If you were passing by the Manekshaw parade ground on Kamaraj road in Bengaluru on Friday morning, and saw a mermaid, don’t worry – your eyes weren’t deceiving you.
With over 15,900 potholes, the city has witnessed five pothole deaths in a fortnight. And exasperated citizens are turning to unique forms of protest against these conditions. The mermaid and her pond was one of them.
The man behind the idea was street artist Baadal Nanjundaswamy, who is known for transforming the city’s potholes into art installations to drive home a message. He began work early in the morning, so as to finish the installation without disrupting traffic.
The mermaid is actor Sonu Gowda, who also posed as the princess when Baadal created The Princess and the Frog story in another pothole in Bengaluru in 2016.
This particular pothole on Friday was turned into a blue pond, and Sonu sat on the edge, dressed as a mermaid, splashing water with her hands. The whole scene had a surreal quality to it.
Once the artist and the actor left, the lone pond remained. However, the transformation was quite magnificient.
This is not the first such unusual protest by Bengalureans against the administration’s lapses in repairing potholes.
Two days ago, some citizens performed the last rites for potholes in Kaggadasapura main road. “Over 120 residents from Kaggadasapura, Byrasandra, CV Raman Nagar and GM Palya got together on Wednesday evening and performed the last rites for the Kaggadasapura Main Road, claiming that the road had died due to negligence,” reported Theja Ram for TNM on Thursday.
In 2016, residents of HSR layout performed ‘pothole pooja’ to capture the BBMP’s attention.
Baadal, meanwhile, has created street art with fake crocodiles, mosquitoes, and even rakshasas to highlight the pothole menace. Check out these pictures of his previous work.
(This article was originally published on The News Minute)
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