Team-BHP
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Potholes are one of the factors that spoil the joy of driving our cars or riding our bikes on India's roads. For any car lover, every time his / her vehicle goes through a pothole, it's like a knife being driven through the heart. Vehicles of some unlucky souls might even suffer damage to their wheels, suspensions or more. However, there are some who are even more unlucky.
About a month ago, we had reported that
potholes have accounted for more than 11,000 lives on our roads between the years 2013 and 2016. Many more are injured in pothole-related accidents. Bengaluru, just like other cities in the country, suffers from some killer potholes. What is frustrating, is that the civic authorities appear to pay no heed to complaints and requests made by the common man regarding this matter. This civic apathy led to the death of a 21-year old girl earlier this month
(Source: NDTV).
In an attempt to protest and draw the attention of the authorities towards the probelm, Baadal Nanjundaswamy, a painter who stays in Bengaluru and Mysuru, has adopted a creative method. He has put his art to use. His work is eye-catching and almost impossible to ignore. Baadal is an alumnus of Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts (CAVA) and has become popular for his street art and 3D paintings.
(Source: Wikipedia). Here is a look at some of his work.
For his his latest, "pothole project", Baadal collaborated with actress Sonu Gowda. There was a large crater that had formed on the junction of Kamraj Road and Cubbon Road and was filled with rain water:
The painter transformed this crater into a pond of blue water. Sonu Gowda wore a green mermaid suit and sat on the edge:
A mermaid in the middle of a city is obviously, very hard to ignore:
Besides, images posted on social networking platforms went viral and (thankfully!) drew the attention of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP):
The act had had its desired effect. The BBMP swung into action and filled up the large pothole quickly:
Images:
Baadal Nanjundaswamy / Twitter ;
Vijaya Karnataka ;
News18 Kannada / Twitter
Two years ago, there was a huge pothole and a broken water pipe in the middle of the Sulthanpalya Main Road in north Bangalore:
Baadal Nanjundaswamy transformed this pothole into pond with green water and planted a life-sized fibre model of a crocodile in it:
The crocodile was built in week's time. Local's helped install it in the "pond":
Baadal spent Rs. 6,000 of his own money to create this fibre crocodile:
Source & Images:
All India Roundup
In 2016, Baadal exhibited his skills at Nayandahalli Junction on Mysuru Road, which was in poor shape:
He recreated a scene from the fairy tale - "The Frog Prince":
Then too, it was Sonu Gowda who posed as the princess with the model of the frog:
Source:
Bangalore Mirror / Twitter
Here's a glimpse of Baadal's other work.
Kukkarahally, Mysuru:
New Bus Stand Road, Hassan:
Source:
Baadal Nanjundaswamy / Twitter
This gaping hole was converted into the mouth of Yamraaj - the Hindu God of death:
Source:
pinimg
Anand Mahindra - Chairman of the Mahindra Group also tweeted in support of Baadal:
Baadal is not the only artist using his skill to protest. A group of activists called the Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF) planted a serpent in a pothole in Yeshwantpur. It was created by Pushparaj - a member of the group:
Source:
Huffington Post
Image:
Raghav Chopra / Twitter
In an open manhole in Kathiguppe, NBF had planted two hands holding a signboard saying, "Help Me". Notice the fake rats placed around the manhole:
Most of this street art seems to have had woken up (and embarrassed) the civic authorities. The potholes have been filled. However, while it brings out the best from artists and smiles to our faces, it should be remembered that the concerned authorities should never allow things to get so bad in the first place. After all, people's lives are at risk.
Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Street Experiences Section. Thanks for sharing!
Very sporting of the model to sit there and pose. She seems to have starred in lots of Kannada & Tamil movies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonu_(actress)
Atleast in our area, all potholes have been filled. It's a patch work - so the ride is still a bit bumpy.
Glad to see these innovative attempts get the needed attention both from the media as well as the authorities concerned. When normal methods of appeals and protests fail, it is for the creative minds of the society to come up with out of the box ideas to give visibility to problems.
As for the protagonist of the story,
Baadal as he is popularly known in his friends' circle, is a pastmaster in using art for social causes. I remember his
pettige angadi in Kukkarahalli out of which he used to operate for a couple of years. A gold medalist from Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts (CAVA), Mysore,
Baadal has always been in the thick of social movements.
With BBMP unwilling to mend its ways, pothole art is here to stay.
While the creativity of the artists is awe inspiring and kudos to the damsel for braving dengue-potent mosquitoes and sitting at the craters, the thread title makes a huge assumption: that the civic authorities in Bangalore are capable of being embarrassed. These fine public officials are a class by themselves! What they have done is to compound the problem by dumping concrete and tar which is peeling off even with the sun coming out. I am witness to how stretches of such 'repairs' are coming apart in Indiranagar and Cambridge layout, baring their fangs to snare more unsuspecting two wheelers.
Am happy that at least the artiste got noticed!
Quote:
Originally Posted by hothatchaway
(Post 4292579)
that the civic authorities in Bangalore are capable of being embarrassed. These fine public officials are a class by themselves!
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Agree. They might not even understand the sarcasm and might get an idea to paint the potholes. :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by hothatchaway
(Post 4292579)
While the creativity of the artists is awe inspiring and kudos to the damsel for braving dengue-potent mosquitoes and sitting at the craters, the thread title makes a huge assumption: that the civic authorities in Bangalore are capable of being embarrassed. These fine public officials are a class by themselves! What they have done is to compound the problem by dumping concrete and tar which is peeling off even with the sun coming out.
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Concrete and Tar sound like luxury materials! :deadhorse
In our area, some imbeciles have dumped potholes with protuding cement blocks (large ones) from a construction site.
If a 2 wheeler hits a pothole, at speed, there is 50% chance that he may fall down.
If a 2 wheeler hits a pothole with a cement block or stone in it, at speed, there is 100% chance that he/she will fall down. :Frustrati
Another Civic action group had pasted the pictures asking "Am I responsible for this pothole"
I am not sure if any of you have noticed Bangalore Traffic Police too has highlighting how civic issues like potholes, bad drainage, poorly maintained BMTC buses is adding / causing traffic chaos. Hope all these attention brings changes ; travel to KR Puram, Whitefield area has turned into nightmare thanks to poorly planned Metro work.
As we speak, an army of earth-movers have infiltrated into Pai Layout, near Tin Factory, they are ripping open previously covered patches and temp concrete patches made by house owners over drainage chambers and filling them up with metal and loose cement. If they don't follow up and make a permanent patch this is going to become worse. Hoping for the best!
The artists were absolutely brilliant. However, I don't think the authorities responsible are ashamed of such things. They are waiting for Bangalore to become Rajasthan and then they might go about fixing the absolutely abysmal state of our roads, till then they have every excuse their sleeve (e.g. - it rained in the past 70 days continuously).
My father is a civil engineer and I actually asked him about relation between roads and rains. The gist of the result was very simple - well designed and well made roads can withstand rains, patchwork cannot. He also laughed about the fact that how can a city like Bangalore allow potholes on tarred roads to be filled with cement.
Roads around my home too have been patched up, somehow. It quite clearly is a hash job and would not last a fortnight. I mean this time national news media is picking up the story instead of local news stations.
However, given that we have elections soon, a lot of money will be poured over this and fixed about a couple of months before the event. Makes me wish the elections were every two years :)
Wow!, what a fantastic initiative to bring attention to civic problems affecting the city in an attention grabbing and artistic way. It is heartening to see that it seems to caught the eye of the authorities and that they have tried to sort out the issues.
The authorities often hide behind the excuse of blaming the weather and traffic for the poor state of our roads. If these roads were built properly with due care and with the right materials, I am sure they could last atleast 5 years and above regardless of the elements and traffic. Hope things change for the better, with the big investments in infrastructure that is promised and is happening slowly.
Kudos to the talented artist and also to the pretty model who agreed to pose on the roads for a good cause.
Excellent work by the artist. But we would need a 1000 more to just cover Bangalore city.
But I wouldn't put the blame squarely on civic authorities. I have seen freshly paved tar roads being dug up to plant cables by some private companies for internet or gas lines. Absolute apathy here. They don't even bother re-laying the roads. They just cover them with mud and flee the spot.
Kudos to this artist for using his creativity for the good of the society.
I am one of the victims of Bangalore potholes. A big pothole near Turahalli Forest had apparently claimed several tyre and rim damages to cars so some good soul, with probably a helping attitude, decided to put big boulders in the pothole to make it more visible to cars. As you might have guessed by now, I hit the boulders. It was dark, raining, no street light and obviously no reflectors on the boulders. Wish I could sue the govt for this!:Frustrati
Fantastic use of the incredible skill they got ! Amazing artists clap:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aditya
(Post 4292009)
Most of this street art seems to have had woken up (and embarrassed) the civic authorities. The potholes have been filled. However, while it brings out the best from artists and smiles to our faces, it should be remembered that the concerned authorities should never allow things to get so bad in the first place. After all, people's lives are at risk.
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Sure, these street arts got the attention of the authorities, But are they embarrassed ? Don't think so. The rework (done at very few places for the namesake) are shoddy to say the least and will last for a maximum of few months :Frustrati
Bangalore have become the capital for Bad roads I think
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