Ravi Varmas on Rails

Indian Railways – The central government-owned Bharatiya Rail is the fourth largest railway network in the world. It owns and operates most of the country's rail transport.

Raja Ravi Varma – An Indian painter – His works are considered to be among the best examples of the fusion of Indian traditions with the techniques of European academic art.

The connection between the two – NIL!

But the people of India still believe that there is an evil side of Raja Ravi Varma (I mean no offence to the Raja himself) in each and every one of them…

Their canvas – the restrooms onboard trains!

I prefer trains for long journeys over buses – they take the more scenic routes, you can always walk around them, stretch your legs, and most of all, restrooms.

Although a frequent traveler, there is nothing that can make a train journey unpleasant for me, except for the really obscene pieces of ‘art and literature’ scribbled inside the restrooms on trains.

Take any random train, you will find atleast 5 restrooms displaying the private parts of women (and men!) and will also include a few phone numbers promising a “good time”! Even worse is the number of dialogues scribbled beneath them in English (with no regard for grammar or spellings! :P). This was initially restricted to the local trains and the general or sleeper class compartments. But recently have spread to even the first class trains. Some even feature a full color representation, complete with markers and sketch pens.

To give these “artists” some credit, some of them are funny purely because it makes you think how dumb these people are. On the Yeshwanthpur-Kochuveli Garib Rath Express you will find one restroom that says – “Women the age of 21-23 should have sex with men the age of 25”. It made me wonder – who in hell came up with that rule!

On local trains in which people commute daily to and from work, you can find elaborate conversations between two people throwing abuses at each other. This has been going on for so long that all the walls of the room are filled with dialogues and the whole thing could be made into a short story of two idiots. Also made me wonder that once the room is filled, will they leave a message for the other saying “continued in the restroom on coach S6”!

There is nothing much that Indian Railways can do about this (except maybe install cameras in restrooms! He he!). It is all in the hands (and minds) of each of us to ensure that this does not happen.

Why is it so difficult to understand that this is a public forum? There are so many women who are mothers, wives, girlfriends, and sisters, travelling by these trains daily. Would you enjoy it if your mother had to face such a situation? And it surely is not just the women who are disgusted by this. No man ever thinks that you are really smart if you offer your “services” by scribbling your phone number on a train’s restroom wall. Trust me!

So dear “artists, poets, and playwrights”, I have just one thing to say to you – GROW UP!!!