Ranga Rohini, who describes herself as an architect and “urban sketcher”, spends more than an hour on Chennai’s city buses every day, travelling to and from work. In a series of sketches, she has cast an affectionate eye on the ubiquitous buses and the jostle they witness every day.
Rohini’s drawings, which she has been posting on her blog for the past year, are an endearing tribute to the humble public bus and the many ways in which commuters utilise its limited space. She drew the sketches, called “Stories in Transit”, while sitting in buses, and each drawing is accompanied by a line or two of Rohini’s thoughts.
“I take the bus every day, along with 50,00,000 other people, here in Chennai. Even if it means waiting under the hot sun at a shelter-less bus stop.”
“Even if it means letting go of a few buses because you don’t want to hang out on the footboard.”
“I started using the bus during my college days, first just to explore the city and then as a means of commuting,” said Rohini, who grew up in Coimbatore and Kuwait and came to live in Chennai seven years ago.
“It was always amazing to see how people transform the bus space to suit their own needs – mothers dropping children, flower vendors making garlands and even me, in the background, drawing my sketches,” she said. “There are times when strangers who see me sketching strike up a conversation, so it can be very interesting.”
“And when you do get a bus, for some of us it means going to schools carrying large bags...For others, it means getting some time to read the newspaper before starting the day.”
“Take the bus, for sometimes, you might just learn something useful from your fellow-passengers, rules of street football included.”
Rohini works at a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving public transport, and believes her observations during bus rides help her understand the problems people face.
“The buses are extremely overcrowded, so the first thing we need is more public transport,” said Rohini. “There is also a perception that buses are only for the poor, which is not true. We need to encourage more people to use buses.”
“I take the bus and see three of a family squeezed into a seat for two. And I know that it is possible to always make room for one more. I see a child, the rebellious fourth, standing tall and smiling from the joy of being able to stand alone, out of the reach of parents, seemingly independent. And it makes me smile. For I see myself through what I see in the world.”
Power to the women
A mother, holding
a child, sleeping,
a doting grandmother, watching.
A student, talking,
a friend, listening,
an office-goer, dozing.
A bus conductor, ticketing,
and an urban sketcher, drawing.
“Yet another day, yet another commute. Or so I thought. But it was not to be.
A twinkling blue light and a couple of what looked like fairy lights near the old driver got me curious. Twenty minutes and a sketch later, I went up to ask him about it. Apparently it is some sort of oil level indicator that blinks when the bus is on. He got so enthusiastic that he even stopped and restarted the bus just to show me how it worked, one last time to see the twinkling lights before I got off and went on my way. Amazing how people are willing to talk to you, if you just simply take an interest in their lives.”
“Always fun to start the day playing peek-a-boo with a baby.”