RailEnquiry

NAGPUR: Every child has held in awe the sight of a train, whistling and winding its way through the seemingly unending tracks. Something with an astounding legacy, a part of many a story, the Indian Railways has been an unalienable part of the lives of Indians.

Rail Kala Sangam, a rail-art festival organized by the Nagpur Division of Central Railways along with Central Railway Cultural Academy and South Central Zone Cultural Centre, is an attempt to celebrate this unique place of Indian Railways on the occasion of Republic Day.
Artists from different parts of the country have come together to express their feelings about the railways on canvas. "It is the lifeline of the country and has become as important as food or water," said HP Dhaduk, an artist from Surat.

Deep insights and happy memories seemed to have inspired the works of the artists gathered at the Railways Officer's Rest House in Civil Lines. "Rail is not only for the rich or the poor. Even though in the train there are different bogies, in the end they travel on the same tracks. It is a great unifier," said Raghvendra Patil from Bangalore.

His painting, depicting a track going through slums on one side and high rises on the other, spoke for the thoughts of its creator. "It's impressionism. That's how we see things when we pass through the city, we never see definite shapes of the buildings," Patil said.

City artist Vikas Joshi's painting is about the fond bond which a child has with trains. "My painting is based on the famous Marathi poem 'Mamachya gaavala jau ya' in which a train takes the child to his beloved uncle's place. Train has always been the means to reach our loved ones and hence, is a special part of our life," he said.

Trains as a part of our life is an idea explored by many, but CH Kanakadurgeshwar Rao from Vishakhapatnam has equated human life with the journey of a train. He explained, "Our life and trains, both go through a journey. There are blurred and jagged lines on the outline of the train. They signify the troubles of our life."

While some paintings overtly showed their connection to the rail, some were more subtle. But the subtlety didn't go unnoticed. The blue and dark maroon coloured canvas of another city artist Shashikant Rewade caught the eye and related to trains. "The colours are flowing into each other to depict the mobility of the trains," he said.

Yet, to get their finishing touches, these paintings promise to give a fresh perspective of what railways means. From the classic platforms to the engine smoke engulfing the surroundings, the artists have given their own touch to the phenomena that the Indian Railways is. The paintings will be exhibited on Sunday from 11am at the newly constructed waiting hall at the Wardha end of platform number one at Nagpur railway station.