Aravind A hesitates to shake hands when we meet at the paediatric department of Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH). “It is covered in paint,” he says. Aravind is one of the volunteers engaged in painting the walls at the hospital.
This project is part of Vannam, an initiative by the NGO Chandran’s Yuva Foundation in association with Sri Krishna Adithya College of Arts and Science. “We wanted to make the walls livelier for the kids.
S. Shasikala
We hope that this makes them happy and facilitates their fast recovery,” says S Sasikala, the foundation’s chairman and CEO. “I got the idea in January and spent a month finalising what will go on each wall. The students are now painting the wards and the corridors on three floors. There are around 450 art works in total.”
One painting shows a child painting a sapling; another is of kids collecting garbage. Social consciousness seems to have been the theme. Sasikala agrees. “I stayed away from popular cartoons consciously. I hope this influences them to be socially responsible citizens,” she explains. The NGO started preparing the walls last week. A team of 10 volunteers — transgenders and people with special needs — cleaned and drew the outlines for the paintings. “We identified people with an interest in art,” she says. It took them 10 days to finish. The second phase of filling in the colours was taken over by 300 students “also members of Chandran’s Yuva Club that functions in 10 educational institutions,” Sasikala explains.
Volunteers at work
Venkat S is busy painting a tiger. “I have been here since yesterday. It feels good to see children smile when they see my work. A little girl gifted me one of her drawings yesterday,” he says. Another volunteer Rohith M adds that many parents congratulated them and offered them snacks. Gethciyan T says that the colourful walls have cheered up her five-year-old son Levi Joyson A who has been admitted for fever. “I tell him stories based on these paintings now,” she says. Four-year-old Sugitha B shows me her drawings. Her mother Krishnaveni says, “She asked if I could buy her art supplies when she saw the volunteers work.”
This is Vannam’s second project. “Last year we painted the walls of Ukkadam bus stand and the theme was Tamil Culture. We painted temples, dance forms and food of the region. We plan to paint the walls of the blood bank and wards for people with special needs in CMCH soon,” says Sasikala.
