Tram image artwork: Jhumur Chitrakar

enroute Gariahat- Esplanade- Shyambazar > > > free travel 10.30am to 5.30pm on 28/29/30 March

Melbourne conductor Roberto D’Andrea and a troupe of ‘connies’ guide ticketed conversations aboard a free tram transformed by artist Sumantra Mukherjee and patua Sarna Chitrakar.

Festival Tram route for Sundarban Tramjatra Festival. Running between Shyambazar, Esplanade (Festival Hub) and Gariahat on Friday 28, Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 March 2025. Image credit: Neal Haslem

The map below shows the potential of Kolkata’s tramways, developed by David Benko, a tram driver from Vienna and recent visitor to Kolkata, who praised the good condition existing tram tracks of the Kolkata tramways.

The Sundarban Tramjatra Festival Tram is a powerfully poetic immersive artwork created by Sumantra Mukherjee and patua Sarna Chitrakar.

Sumantra Mukherjee is an artist making imagery reflecting his surroundings in contemporary Indian society through painting, drawing, illustration and graphic novels for children, posters, murals and mixed media sculpture for initiating dialogues between the arts and common people through their responses and expressions. Sumatra chooses his subjects through emphatic involvement and understanding of the difficulties and changes locally around him, allowing the local public, not necessarily interested in artistic practice, to be involved with the imageries that he creates.

Sarna Chitrakar is a Patachitra artist from West Midnapur of West Bengal. She learnt painting from her father, and has five daughters who are all patuas. Sarna and many other patuas from her village began working with the tramjatra project in the year 2000. Her fourth daughter, born during the 2001 tramjatra exchange program in Kolkata and Melbourne, was nick-named ‘tram-baby’. With her courageous adaptability, creativity and integrity, Sarna has gained national and international recognition. She is a strong influence of economic and social empowerment amongst village women artists in West Bengal and India.

Roberto D’Andrea, co-curator of the festival, is the well known Melbourne ‘connie’ that has jumped aboard Calcutta trams to champion their environmental virtues since 1995. Roberto is joined by a troupe of ‘connies’ both Bengali and Australian that guide ticketed conversations aboard the free Festival Tram. A yarning exchange gets underway with people on the streets and aboard the moving carriage, prompted by tickets inspiring awareness of biodiversity, climate, and sustainable urban transport, and the special entanglement of the Sundarban and Kolkata.

Esplanade Tram Terminus > > > 4pm to 9pm on 28/29/30 March

Free events within an installation by artist Sumantra Mukherjee and team.

4pm > community workshops with Melbourne designers Rob Eales and Neal Haslem, Mumbai designer Sangeeth Sankar, and Kolkata NGO ThoughtShop Foundation.

6pm > soundscapes of the Sundarban by sound artist Pratyay Raha

6.30pm > discussions hosted by filmmaker Ashok Viswanathan with renowned Kolkatans.

7.30pm > theatre and music performances with Sundarban folk musicians, musical theatre written by Rejesh Shinde, and Kolkata musicians performing tram songs.

Workshops Friday-Saturday-Sunday 4pm at the Esplanade Festival Hub

Playful participatory games that build self-empowering skills in the face of climate change.

Workshop 1 CONNECTED LIFE

Youth workshop discovering the role of different species within ecosystems, led by ThoughtShop Foundation. Imagine you are responsible for the care of another species, a totem animal species that you were bound to protect and nurture like your own children. Through making a personal badge and role-play games, youths learn about the role of different mammals and birds in Sundarban ecosystems.

Make your badge of an animal or bird from the Sundarban with our stencils Play the role of your totem Share your understanding.

Participation: Fully Booked, but you can enjoy watching!

This workshop is part of the youth game-based education program of the Kolkata based ThoughtShop Foundation.

Workshop 2 SIGNALS AND CHANGES

People Places Changes

Workshop in telling stories of climate justice and resilience, led by Mumbai designer Sangeeth Sankar.

Can you imagine the kinds of choices we might need to make in a climate-changed world of displacement and urban transformation? Using special illustrated playing cards, participants join a group to make stories responding to challenging future scenarios with creative collective intelligence. Let your story ride the tramlines of people, place, and change.

Pick a card, one card each from the decks Tell a story connecting the cards Write down the story with words, sketches, or poetic fragments Share the stories and discover shared insights.

Participation: All welcome!

Workshop supported by BITS Design, Mumbai

Workshop 3 PRINT YOUR TICKET FOR CHANGE

Workshop in slow printing and thinking through personal responses to climate change, led by Melbourne designer Rob Eales.

What role can the mix of old and new technologies play in creating a carbon-neutral future? Slow down, talk and share ideas, dreams and hopes while using letterpress printing to make your own ticket of commitment toward sustainable change.

1 Wait here by 4pm daily to join the workshop.

2 Pause to think about the prompt of the day.

Friday: What three things connect your heart to the Sundarbans? Saturday: What three gifts would I bring to the wedding of Kolkata and Sundarban? Sunday: What are three sustainable blessings I seek for the future of Kolkata?

3 Write down three words in response, and your given name

4 Take a ‘type stick’, and put on gloves

5 Set’ your type Letters are backward! Words go right to left. Start at the right and go to the left! The ‘notch’ goes onto the bottom

6 Print your ticket with the printer

7 Tear and punch, a ticket for you, a ticket for the printer!

Participation: All welcome! Wait by the workshop station by 4pm daily.

Workshop supported by Commoners Press and RMIT University, Melbourne.