The News Minute | January 13, 2014 | 02:29 pm IST Taking the metro on Sunday afternoon turned to be a surprise for commuters in the city. Over 15 people were commuting with them- just that this group was in formal shirts teamed with boxers. The odd pairing was a conscious statement- the group was taking part in the Global No Pants Subway Ride movement, which is an annual event held on the second Sunday of every year. This is the third consecutive year in which the event was held in Bengaluru. "The idea was to surprise the commuters, to create a positive chaos", said Saurav Arya, who runs a design agency and was one of the participants. "We wanted to surprise the people", he added. The surprise worked as commuters seemed curious and clueless, he said. However, Arya makes it very clear that the event was not meant to promote any cause. "The idea was to just create organised fun", he stated. The 'No Pants Subway Ride' was started by Improv Everywhere, a performance art group in New York City, in 2002. Since then, it has been catching up with the rest of the world. "In India, I think Bengaluru is the only city to take part in the event", Arya said. Arya has been asked several times whether organising such an event in India, where cases of rape and other crimes against women is soaring, made any sense. To which he said, "Several countries across the world are taking part in the event. If we didn't participate, it would probably mean that there's something wrong with us. Besides our objective was never to be offend anyone."The rules for the event were however, tweaked a little for India. Instead of commuting in their undergarments, they decided to don boxers. "Our intention was to stand out in the way we dressed up. So we decided to team formal shirts with boxers", says Manisha, a consultant and participant in the event. There were other women too who took part in the event and travelled in the metro with them, but Manisha was the only woman who commuted in her boxers. "For me it was an expression of freedom. We live in a democracy and we have the right to wear what we want. Of course in our country, a woman's clothes are associated with her her safety, but a woman can wear anything without always necessarily attracting attention", she asserted. As Manisha puts it, "the idea of the event was to celebrate sillyness". TweetFollow @thenewsminute