Bhopal: The wall of Raj Bhawan, facing the main road, will soon enlighten passersby on how to perform the famous yogic exercise Surya Namaskar. Beginning from the first block facing the road leading from Roshanpura Square to Lily Cinema, the wall will be painted with six postures of Surya Namaskar.
“Governor will inspect the first painting and then give a go ahead for the rest of the work”, said Mithlesh Bharti, who was painting the first block of the wall depicting the sun god sitting on a lotus with three eyes and four arms – riding a chariot drawn by seven mares, representing the seven colours of the rainbow. The picture also shows the charioteer riding the horses with a long whip in his hands.
The block of the red sandstone wall of Raj Bhavan – a colonial structure – was first painted in white to form the background, after which outline of the picture was drawn in chalk. Bharati was filling the outline of the sun with yellow colour, even as he perspired heavily with the sun beating down on him on a blazing Sunday afternoon. Each block is 8 feet high and 40 feet wide and there are 80 such blocks facing the main road.
The walls of Raj Bhavan facing the old Vidhan Sabha building, presumably, will be left as they are to retain the original grandeur of the imposing structure. Bharti said that he has been given two days to complete the painting of the sun god on the first block. “It is not an easy job to do and ideally, I should have been given at least 4-5 days to complete the work. However, I have been asked to do it in just two days,” he says. He has been provided digital printouts of the paintings he is supposed to make.
He will paint the postures of Pranamasana, Hasta Uttanasana, Hastapaadasana Ashwa Sanchalanasana, Parvatasana and Asthaga Namaskar along with Sanskrit shlokas with the rising sun and yellow sky in the background along with a bird soaring in the sky.The BMC, it may be recalled, has launched a campaign under which public walls facing the main roads are being painted with tribal art, landscapes, portraits as part of the endeavour to beautify the city.
