The picture of a cow cut into two, with the front portion being labelled as Seemandhra and the hind part with udder as Telangana published in The Hindu caught the imagination of several children who participated in a painting programme conducted by the Krishna District Artists JAC at Montessori College here on Saturday.
Artists’ JAC leader N.Ravi Kumar said that the depiction of an eighth standard student of a cow cut in half was the best.
Mr Kumar said that over 800 students, amateur artists, drawing teachers, college students and professional artists participated in the programme of “Artists for Samaikyandhra” which was not a competition. All the artists with their paints or drawings took out a procession in the Montessori College premises. “We have taken a resolution not to expose the children to the sun. It was a very sunny day and the children went around the college carrying their paint,” Mr Kumar said.
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Drawing teacher A. Appa Rao taught children of the Penamaluru Zilla Parishad High School on the outskirts of the city for 35 years and retired just a couple of years ago. His painting of acrylic on paper stands out with the portrayal of politicians as vultures. The green Andhra Pradesh has several vultures with human heads, hovering over it. The resemblance of one of the vulture faces to that of TRS leader K.Chandrasekhara Rao is unmistakable. Towering over other landmarks of Hyderabad like Charminar, Hi-Tech city and the Buddha Statue in Hussain Sagar is an image of Telugu Talli. The division of the Telugu people is most heart wrenching, he said.
On the various roads leading to Hyderabad in the painting are depicted images of doctors, teachers, engineers, craftsmen and others that look to the city for employment. “I do not want the State to be divided. But the Telangana people have been fighting for a separate State and nobody is against that. But Hyderabad belongs to everybody. The people of every district in the State have a share in it. These are some of the feelings I have tried to incorporate into by painting. All artists should work with social consciousness,” Mr Appa Rao believes. Artists’ JAC leader P.Ramesh participated.