Monalisa Patsani
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: East Coast Railways and Bakul Foundation have taken up an initiative to beautify Bhubaneswar railway station and transform it into an “art station”. Efforts to beautify the interiors of the railway station are on for the past couple of months. As a part of the drive – divided into phases – school children and art students have been roped in to paint the walls of platform number 6.
Those alighting from trains or entering the platform would be greeted by the paintings on the walls and would get to know about the state’s rich heritage and culture through them. The wall paintings showcase the state’s unique cultural and religious heritage.
While the idea of an art station is novel and has been widely appreciated, changing the filthy habits of some people is proving to be an uphill task in the effort to beautify the railway station. An artist spends hours painting on a wall, which is defaced in seconds by beetle stains.
Apart from the fact that some of the walls bearing the paintings have been defaced by beetle stains complaints are also pouring in of people urinating on them! We can’t change the habits of people overnight,” said Sujit Mohapatra, founder of Bakul Foundation.
“Our objective is to transform Bhubaneswar station into an art station. That is why the different phases of the initiative have different themes. In the first phase the artists painted on the outer walls of the platform. Their theme was Swachh Bharat. In the next phase the theme was ‘Gateway of Orissa’, the idea being that when people got down at the station they would get a glimpse of the beauty and aesthetic diversity of the state through the visual treats.”
Mohapatra sounded a little upset when he said that the drive was being subverted to an extent by the filthy habits of those who care a fig for keeping public spaces clean, forget beautifying them. “We started out with the objective of creating an art station. It would never be realised if people spit and urinate on the walls. We hope people surely would not want to deface the walls with beautiful paintings on them,” he said.
In the second phase artists painted the iconic aspects of each of the 30 districts of the state on the inner walls of platform number 6.
The theme for the third phase of the drive, which is currently under way, is ‘Human Train’. It represents a train departing Orissa. Interestingly, the painting of the human train shows a woman driver. The walls are being filled with scenes from a railway station and the activities inside a train compartment are graphically captured.
Dwelling on the remaining phases of the initiative, Mohapatra said, “In the next phase we will paint the stairs and ceilings of the platform. At first we will cover all the stairs of the platforms as painting on them would be easier than the ceilings. We will begin from platform number 1. However, the date for commencing the work has not been finalised yet.”