While her classmates at school and friends near her home will be doodling on a sheet of paper, 10-year-old J. Oviya will be busy colouring the walls of Anna Salai soon. “You ask to me draw and paint anything I will be more than happy to do it. But I have a penchant for drawing insects and fruits,” she says.
Oviya is part of NalandaWay Foundation’s attempt to bring children to brighten walls of Chennai. To start with, they have created murals at Boothaperumal Street, off Anna Salai. “I am excited to be a part of this project,” says Oviya a class V student at a city school and who wants to become a drawing teacher.
Though she had been into painting since she was five, it became structured after her training at NalandaWay Foundation’s art lab. The foundation trains underprivileged children in arts and music at its art labs in various parts in the city.
Sriram Ayer, founder of NalandaWay, says: “We will be continuing this project of painting on city walls in a phased manner over the next six months. The idea is to make some areas of slums beautiful with such murals.”
“The children first drew the sketches and some of us painted the wall. Their creativity is beyond words,” sums up R.B. Arun Raj, a film maker, who worked with the children. It would indeed be a breath of fresh air to witness such colours on the city’s walls that have been taken over by graffiti of all forms, including those by political parties.
