeping a few boxes of them and bottled water provided to us, we (our Gypsy had Mitesh, Raju Shinde – Mumbai Mirror, a photographer from the organizing team and I) joined the rally along with those super cars (may be around 50-odd). People were present in the huge number at the sides of the road cheering for the speed and look of the cars. It was really a funny moment for us to be in a gypsy in the midst of the rally, surrounded by beautiful beasts which were actually acting like a heart throbber for everyone whosoever saw it! Not only was it funny, it was difficult also for us because of cars’ high speed and our position in the gypsy to get the pictures which could make some sense and represent that it was taken at a rally.
Me on the open shade gypsy :P With a joyful city tour in an open gypsy, standing tall, looking at the crazy audience, I was finally settling down with a mindset that eventually this is something which is worth coming out on a Sunday as it was giving me probably the best and most innovative way of travel experience I ever had in Mumbai. We were cheering up, stopping at several spots and discussing which could be the best place for us to get the pictures. Marine Drive, Worli Sea Face and then the Sea Link. We stopped at several locations. We had reached these places before those super cars could come as we decided to take the shortcuts and keep ourselves positioned as it was next to impossible for us to chase the cars and move ahead of them. Since it’s not allowed to stop at the Sea Link, we were often questioned by the authorities and the management of the link road and we had the ready explanation to give, which made them pretty satisfied and allowed us to be there.
A participating vintage car After taking a few shots at these places, we planned to return back and not be with the entire rally as by this time, we had enough pictures to file for our respective organizations. Having this thought, we proceeded further and took the next U turn to go back to the origin. Since we were on the Sea link road and it being one of the most exotic roads and location I have come across, I requested my other photojournalist friends to stop once again and we all decided to make few more pictures. Busy in shooting, it was almost 12 noon and the cars were passing by with lightning speed and we all were trying some different angles.
12:15 pm: The place where we had stopped at this point, was almost a kilometer and half from where the Sea Link Road ends (towards Worli). As we were gossiping at this stoppage during the shoot, we suddenly realized that some smoke was billowing from the other end of the road. Initially, we thought that maybe this could be a stunt being performed by one of the participants which is causing the smoke. But soon after we saw the vehicles queuing up on the road and smoke getting more intense, we realized that this is something unintentional. As the vehicles had already started lining up, we (Mitesh, Raju and I) jumped out of the gypsy and started running as fast as we could, towards the smoke. I was shouting and asking people to give space to move and requesting them to keep the door of their cars closed as it was obstructing the narrow passage between the cars making us difficult to run.
12:15 pm: The place where we had stopped at this point, was almost a kilometer and half from where the Sea Link Road ends (towards Worli). As we were gossiping at this stoppage during the shoot, we suddenly realized that some smoke was billowing from the other end of the road. Initially, we thought that maybe this could be a stunt being performed by one of the participants which is causing the smoke. But soon after we saw the vehicles queuing up on the road and smoke getting more intense, we realized that this is something unintentional. As the vehicles had already started lining up, we (Mitesh, Raju and I) jumped out of the gypsy and started running as fast as we could, towards the smoke. I was shouting and asking people to give space to move and requesting them to keep the door of their cars closed as it was obstructing the narrow passage between the cars making us difficult to run.
The burning Audi R8 I don’t recall how long it took (maybe a few minutes) to reach the spot and as we reached there, we saw something which was not so common and pleasant. An Audi R8 super car was on fire and the flames & billowing thick black smoke seemed to be out of control. The organizers of the rally including Gautam Singhania, police and few other volunteers were in the forefront and asking the common public to go behind and stay far from the burning car as there was a high probability of an explosion due to the highly inflammable aviation fuel inside it. We all had realized that this is one of the cars from the super car show as it was no so usual to see such recently launched lavish cars on the road. Some of the TV channels were busy making the live telecast of the incident.
The scene had changed. The public cheering up for the cars, was now witnessing a different story. The excitement of seeing the speedy cars was overshadowed by the fire accident. It was challenging as well as risky for me also to shoot the event because anything could have happened which could result in the harm to human life. The driver Bhavesh Thakkar and another fellow passenger had already got down safe as soon as they realized that the smoke is coming out from the car.
The scene had changed. The public cheering up for the cars, was now witnessing a different story. The excitement of seeing the speedy cars was overshadowed by the fire accident. It was challenging as well as risky for me also to shoot the event because anything could have happened which could result in the harm to human life. The driver Bhavesh Thakkar and another fellow passenger had already got down safe as soon as they realized that the smoke is coming out from the car.
Fire fighters extinguishing the blaze 12:25 pm: It was ten minutes past the event, the fire brigade and fighters arrived at the event and with no further delay, they got involved in extinguishing the fire with all the safety measures on them. The car with the splashes of water was billowing thick smokes and it must have taken some 10 odd minutes to completely come over the flames and smokes. As I saw the fire-fighters extinguish the blaze, all that was left of the R8 was a burned out shell. Taking shots from all the possible sides and angles I didn’t want to leave any stone unturned in the coverage. I went close to the burnt car, got into arguments with police, and even climbed at the Fire Brigade to take pictures. The traffic which was paralyzed at the road was reopened in a matter of few minutes, and then the traffic was smooth. All could be seen was every car passing past the burnt Audi R8, some or the other person sitting inside the car was making sure that he/she should have the burnt car images in their mobile device.
The re-opening of traffic 1:00 pm: As the traffic returned to normal, our good old gypsy also reached to the point where we were standing and left us to the Racecourse, from where we started. Surprisingly, after we reached, we were given a clarification from the PR company and even an official statement was released that the burnt Audi had nothing to do with the Super car show and it was owned by Bhavesh Thakkar, who was not a participant in the show.
With no further delay, Mitesh and I took a cab and reached our respective offices (PTI and Fotocorp are in fort in the same vicinity) to file the story. I started transferring, selecting and editing the images and it was duly filed for Corbis Images and Fotocorp within few minutes after I reached the office. It would have been almost an hour that I started getting calls from various people including a few leading publications who wanted to use my images and I was happy to provide them with the content.
With no further delay, Mitesh and I took a cab and reached our respective offices (PTI and Fotocorp are in fort in the same vicinity) to file the story. I started transferring, selecting and editing the images and it was duly filed for Corbis Images and Fotocorp within few minutes after I reached the office. It would have been almost an hour that I started getting calls from various people including a few leading publications who wanted to use my images and I was happy to provide them with the content.
Hindustan Times - Mumbai, Front page (Jan 28) Jan 28: This morning, my images had appeared at the prime spots in a lot of print and online publications Nationally, and Internationally. But still, I strongly believe that the car was one of the participants in the Super car show but since it was legitimately clarified by the organizers that it was not from the convoy, I never mentioned it officially.
Here is an exclusive slideshow from the accident -
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