What began as an ordinary Monday morning commute in Delhi quickly descended into confusion, frustration and spontaneous protest as the city's Metro network around Jantar Mantar ground to a halt.
By 7 am, Mandi House Metro station resembled a railway platform during the Diwali rush. Office-goers, students and travellers packed the concourse, only to discover that exit gates had been shut without warning.
Similar scenes unfolded across central Delhi after the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) closed Rajiv Chowk, Patel Chowk, Central Secretariat, Mandi House, Seva Teerth and other stations over security concerns ahead of the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) march to Parliament.
Barakhamba Road emerged as one of the few operational stations in the area, drawing even larger crowds and bringing traffic to a standstill at the nearby lightpoint.
For thousands of commuters, the disruption turned into a prolonged ordeal. Many remained stranded inside stations for hours, unable to exit even after completing their journey.
At Patel Chowk, the area outside the station was heavily barricaded and cordoned off, while trains skipped scheduled stops at Rajiv Chowk, leaving passengers scrambling to find alternative routes.
The confusion soon gave way to anger. Inside several stations, passengers raised slogans, climbed over barricades and metal detectors, and demanded to be let out.
Metro concourses, designed to move people efficiently, became unexpected sites of protest as stranded commuters vented their frustration over the sudden restrictions.
Outside the closed stations, hundreds searched for alternatives. People arriving from New Delhi Railway Station, interstate bus terminals and the airport found their usual routes blocked and were forced to walk long distances or rely on buses, auto-rickshaws and cabs.
Navigation apps became indispensable as commuters repeatedly recalculated routes through an increasingly restricted city centre.
The shutdown also exposed unexpected logistical hurdles. With mobile signal jammers reportedly affecting digital transactions near the high-security zone, many ticket counters accepted only cash.
Long queues formed as commuters who normally relied on UPI payments scrambled for currency, adding another layer of delay to an already chaotic morning.
"I left home nearly an hour earlier than usual to avoid the Monday rush, but now I have to walk to another metro station," said Amit Sharma, an office-goer stranded near Janpath.
College student Riya Verma, who arrived with two classmates, said they found the station gates locked with little information available.
"Now we're trying to figure out another route to reach college," she said.
One commuter posted on X, saying, "Every closed gate today created another bottleneck, every barricade another detour, and every disrupted commute became a reminder that Delhi's vast transit system can itself become the stage on which public frustration unfolds."