The Colorful Toilets….

A proposal to paint in tribal lands was like a dream call. Jey instantly agreed to accompany me as his heart lies in the hills and homes of tribals of Jharkhand. Love for tribal land is common between us. In fact the tribal life stories played a major role in bringing us together. For me[…]

The tears….emotions….and the exhibit…

India Habitat Centre gives an open space where we have displayed the digital prints of murals we have done and objects collected from various homes. In last 20 days more than 500 people have painted on this canvas making whatever they wanted to make. 25 ft canvas have been painted fully and we had to[…]

Art Walle लोग

Amidst anxieties, last minute confusions, surprising changes in plan and chaos, the exhibition ART Walle LoG finally opened for public to view and participate. This exhibition brings together our experience of painting 45 murals with families, schools and communities in 17 states over nearly 3 years at one place. Thanks to Dr. Alka Pande who[…]

Come Be an Artist

Today, we want to make a big announcement about artologue. No we are not going on a World Tour……(though we would love to if someone sponsors us) So whats the good news…..it is about an exhibition. Yes Artologue is exhibiting for the first time. In Delhi we have got an open space in INDIA HABITAT[…]

गुलेल, चिकन और यादें….

हज़ारीबाग जाना नहीं था लेकिन कहते हैं न यात्राओं में पता नहीं होता आप कहां से कहां पहुंच जाते हैं. जब भागलपुर में थे तो शशि से बात हुई तो शशि ने कहा कि अगर हम हज़ारीबाग जाएंगे तो वो मुंबई से हमसे मिलने आ जाएंगे. शशि को हम फेसबुक से ही जानते थे और[…]

Children of God…in Artologue

For the first time, we were nervous. It is difficult to explain the rush of mixed emotion when we reached the Srijan Help, a school for ‘special’ children. They greeted us with hearty smiles, warm shake-hands, curious looks and shyness. Initially talking to them looked like a difficult task but that was not because a[…]

The Polite admirers of Begusarai…

Begusarai is not a place. It’s a legend, it’s a myth but still it was not on our Artologue trip because no one had invited us from there. I had this feeling since beginning that without Begusarai, Bihar trip will not be considered complete. And so it happened. We got a flood of invites from[…]

Gangs of Rangpur in Nalanda

‘’You guys look Yankee. You know….different… like artists.’’ It was the first reaction of Dr Siddharth, SP of Nalanda. We think he meant funky when he said Yankee. We were in the office of Superintendent of police to discuss the idea to paint in a police station. Dr Siddharth principally agreed to the idea but[…]

संथाल टोला- मस्ती, रंग और वो देसी मुर्गा

संथाल टोला सुनते ही मुझे फूदन माझी की याद आती है. उसका सरसों के तेल में चुपड़ा बदन और उसकी वो बांसुरी. ये पुरानी बात है. अब मालूम भी नहीं फूदन माझी कहां है. आज हम लोग कल्याण टुडू के घर पर हैं जहां माझी थान यानी उनके भगवान के घर को रंगना है. मदद[…]

The Ideas factory…..and the trademark Fish

The Engineering college kids had many ideas. One of them wanted to make a device which can automatically make music with the lyrics. One girl wanted to make a robot controlled by mind. One student was keen to try out photography. Someone wanted to make more intelligent machine than those shown in the film- Transformers[…]

From messed up wall to a beautiful painting….

Ayush was not shy exactly but he was reluctant to ask the question publicly. Jey had just made an offer to the kids that they can ask him anything. Ayush came to him and took him to the stairs and asked the pertinent question going on in almost every kid’s mind, ‘How to tackle the[…]

The story of an Incomplete Painting…

The journey towards Muzaffarpur started with Rain. We were drenched and reached late to the school where we were supposed to paint. We wanted to paint in a school which is deprived or under privileged. People suggested us to paint in any school in the red light area named Chaturbhuj Sthan. We were put in[…]

गोलियां, बंदूक और रंग…ये जहानाबाद है.

जहानाबाद भी चलना है. बहुत ही गरीब बच्चे वहां आप दोनों का इंतज़ार कर रहे हैं. हमारे मित्र निराला जी ने जब जहानाबाद का नाम लिया तो हमारी पहली प्रतिक्रिया थी कि जहानाबाद तो नक्सली इलाक़ा है और दूर भी होगा न पटना से उन्होंने कहा नहीं नहीं बगल में ही है. वाकई सिर्फ पचास[…]

Going back to the Roots…

अगर हम अंग्रेज़ होते तो लिखते कि Travelling to the most notorious part of India, which is Bihar. लेकिन हम अभी अंग्रेज़ नहीं हुए हैं तो कहना ये है कि इस बार यात्रा बिहार और झारखंड की है. जो हम दोनों के लिए जड़ों की ओर लौटने जैसा है. झारखंड-बिहार की यात्रा को लेकर डरे[…]

Moments make you what you are…

Dasna jail broke all the myths we had about a jail. Actually till now, we had seen jails only in films. We expected the scenes of dreaded criminals, bad food, stern jailers beating the prisoners and barracks overflowing with shit. Contrary to that, we found a very neat and clean jail campus where bad elements[…]

Goosebumps in the jail…

We were not exactly excited by the offer to paint in the Dasna jail with the prisoners. We were nervous, sceptical and worried about what is going to happen. Jey was tense as he didn’t want this to happen like a media managed PR event where media gets a limited access to prisoners and all[…]

We laugh….We learn….We work….We dream…

They were quite……obedient…and sharp. They listened what we had to say in rapt attention. They were kids from very poor backgrounds. Many of them have been rescued as child laborers. Many of them still work as laborers in small shops, factories and in their homes stitching clothes, making doormats, spinning threads and all those works which[…]

The poster painter and revolutionary lovers

Jey and Meenakshi used the block prints for the first time in their murals. It was  innovative and intriguing for art lovers to make imprints on the wall. Priyamvad is a comrade who can sketch beautifully.The moment we entered their home, we saw Pash’s poems and sketches by Priyamvad. We asked and got to know[…]