Behave OK please: Ad man’s message to Delhi Metro commuters

Behave OK please: ad man’s message to Delhi Metro commuters

Irked by Metro commuters’ disregard for travel etiquettes, a Dwarka-based advertising professional in collaboration with an artist has come up with a series of tongue-in-cheek brand of digital posters on the theme.

Officials-at-the-Ghitorni-station-were-caught-collecting-tokens-from-passengers-at-exit-gates-and-reselling-them-to-other-passengers-Pankaj-Savita-HT-File-Photo

Manish Minglani, fed up of the ordeal of driving through traffic all the way to his office in Gurgaon, decided to try the Metro last June. He thought it would be a comfortable ride allowing him to think and read. It was anything but that.

“People were pushing, shoving, breaking queues and fighting for seats. I found passengers’ behaviour both funny and appalling. After a few days, I wanted to quit travelling by the Metro,” said Minglani, an associate creative director with a multinational firm.

However, he did not. Instead, he decided to hold up a mirror to the rude behaviour.

In October, Minglani and his artist friend Ashwani Nagar began observing and making drawings of passengers at the Rajiv Chowk station. The result is the 12-poster satirical series called ‘Life in a Metro’

Each of them has a strong message such as ‘Loot sako to loot lo’ (grab it if you can), ‘Laila Majnu’ ‘Taak jhaank’ (snooping) and ‘Dharna Pradarshan’ (staging a protest).

While ‘Loot sako to loot lo’ shows a maddening scramble to grab a seat in a Metro coach, ‘Taak Jhaank’ depicts how passengers around you try to surreptitiously see what you are reading or doing on your phone.

‘Laila Majnu’ shows a young couple using the space between ladies’ coach and the second coach to spend some moments of ‘togetherness’. ‘Dharna Pradarshan’ shows people sitting on the floor with all their luggage , blocking everyone’s way.

There are others titled ‘Aise na mujhe tum dekho’ (don’t look at me like that), ‘Superpower‘ and ‘Show stopper‘.

Highlighting that art has been pivotal in conveying social messages, he said the idea behind the series was to make people feel ashamed of their actions.

The result was just as he intended with the posters going viral as soon as he uploaded them on Facebook.

“Many people wrote on the page admitting that they were guilty of this kind of behavior, and promised not to repeat it,” says Minglani who still commutes by the Metro.

He is hopeful that Delhiites will one day change their ways. “This will happen, though it may take time,” he said.