Vast expanses of the city have been turned into painted canvases in the name of street art and beautification projects. Like so many efforts that we’ve seen in the past, will this be a planned, sustained idea, or remain an ad hoc, rushed paint job that will soon be forgotten?
A painted wall along the Eastern Express Highway in Vikhroli
Call it disbelief, lack of faith or plain suspicion. But over the years, the mind of an urban dweller and cityscape worrier has been trained to not trust that something might actually be for the common good and that a long-drawn, well thought out and sustained effort remains a pipe dream. We have every reason to stick to that belief.
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Take for example the days when we, albeit somewhat foolishly, believed that spaces outside every suburban railway station would be spruced up and ‘chakachak’ after one or two locations got the lucky ticket. Or, when we noticed cleaner and pedestrian-friendly footpaths in some parts, and imagined, it would be a smoother, happily-ever-after for the weary-soled folk elsewhere. Another development that’s caught our eye—in not-so-cool-fashion—has been the lit-up installations that are perched alongside street lights across the city and suburbs. Clearly, briefs to whoever it might have been, appear to be as diverse as chalk and cheese, as far as aesthetics go. The subject of traffic island ‘art installations’ will require a separate column, I suspect because to call most of them as eyesores would mean to address the issue as a minor one.
For a while now, this columnist has been noticing an increase in the number of brightly coloured paint jobs across the city’s under-flyovers, boundary walls that line the highways and main arterial roads. There does not seem to be a systematic thought while commissioning these projects, because while in some places we’ve spotted odes to India’s sporting heroes, in others there are random ugly replications of our landmarks, or messages to save the environment. With regards to the last topic, it’s a contrast to the reality, because the information [all very valid] that’s splashed across kilometres is near an area where developers have built homes that are precariously close to salt pans and mangroves. In the past, I recall a lot of hype that emerged when the long boundary wall that lines Tulsi Pipe Road was painted with timely messages and quirky graffiti, ranging from the girl child’s rights to climate change. It added much-needed vibrancy to the otherwise-dreary streetscape but in no time, and thanks to vandalism, this massive canvas met with a slow, grey end. The neglect was there for all to see.
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And it is against the backdrop of these half-baked, ill-thought-out projects that this new painting spree has led to a lot of doubt in our minds—if this sweeping colour-isation of the city is a flash in the pan, temporary project that will not see a routine touch-up jobs across these areas, and yes, if the spitting kings and queens of the city can spare it from their shameless acts. In any case, once the annual monsoon hits the city, we are all too familiar with how many such canvases become watery memories of their earlier avatar. These beautification [if we are even allowed to call it so] drives ought to have informed thought and direction as it continues to spread across the city and its suburbs. Even in the midst of this, we witnessed the hastily done clean up marathon that swept the city during the recent G20 sessions in the city. Today, we know what has become of those posters and other copy-paste attempts that might have probably entered the record books as the quickest and most expansive cover-up job that the city has ever witnessed.
While I don’t wish for this column to take a pessimistic turn, amidst these hues of colour and light that have livened our drab streetscapes, in light of these developments, I feel it’s extremely important for urban planners and the powers that be to sit at the table to draw out a blueprint for such initiatives. In the name of street art/public awareness drives or what-have-yous, shouldn’t there be some method to the madness, where a long-term plan is drafted to sustain such efforts and ensure the city’s open spaces and wide walls don’t become temporary canvases created by different minds moving in different directions, where a free-for-all vision means more of a hodgepodge? Make no mistake, we are all for creativity and freedom, especially when it comes to art on our streets and thoroughfares, but unlike cities like Melbourne and Cape Town where these are well-conceived out projects that celebrate the city, its icons and its design ethics—both traditional and modern—we don’t see much of that in the mix here.
There are many lessons to be learnt from these world cities with rich histories and blessed with diverse communities. High time those ‘study’ or ‘field’ trips that our babus take yield practical takeaways, what say?
mid-day’s Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city’s sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her. She tweets @bombayana
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