For evening commuters travelling from Delhi to Noida, a brief jam near the Gautam Buddha statue that welcomes visitors to the suburbia gives them a moment — to realise they are no more in Delhi. But it’s not just the jam that stands out. The sculpture that welcomes people to the Uttar Pradesh town beams with light projections giving a second of calm. And as commuters move a few meters in, a tree sculpture with a human face, a fountain and Tricolour lights wrapped over both on poles and flyover establish the municipal limits have changed. It is no more the dark East Delhi road from Mayur Vihar that brought them to Gautam Buddh Nagar.
These aesthetic changes may have been introduced before the G20 in India last September but they are an extension to a larger beautification project that has slowly been changing Noida’s landscape for nearly five years now, giving it a distinct identity from the neighbouring national capital. From Madhubani artwork on metro pillars and underpass walls to theme-based beautification for specific areas, to India’s first Vedic theme park and selfie points, the UP city is taking its identity seriously and adding colour to it.
“Noida had good roads, flyovers, and underpasses. Despite all these developments, the city seemed a little empty. That’s why the Noida Authority came up with this idea to fill the white walls with colors and Indian handicraft,” said Vandana Tripathi, additional CEO of Noida Authority.
The city’s painted flyovers, sculptures of freedom fighters that light up every evening and theme-based beautification is giving residents a sense of association with the city, a feeling reserved for citizens of older cities. Now, Noida is making a new character arc. According to the Noida Authority, a total of 650 parks have been developed in the city.
“Beautification of a city gives an aesthetically pleasant atmosphere, which also makes the citizen feel safe while roaming around,” said Architect and Urban planner Ayush Singh.
Also read: What changed Madras to Chennai? Pink buses, Periyar, Pa. Ranjith
Writing on the wall
Behind the ever-growing art on Noida’s infrastructure are a bunch of artists and corporates whose work is now visible, be it day or night.
“Whenever we are given a white wall and a brush, we consider every pillar and sidewall as our canvas and paint it like it should talk to the people passing by,” said Prasenjit, whose murals themed on children and peacocks can be found in sector 53, 34, 36, 50 and sector 53.
Noida’s walls and pillars have a range of art—from Madhubani artwork, murals of cricketers to butterflies of different hues. Krishna and Gautam Budhha find place on the pillars of sector 32 flyover. While the Madhubani art work can be seen on the walls of Noida Authority office in sector 6 and murals of cricketers and hockey players are drawn on Noida sector 21A and sector 10 walls.
“Driving and walking around Noida has become a pleasant experience as various spots around the city have turned colourful and glowing,” said Anita Dubey, 29 who travels from Delhi to her work place in Noida Sector 136.
And the authorities have chosen locations carefully to maximise the visibility.
“For these artworks, busy roads and locations have been chosen, especially the pillars of flyovers that attract more people,” said Vikas Sharma, junior engineer in the public health ministry of Uttar Pradesh.
The artists involved in such projects find meaning in their craft.
“Our work only becomes successful when the paintings are able to convey the message and feeling to the people for which they have been made,” said Zain Siddique, an artist who worked with HCL Foundation beautifying Noida.
My Clean City is the HCL Foundation’s project to beautify the city and intends to carry out works and services to implement effective solid waste management too. Under the project, Sector 34 walls were painted with murals of tree; at on Okhla Bird Sanctuary murals were painted with the theme ‘save the plant’, and on Sector 112 road, walls were canvased with Gond art.
“When we finish our work and people praise it, we feel like our hard work has been paid off,” added Siddique.
Of all the work that the 35-year-old has done in Noida, one in Sector 5 is the dearest to him —the portrait of children on the wall of a school in Harola village, a locality full of migrants. According to Siddique, it not only beautified the school and the area but also left the people happy.
Besides the Noida Authority, RWA society residents and school students too have worked at various locations towards beautifying their surroundings. In Sector 35, it was the residents and the RWA that took upon themselves to paint the society’s walls with murals.
However, historian and founder Anagram Architects, Madhav Raman, who calls Noida a young city, said the city’s beautification is a lost opportunity.
“Noida could have created its own identity through this beautification had these murals and paintings been of good quality with proper themes. There is no theme or thinking visible in these murals,” he said.
A clean and beautified city that boasts of art can be a source of pride for people living and working there. And Noida is slowly arriving as the ‘show around’ place. The stretch between Sector 36 crossing and Logix Mall at Noida City Centre has been developed as a walk way dotted with greens and theme-based artwork that attracts joggers and dog walkers.
“If the area around us is different and beautiful, then we also like to go out and see it and show it to other people. Due to this beautification in the last few years, walking in Noida in the evening has become a beautiful experience,” said Anita Dubey.
The Authority sees these beautification works as its signature over Noida after all the infrastructure development work in the city. “The purpose is to give Noida, which is known as a commercial hub, a different colour,” said Tripathi.
Also read: Kolkata play about Dalit student suicide calls out Bhadralok hypocrisy on casteless Bengal
Work in progress
Murals of athletes and sportspersons on Sector 21 walls suddenly disappear. What follows is walls covered with posters that take away from the beauty of all the hard work done by artists. Some pillars of sector 14 flyover have been left blank, simply painted with white color. There are stretches in Noida that have been left incomplete by the authorities that show the lack of coherence vis a vis execution of the beautification work.
“If work has been started on any wall or location, it should be completed, thus half empty wall or pillar does not look good,” said Jai Prakash, a Noida resident.
The boundary walls of Noida Stadium in Sector 21A are painted with murals of different sports: cricket, yoga and hockey, among others. But the artwork ends abruptly. What follows is either white walls or posters of advertisements that make the wall look dirty.
Citizen’s participation is another aspect that Noida residents agreed will go a long way in maintaining the beautification.
Rafi Ali, 39, a Sector 20 resident said, Authority is doing their work but it’s all up to the residents how they keep Noida clean.
“One can often see people spitting pan masala.” Bringing change in people’s behaviour is a long haul.
For now, Noida is busy updating its walls culturally.
The walls of Rajnigandha underpass at Sector 16 Metro station are covered with paintings of colourful birds. As vehicles exchange between Delhi and Noida, crossing this stretch, a quote in Hindi reads stares at them with its own story — “har rang kuch kehta hai“.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)