This Eye-Opening Photo Series Highlights How Different Delhi Is Since The '84 Sikh Riots

    "A lot of families are still reeling from the riots and still refuse to talk about it because it happened 'so long ago'."

    Sonia Mariam Thomas
    by Sonia Mariam Thomas

    BuzzFeed Staff, India

    Engineer and photographer Sajid Raza Khan has been in New Delhi since 1978.

    Sajid Raza Khan

    He used to be a civil engineer with the Delhi Development Authority and sold his photographs to publications on the side.

    In 1984, he happened to be around during the riots that hit the city after Indira Gandhi's assassination. The pictures he took at the time stayed with him.

    Sajid Raza Khan

    "When I retired from my job last year, I decided to go back to those places and see what happened to them because I never got to publish the photographs," Khan told BuzzFeed.

    "Those places have changed beyond measure today. They were even unrecognisable to the point that we couldn't even spot some of them. I wanted to show that difference through these photos," he added.

    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan

    "Doing this project over the two months that it took was extremely depressing for me as I had to relive the horror I witnessed all those years ago."

    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan

    Though Khan had completed the project in 2015, he released the photos only this year as he realised many galleries didn't want to talk about the riots.

    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan

    "A lot of families are still reeling from the riots and still refuse to talk about it because it happened so long ago," he said.

    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan
    Sajid Raza Khan