Commuters at the Guindy railway station on Sunday felt they were in an art gallery rather than a busy EMU station as several youngsters got busy, applying broad strokes of graffiti and wall art on different parts of the station. This was an attempt to sensitise the people on maintaining the cleanliness of such public spaces.
In an attempt to increase awareness regarding the need for keeping urban public spaces and utility centres clean, especially railway stations, the youngsters from a city-based NGO that goes by the name, The Candles embarked on a day long project to repaint prominent walls of the railway station on the weekend.
The project, which was supported by Nippon Paints, garnered steam since Saturday night with more than 40 volunteers giving a fresh and youthful facelift to the local station.
Angelin Prince, a volunteer with the team, who had been on night watch at the station since Saturday tells us, "We were keen on conducting this painting activity in order to tell Chennaiites the need for keeping our public places clean and tidy. We also wanted to inspire more youngsters to come forth and help us paint these walls so that it instils a sense of ownership for such spaces among the youth." She adds, "We decided to pick up motifs that are popular in Chennai such as the chai kadai, the auto rickshaws, the trucks, the kites and so on.
The team from a popular chain of restaurants decided to provide free catering to the volunteers who toiled for several days together to get this project going. Next up, the team intends to replicate this model of urban art in other stations as well, with the hope that citizens would begin caring more about such spaces that are used, and at times abused on a daily basis.