Another Bangalore saga of Art and Railways

Reinventing the wheel

    another Bangalore saga

 

My coffee-table book, "Reinventing the wheel, another Bangalore saga" is almost complete.

As I mentioned earlier in this blog, it chronicles the extraordinary experiment of  creating and promoting Art in the industrial setting of Rail Wheel Factory.

 

The book cover

A painting by Gujjar, the well-known cartoonist and painter

 

Let me start with our oft repeated a cliché. Indian  Railways (IR) has always been an unintended fountainhead of art and culture, reflecting the  unique heritage and multi-cultural ethos of our country. I and Lily said it in our previous book, “Art & Railways, a Bangalore Saga”.  We had started the Art movement, Safar, in the year 2011,  and looking at its success and appeal among Railway men and travelling public alike, chronicled the experiment this coffee-table book. Later, we parted ways and I landed in Germany for  a stint in the Embassy of India, handling IR’s post-contractual works all over the world.  A relatively stress-free job but it involved extensive travelling. It helped me acquire a new perspective on Art in so many unusual and unlikely settings. A warehouse here, an eatery there, a shrine yonder.

I was back in  Bangalore after three years and odd months. But far way from  any exposure to public this time, in the Rail Wheel Factory. It is arguably one of the most automated and disciplined factories of IR, and that fascinated me. Even as I immersed myself in learning to work here and contribute early in my tenure, the prosaic colourless  work notwithstanding, a frequent flurry of extraordinary visuals in the factory kept  intriguing me. Can I give some purpose to  this likely short stint, before I move elsewhere, apart from  making more and more wheels? Something more lyrical and enduring? Can I find Art here? Can I help the workers here show Art to the world?

The procrastination and uncertainty continued till a day came when I was taking a walk in the factory with Dr. M.S.Murthy. What the redoubtable Dr. observed and what followed, over some months, quickly and with flourish, is the subject of this book.

 

It starts with some remembrances from the previous experiment, Safar, in Bangalore Railway space. And then a detailing of what has been done at the factory.

 

Murals of factory walls

Sculptures in the premises

Scrap metal Artwork

Wheels in sculptures

Participation of RWF staff/Formation of the Art Club

The Art camp itself

RWF children and graffiti

Contribution of NGOs

Heritage cum Art Gallery

 

 

 

Syed Kirmani, the great cricketer, at the Art Camp

 

 

I cannot sketch or paint.  I am not formally trained to appreciate Art. So  some of my close friends ask me if  this obsession with Art is an exercise in self aggrandizement. Far from it. I have understood, over time, that creating a work of art is not easy. Giving a form to your mind’s eye is an exacting demand. And this is the challenge an artist accepts and goes about his work. Now, most artists seek and scout for inspiration from their surroundings, which makes them view things from a different prism. And  an artwork is born which opens new vistas, a glimpse here and a glimpse there of things which you could never see before, even if they were always present just there! This makes the creation of an artwork so very exciting.

The feeling of creating , and therefore also viewing, something extraordinary from the mundane is intoxicating beyond measure. This is the reason I pursue this madness. And once I find like-minded colleagues, like I did in Bangalore division and now in Rail Wheel factory, we go ahead. Come and join us in reinventing the wheel.

I wish to thank all the RWF Art Club members for their extraordinary response, Mr. Ajay Singh, for rare photos of RWF and beyond, Mr. Peter Shanthaveera, as the bridge between me and all the artists, Mr. Mohan Kumar, who is a great technical brain and is now an artist himself, M/s Shivaprakash & Umachandran, the photographers, and of course, the mercurial, Mr. Dawson, the graphic designer of the book.