On January 4, many Delhiites had to abandon their odd numbered cars and opt for public transport to reach their destination, and many of them shared images of their journey.
And then this picture went viral on Twitter with the claim that this was the situation at Rajiv Chowk station due to the crowd:
Delhi metro Rajiv Chowk! Delhi in thralls of fun!#OddEvenPlan pic.twitter.com/pE7SRNAoUY
— Tattle Tale (@amritabhinder) January 4, 2016Veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai was among those who bought it:
Reports from metro at Rajiv Chowk not encouraging.Overcrowding leading to some chaos.Public transport still not ready for odd/even it seems.
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) January 4, 2016But it turned out the image wasn’t a real one. This picture was originally taken by a Hindustan Times photographer during Diwali 2014. Here’s the original image tweeted by the paper:
Heavy rush at Delhi’s Rajiv Chowk Metro Station on the eve of Diwali. (Photo: Sunil Saxena/Hindustan Times) #ht pic.twitter.com/2kwKF0r2CY
— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) October 22, 2014Some helpfully pointed out what it was really like at Rajiv Chowk on Monday (and it turned out it was nothing like the fake one):
Just In : People boarding metro at Rajiv Chowk station on yellow line. #OddEvenMovement #LiveTweet pic.twitter.com/fVq62pm28b
— NBT Dilli (@NBTDilli) January 4, 2016And then Twitterati had a ball with tweets like :
1 – Overcrowding in Delhi Rajiv Chowk Station 2 – Overcrowding in Mumbai Dadar Station pic.twitter.com/Wblx0jZUQh
— सर श्री श्री Magal (@jhunjhunwala) January 4, 2016More pics coming in from Rajiv Chowk. Situation looks grim. Comeback possible in second half. pic.twitter.com/NwwZ88sRro
— dorku (@Dorkstar) January 4, 2016Getting late for work at Rajiv chowk pic.twitter.com/chSKZg1RCk
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) January 4, 2016AAPtard: Bhakts posting fake pics of Rajiv Chowk! In real, people are enjoying and dancing all over. #OddEven pic.twitter.com/rz0i2GbbDh
— Keh Ke Peheno (@coolfunnytshirt) January 4, 2016@Being_Humor #rajivchowk at 3 pm #OddEvenFormula pic.twitter.com/aX7RxrmizS
— shiva (@hshivakumar) January 4, 2016Whoa! At Rajiv Chowk , Crowd goes mad as one guy tried to escape. pic.twitter.com/atVpdNll4b
— Tempest (@ColdCigar) January 4, 2016This is Rajiv Chowk metro station at the moment, no mad rush, business as usual. #PropgandaBusted pic.twitter.com/AoQzzT8mkM
— Rofl Gandhi (@RoflGandhi_) January 4, 2016Rajiv Chowk as on 1:30 PM. Thoughts and prayers! pic.twitter.com/37z56SXqHj
— kafanchor neta (@prtxt) January 4, 2016.@prtxt #RajivChowkRightNow pic.twitter.com/O1e5DvDwg7
— Gone Native (@_GoneNative) January 4, 2016Adnan Sami, before and after boarding at Rajiv Chowk (New Delhi). #OddEvenFormula pic.twitter.com/qrDpQmRIRB
— PS (@pranavsapra) January 4, 2016And even Rajdeep Sardesai ended his day with a laugh about the matter:
Why are Twitter friends using ‘fake’ pics of metro crowds in Delhi? Thought twitter didn’t do such things? 😄😄
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) January 4, 2016
