They were one in a long list of spaces neglected by authorities. Their strategic location, however, made them an attractive proposition for advertisers. They got dirtier thanks to layers of ugly posters. That was till September 2015 when The Ugly Indian’s (TUI) gaze fell on them. A group of anonymous citizen volunteers committed to beautify the city, TUI began to give a makeover to these areas under the flyover as part of their project UFO (Under the flyovers).
They began with the Richmond Road flyover. The design didn’t work out. They tried again at the Jayadeva Flyover in October 2015 and it clicked. On a cloudy afternoon, at a small gathering in Co.lab, Domlur Layout, Anirudha Abhayankar spoke of the process Anirudha should know for he is the brain behind the 3-D pyramid design.
Four months have passed and the painted sites remain. The posters have not returned. “There is something about these painted and cleaned up flyovers, which has discouraged people from defacing them,” said Anirudha, who has been living in Bengaluru for the last 10 years.
He reveals the design was consciously created to be engaging and inclusive. “It is not an artistic statement but a design solution to a civic problem.”
With permissions in place, the process kicks off with a coat of terracotta on the area to be covered by the design pattern of triangles. The paint takes about two to three hours to dry. By then volunteers are in with their brushes, and masking tape. Volunteers of different age groups paint the areas demarcated by the tape. Sometimes the onlookers also join in. There have been instances of traffic cops, residents and shopkeepers taking part. “People have told us filling colours is therapeutic and being easy it allows for mass engagement,” explains the young designer.
Till date, 1,500 citizens have participated with their money, time and sweat. About 250 pillars have been transformed costing Rs 7.5 lakh with each pillar costing Rs. 3,000. For each participating volunteer, the expenditure incurred was Rs. 500.
Elaborating on the design, he says, terracotta, a traditional material becomes the second skin and effectively hides paan stains, blemishes and leaks. “Ugliness attracts ugliness. People will throw garbage at a spot which appears dirty, they will spit where others have. The mind is such that it follows visual signals. That is what has happened with the beautification of these pillars. Once cleaned up, people didn’t feel like sticking posters on them. Even if someone does stick a poster; it doesn’t really show because of the design.”
To sustain it for longer till clean aesthetic spaces becomes a permanent fixture of our lives, citizens have to take onus. There is a group in Koramangala, which cycles around in the mornings to remove the posters defacing public spaces. There have been instances of them getting into conflict with those whose interests are affected by this. “If you are in large numbers, others will obviously back off and everything is done peacefully. If you see a defaced pillar, take a picture, post it like a citizen did when Uber pasted its ad on a pillar. Within hours the company sent people to remove the ad and apologised for it on Facebook. Even redoing it is easy. People have done it.”
Authorities have been supportive of the endeavour, particularly the BBMP. “It is quite an IAS favourite project. It is a low-cost and effective method after all. BBMP officials have been hands-on. They don’t just appear at the venue for photo-ops; ditto the traffic police. Once we were painting the flyover at Windsor Manor and what annoyed the cop was the gathering of so many people disrupting traffic on such a busy road. He stopped us and we went to the Race Course police station. We made friends with them and while coming back, we even painted the police station.”
BMRCL also reacted positively to TUI’s work and got them on board to spruce up the pillars on C.M.H. Road. Then the agency even filed a complaint against the group which illegally stuck posters on its pillars on the Trinity Metro Station.
The apolitical and neutral nature, absence of text has led to its acceptability by the authorities. On the other hand, the participation comes with no strings attached for citizen volunteers. “As no long-drawn meetings and socialising is involved, people like it. You come, paint and go. It lives its mantra ‘mooh band, kaam chaloo’.”
