Delhi, I Love You: Painting Stories of Love For Delhi

Delhi,I Love You has been trying to revive the past of Delhi by painting walls in public spaces with poetry.

Delhi, I Love You has started a wall painting initiative to protect the livelihood of signboard painters. (Photo: The Quint)

I read, “They said time travel is impossible, and then I met Old Delhi” painted on the wall, as I walked towards the ISBT flyover in Delhi’s Kashmere Gate.

That is precisely what Delhi, I Love You has been trying to capture – the fleeting past of Delhi. As it describes itself, Delhi, I Love You, is a socio-cultural movement of love in the city.

For over three months, the connoisseurs of this movement have been collecting poems through a poetry competition that they had launched on Twitter, and on the 9 December 2015, sign-board painters of Delhi, adorned the walls of the city with six such poems.

A wall painting in progress. (Photo: The Quint)

This project had been initiated by film-maker Thomas Ellis and sculptor Aastha Chauhan with an intention to fill public spaces with stories and poetry about love for Delhi.

According to Thomas Ellis, this month-long affair is to “reclaim Delhi-the city that belongs to you and me and what we love about it.” And this movement will be concluded with the release of a motion picture which is going to document all the collborative historical, environmental, artistic, musical and social projects that Delhi, I Love You has undertaken.

Waqt ho agar to aao Dilli ki rahon mein. Tareekh chhipi hain yahan ke daro deewaro mein. (Photo: The Quint)

“Due to digital printing techniques, signboard painters and wall painters in Delhi have been losing their livelihood and this project attempts to revive it and also bring some life to the city with stories of love”, says Ellis, as he tries to explain the motive of this project.

But this is only one of the many initiatives that this team has undertaken. Earlier this year, Delhi I Love You started the Delhi Seed Bank Project in collaboration with the Conservation Education Centre of Delhi, wherein they will be planting 22 varieties of trees (over a period of 18 months) that are indigenous to Delhi and have been disappearing due to the lack of space and rapid urbanisation.

Naresh Kumar has been a sign board painter for 25 years. (Photo: The Quint)

Naresh Kumar, one of the painters tells me that this knack for painting has made him quit his job at the Income Tax Department. “It used to fetch me around 50,000 rupees earlier, why would I even need to stop doing this? But there is barely any demand now and it brings a much lesser sum of 20,000 rupees. If the demand keeps declining then I suppose I will give up. But there is jaan in painting that digital can’t bring about”, Naresh says in a sombre tone.

Akhlaq Ahmad, one of the painters in the wall painting project. (Photo: The Quint)

Akhlaq Ahmad, another painter has an exciting story to tell. He tells me how running away from home to Bombay, while still a school boy, had actually helped him understand this art.

I used to run a tea stall outside a studio that used to paint film posters. I tried my hand at it myself and got better. I learnt how to use neon colours on my painting and developed my style. When I came back to Delhi, I did my bachelors and masters in Fine Art while painting for a living and in 2013. I went to London as a part of a huge team of artists.

<b>Akhlaq Ahmad, Painter</b>

The painting initiative was done in collaboration with Nerolac. (Photo: The Quint)

At some point of time, Shri Kapil Mishra, the Minister for Tourism, Art, Languages and Culture in Delhi, who was also the chief guest of this event came to show his support.

By the end of the day, even the busy citizens of Delhi turned their heads towards the colourful walls and halted for a bit to read the poems painted on them, while they drove past a hustling road.