Yusuf Arakkal's final project gets wings

Bengaluru: Bengaluru paid tribute to one of its greatest artists, the late Yusuf Arakkal, on a rainy Wednesday evening on at Rangoli Metro Art Centre on M.G. Road. 'Science and Technology Takes Off,' a stainless steel sculpture and one of Arakkal's final projects, was flagged off by his wife, Sara, his son Shibu, Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, BMRCL Chief Pradeep Singh Kharola and Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George.

A small collection of photographs of Yusuf Arakkal working on the project, contributed by his wife, made for an evocative display beneath the newly-mounted sculpture. 

"I must thank Kharola and Vasanth Rao (PRO, BMRCL) for giving pride of piece to this work of art," said Shaw, who commissioned the work originally for Visvesvaraya Museum on Kasturba Road. "Yusuf Arakkal has been an integral part of the city's artist community, but he started off as an engineer with HAL," said Shaw, an old friend and long-time patron of the artist.

Expressing her gratitude to BMRCL and K.J. George for their support, Shaw also announced that Biocon will adopt the Hebbagodi Metro Station, part of Namma Metro's Phase 3, in partnership with BMRCL.

"We believe in corporate citizenship and are proud to be able to do our bit for BMRCL, which i s a game-changer in terms of public transportation," said Shaw, urging other corporates to come forward as well - Infosys has adopted the Electronics City station, also under a PPP model with BMRCL and the Embassy Group has volunteered their services as well.

Govt focus on city’s progress: George
K.J. George, whose voice was barely audible under the roar of peak hour traffic, said, "Yusuf Arakkal was a great artist and his contribution to the city will always be remembered with affection. He spoke of Science and Technology and he's right - India is at the forefront where IT is concerned!"

Assuring his audience of big changes to Bengaluru in the next few months, Mr George said that long-term progress is the government's focus - "I know that we have problems like traffic and garbage. We are working on all of them, although this takes time. A lot has been done already - Phase 2 of the Metro is happening and the team from BMRCL is working non-stop to see that things go smoothly." He added that the government is also working on a cable-car project to decongest Whitefield.