An Indecisive Indian

Creativity is contagious.  So pass it on. (lines stolen from Einstein)   I may not be a painter with a brush or a sculptor with chisel in hand, but I do know how to carry an idea—carefully, faithfully—across the distance from thought to reality. Fresh from our successful foray into the unlikely marriage of Art and Industry, a journey that first took root back in 2011 at Bangalore station, I find myself once again standing on the edge of a new adventure. Am I ready to push the envelope? Without a doubt. Today, I helm the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai—the crown jewel of Indian Railways’ train-building might. This isn’t just a factory; it’s a throbbing citadel of steel and strength. A workforce five times the size of Rail Wheel Factory, Bangalore, which was my last port of call and where I experimented with Art in an indistrial setting for the first time. A yearly output of over 2,500 train carriages—making it, arguably, one of the most prolific in the...

      (this sketch is the best tribute ever paid to me by anyone)   Let me start with a cliché, oft repeated by us. Indian   Railways (IR) has always been an unintended fountainhead of art and culture, reflecting the unique heritage and multi-cultural ethos of our country. Lily Pandeya & I 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 in 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.   ...