From a chartered accountant, teacher to an electrical engineer, 12 women from across the country have come together in the capital to paint a wall at Dwarka Sector-14 Metro station on the role the city’s lifeline plays in women’s safety. The theme is ‘City of Women’.
Vedica Foundation, a Delhi-based non-profit organisation focusing on the well-being of women in association with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, helms the project to promote women’s inclusivity ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8.
The foundation has hired an all-woman design team called Nori Narrative and an art page on Instagram ‘Chronicle of Colours’ for the project.
“The common perception is that Delhi is not safe for women, but we don’t want them to hold back because of this perception. We want to promote women’s mobility in the city,” said Shruthi Maheshwari (24), the co-founder of Chronicle of Colours.
“The Delhi Metro has played a huge role as a mode of safe conveyance for women in the city. Even if it is late at night, it makes me feel safe while travelling,” she said.
The mural, on the wall at gate 1 of the Metro station, represents public activities a woman can indulge in, both during the day and night.
Maheshwari, an artist who graduated from DU’s Rajdhani college with English Honours and later won a diploma in design at National Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi, hails from Uttar Pradesh’s Meerapur.
“When I first started the Instagram page for the company in 2018, it was just a hobby, but for a year, it has become my career,” she said.
She stated how art helped her heal during tough times and lifted her health and the dream of painting walls in the city.
Many self-taught women had different primary jobs but chose to take some time off to partake in creating the wall mural. They said what it represented was of great importance to them.
“I travelled to Delhi only to paint this wall… when I started painting, I asked myself why I did not take this seriously, this is my passion and I would like to paint all the walls across the country,” said Akanksha Agarwal (27) from Maharashtra, an assistant professor of marketing and management at a college.
Shreya (28), a teacher at an Air Force school in Agra, also travelled to Delhi for the project. “I want to support my family by teaching in the school, but I also want to follow my heart… the pandemic posed several challenges, and I asked myself if teaching is what I wanted to do? I like painting wings on the wall and it is my first wall mural ever,” said Shreya.
“I believe the Delhi Metro is safer than taking a cab or an auto,” said Pooja Ashwan (20) who hails from Ghaziabad. She is an electrical engineer and said she wants to explore her passion for mural painting further.
Although all the women hail from different states and backgrounds, the glue that binds them is their belief— “Delhi is as much a woman’s city as a man’s.”
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