Beautification of the city’s lifeline

Over 25,000 Mumbaikars have come together in a drive to beautify the city’s railway stations. Armed with paintbrushes, the groups will be giving 36 Western and Central Railway line stations a face-lift

It is 10 am on a Sunday morning, and instead of the experiencing regular, light footfall, Santacruz railway station is a hub of activity. People of all ages can be found standing by the metal panels, or by the rusty iron oxide railings, armed with brushes, rollers and cans of paint.

The station is their canvas, and these 50-odd artists and volunteers have come together to create something beautiful for their city. It is not just the Santacruz station that is getting a facelift of this sort. In fact, as many as 36 stations across the city are being revamped, with the help of around 25,000 volunteers, who hail from all walks of life. The initiative, started as a collaboration between not-for-profit organisations Make a Difference and Mumbai First, spans over seven days, between October 2 and 8.

“The idea is not just to beautify the stations but to do something radical to change people’s beliefs,” says Shishir Joshi, CEO of Mumbai First.

While some of the volunteers are veteran artists, some are just interested in lending a helping hand, however they can. Take Rushabh Maru and his nine-year-old son, Tirth, for instance. The father-son duo were seen painting up a storm at Dadar station. “I am from the Kachhi Yuvak Sangh and we got together with MAD and Mumbai First for this project. We are also going to host a garba session at here on October 7,” he says.

While around 100 NGOs and corporate houses have come together for this project, word of mouth also played a role in rounding up a number of artists. Minakshi Mukherjee, who specialises in watercolour, as well as stained glass and oils, was approached by a representative of the Khar Residents Association to help turn one of the panels into a Waarli wonderland. “They came to talk to me last Sunday, and I thought it would be great to do something like this. I came by yesterday to create the outline for my design with chalk and now I’m just going to fill it in,” she says. Anupriya, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in applied art from JJ School of Art was roped in by her former physics teacher for the project. “I got to select two panels, and I’m also overseeing some of the staircase paintings. Since Santacruz has a music school, I thought I’d do a panel on musical instruments; the other is on Harry Potter,” she exudes.

“We have a lot of students from nearby schools like Podar, Bloomingdales and Jamnabai Narsee, coming in to paint. They planned their day in a way that they could do this before their studies started,” says Viren Shah, who is in charge of operations at Santacruz station. His friend and associate Ajay Bandali, who has also been a part of the project from the beginning, is also planning a musical evening at the station. “I love playing the dhol; it is a passion of mine. We also have a couple of singers among our numbers, so we’re planning to get together for a musical evening one of these days,” says the musician-cum-textile trader.

Joshi is hopeful that this initiative will not only help beautify these stations, but also make people think twice before littering. “Many have told me that people will just dirty the stations again. However, I think that the 25,000 people are coming for this project will have a sense of ownership towards the stations and therefore at least they will take the initiative to keep the stations clean as well,” he smiles.