Creativity is contageous!

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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 world. Behind every gleaming coach stands a formidable army of skilled, dedicated men and women, their commitment as strong as the steel they shape.

 
 
Trains have romance. Wheels have their own quiet magic. But building trains? That’s a different symphony altogether. Who wants to merely replicate—produce an identic copy—even if it’s an encore of one’s own triumph? Far better to craft something like a duple: familiar in form, yet fresh in soul. I’m riding high on this wave of buoyancy, and the days ahead will tell their own story.



Murals in the Chennai Rail Museum 
(got it renamed from earlier Regional Rail Museum)




 

 
Murals at the Factory gates
 
       
This is going to be the new signature of ICF

Ladies and gentlemen, this is but the curtain-raiser—a tantalising glimpse before the grand spectacle unfolds. The experiment has just been set in motion, the first chords struck in what promises to be a rousing symphony. It’s still early days, yes—but already the stage is alive with promise, the first scenes playing out with a confidence that makes the heart quicken.

Walk into ICF today and you can feel it—an electricity in the air, a low, irresistible hum as if the very walls are whispering, “Something’s coming.” The clang of metal is sharper, the rhythm of work more purposeful, and every face seems lit with that rare mix of pride and anticipation.

So, take a look—let your eyes feast on what we’ve begun. And then, hold your breath. Because this is only the prologue. The main act is on its way… and I’ll be back to take you ringside.

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