See ‘The Commuters’ At CSMVS

Photo: Chirodeep Chaudhuri.

As tedious as a commute can be, it offers the opportunity to nap, work the phone, read and most often, stare out the window and tune out completely. In photographer Chirodeep Chaudhuri’s charming new show The Commuters, currently on display at the Curator’s Gallery of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly The Prince of Wales Museum), his subjects faithfully display the habits of humans when enduring the daily schlep to work. For 18 months, Chaudhuri, who is the national photo editor of Time Out India, shot the person in the seat across from him in the men’s compartment, amassing some 750 portraits as his 10.03am train trundled towards CST from Thane. Scan the black-and-white portraits, of which only 56 are on display, and you may well recognise the types: there’s the napper, who slowly nods off after a wide-mouthed yawn; the ambidextrous texter, working two phones at once; the starer, here a chubby-faced fella who appears to be the only one suspiscious of Chaudhuri’s lens. “I don’t think people would realise they were being shot,” says Chaudhuri. This allowed him to often take multiple frames with relative ease. Our only kvetch with the show is that some of the best pictures have been left out, included instead in the accompanying book, a novel-sized collection of Chaudhuri’s commuters (it features a wonderful shot of a ear-tufted gentleman, his head inches away from the scrawl of a massage boy’s mobile number on the wall behind). Until Sunday, April 29, the book The Commuters will be available for Rs1,500 at the museum, after which the price increases to Rs2,500.

You can order a copy of The Commuters by emailing Chaudhuri at c.chirodeep@gmail.com.

CSMVS

LocationCurators' Gallery
First Floor
159/61 M. G. Road
Kala Ghoda

Phone2284 4484

Relevant DatesUntil Sunday, April 29

HoursTuesday to Sunday, 10.15am to 6pm; Monday closed

Ticketing & Price InfoRs30 for Indians, Rs300 for foreigners

Websitewww.themuseummumbai.com