Colorful Wall of Love

The day I drove down the Tulsi Pipe road in Mumbai and saw those wonderful paintings on the wall separating the railway lines from a busy road, I wanted that art work on my school walls too. Art has a special way of lifting up the spirit and taking one to a spiritual mode. I was thinking of how lively children would feel with vibrant colors in the school, how by adding texture and form to the walls, it could enhance their visual element, and how good they would feel seeing their art work so loud and clear.

I called up Parag Gandhi (the member of the Wall project) to help me paint the walls of my school and he was most willing to help. He asked me to get in touch with his co-worker Dhanya Pilo, who would advise me on all the things that we would need before the real event.

I removed few pictures of the empty walls that needed painting, mainly the walls of the school facing the street. All the colors and materials were purchased and one Sunday morning, (on 20th September 2009) children, their parents and the locals living nearby were invited to participate in the wall project.

Parag Gandhi, Dhanya Pilo, Nitya Amarnath, Rachna Kapoor and their team arrived at school, with their creative ideas packed into their mind, not knowing what the final results would be. The vibrant colors and brushes of all sizes lay before them. The Special children, and their family and friends looked at them curiously...... waiting.....till...the first paint box was open,…. the colors distracted them and with the brush in their hands, the artistic emotions spilled over.

Soon all the children picked up the brushes and the box of paints, they dragged their parents to the wall overlooking the street and together they splashed the paints on the wall. The colors have a certain kind of magic, within one hour, more than hundred people were painting the walls, when there was no space left on the outside wall, they walked in and within four hours all the walls, inside out , were painted with motifs, cartoon characters, flowers, scenery .

What we saw at the end of the day cannot be defined in words….

Images of the day from school walls had a colorful story to tell...

Children were very excited to show off their work to ones who had missed the event.....there was surprised look from parents and teachers too who were feeling bad that they could not witness such a great event.

One child (sibling to special child) said, "I didn't know that we were going to paint a wall, I thought I am just going to see some people paint in a sketch book but I was feeling so good painting on the wall! It was so much fun!!"

The wall looks good and attracts the passerby.

During this ‘Joy of Giving week’, I wish to show my appreciation to the members of wall project - Parag Gandhi, Dhanya Pilo, Nitya Amarnath, Rachna Kapoor – who helped us paint the wall of love

Thank you so much!!!