Many moons ago while I was a child, Indian Railways was the only mode of long distance travel. I always looked forward to my travel to boarding school by train. We travelled sleeper class and it was a luxury to be able to get a window seat.

What we saw in those long hours in the train is still ingrained in my memory. Observing costumes in different cities, visuals of long winding electrical and postal wires playing on an infinite loop, a sighting of an Indian Roller bird was considered lucky as was throwing coins in the Ganges.

I enjoyed observing the fields and towns that came our way, right from cities like Varanasi, Itawa to Lucknow and Haridwar. Taking a long distance train from my home town Daltonganj was always the beginning of an interesting journey, be it a steam engine or my short trip on a diesel locomotive; these were moments I enjoyed and they were my window to the outside world.

What you couldn’t ever miss were the porters in their red shirts and gold arm bands. There was something about the red and the gold and it has inspired me to bring out this whimsical range as an ode to Indian Railways aka भारतीय रेल

Once the pandemic is over, I look forward to a long train journey to the furthest point in India!

Images hand printed by silkscreen, 100% wood free and recycled paper pages.