Rail against the machine

Valay Shende's Virar Fast depicts more than Mumbai's constant state of rush. Despite the struggle, there's empathy too

- SCHON MENDES

I'm drawn to Valay Shende's life-sized stainlesssteel sculpture Virar Fast. It depicts a group of men, shoved uncomfortably close, clinging to an invisible railing. The viewer is struck by the precarious hold they have on the imaginary bar and how they seem crammed into the constrained space. Yet, the figures seem willing to adjust and accommodate, aware and empathetic of each other's individual struggles. The train after which the work is named is conspicuously absent. It's represented only by the negative space surrounding the figures. But to anyone looking at Virar Fast, the commute, and what it means in Mumbai, is immediately obvious.