Pulse of Chennai painted on Central station walls

Chennai: To capture the essence of Namma Chennai for commuters visiting the city, volunteers involved with Agaram Foundation and the public painted murals on the walls of Chennai Central station on Saturday.

Volunteers including students, corporate employees and architects, working with Agaram Foundation started their work on platform 1 from 8 am. Paintings of families visiting a beach, Schmidt Memorial at Elliot’s beach and a ship at  Chennai port were among those etched by volunteers.

As passersby looked on in awe, volunteers splashed vibrant colours on the wall. “The whole idea was to present a beautiful picture of Chennai to people visiting the city. People who embark at the station should know what Chennai represents,” said Asai Thambi, an architect from Tapasya Studio, Auroville.

Southern Railway approached the organization to beautify the property and prevent defacement. “If the walls are left empty, they are used for unscrupulous scribblings,  hence this initiative,”  said a railway official.

“We chose the theme of Earth Day, and have painted based on that theme,” said Amruta Ravindran, said a volunteer. According to Jaishree Damodaran of Agaram Foundation, volunteers also included students from schools and
colleges.

“In order to ensure that the paintings are well maintained, the foundation is in talks with schools students around the area. They will be given the responsibility of maintenance of the paintings,” said Jaishree.