Poems on the underground

Even the Shanghai Metro supposedly transforms its train carriages and stations into moving art galleries by displaying classic and contemporary poetry. REPRESENTATION PIC/Istock

I sometimes try and imagine what life in Bombay would be like if we were kinder, more patient people. I acknowledge the gullibility of that wish, given how difficult it is to function in a city that does not encourage kindness, but I think about it, nonetheless. Whenever this happens, one of the solutions that comes to mind involves access to art or literature. I hold on to this fond and foolish notion that people who can experience something profound may start to look at the world differently.

It's not as if I am aware of how little we value art in India, of course, given our traditional disdain for what our forefathers have left us. But still, whenever I look at cities that manage to pull this off, I am compelled to ask if it's merely a question of cause and effect. Would we appreciate art or literature more if we just had more of it in our daily lives?

There are some precedents that point the way towards how this could be done, if we were to take it seriously. Consider London, for example, where a project that began in 1986 continues to have a subtle impact on how people in that city commute. The idea of ‘Poems on the Underground' came into being because some writers believed that poetry ought to have a wider audience. I applaud the determination with which they brought this to life, because I know it couldn't have been easy. As we have seen for many decades in Bombay, great ideas have little value or meaning if they can't be executed, and almost none of them can when there is some form of bureaucracy involved.

I suppose those writers in England must have worked on multiple proposals, changed them a few dozen times, and banged their foreheads in frustration for months before meeting with limited success. What matters, ultimately, is that they prevailed, and that they initiated a project that continues to inspire others. There are multiple cities around the world that have tried to replicate that model over the years, from Paris and Dublin to Oslo, Toronto, Barcelona, Mexico, Vienna, Singapore, and a few other cities across America. Even the Shanghai Metro supposedly transforms its train carriages and stations into moving art galleries by displaying classic and contemporary poetry.

Unfortunately, any happy thoughts about bringing a version of this to Bombay are almost immediately undercut by the knowledge that it is doomed to fail. I'm not trying to imply that this is a city of philistines; far from it. I'm simply referring to the hard-won knowledge that this is a city where good intentions often die when confronted with the brick walls of the BMC and the government of Maharashtra. Remnants of these ideas are scattered throughout the city and can be observed on rides through any suburb. Take your pick from abandoned murals, meaningless installations, or confusing public sculpture. I'm sure they must have all begun with the hope of bringing something beautiful to the people.

Let's assume a project like ‘Poems on the Local' were to come into being by some massive stroke of luck. Let's assume some politician were to sign off on it and allocate a small amount of money for it. What are the chances that the poems themselves would start to become controversial within a year or, more realistically, a few months before an election? How long would it take before someone started to take offence at the poems that had been chosen? How long until there would be demands for some poems to be rejected in favour of others, or for some languages to be given more attention, or for some poets to be removed from the list entirely for perceived slights? Also, how soon would funds start to be misappropriated?

Then there's the possibility of vandalism, a risk that appears to have existed since I first began taking local trains a few decades ago. It often seems to me as if the people of this city have a perverse need to damage anything that appears to be clean or beautiful. It's why even a designated World Heritage Site like the Elephanta Caves struggles to escape from the unwanted gaze of people who insist on scratching their names on the walls of those ancient cave temples.

Maybe I'm just too much of a pessimist, but I still hope for change and the possibility of something that can make Bombayites stop and smile for a minute.

When he isn't ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He can be contacted at www.lindsaypereira.com
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The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper.