Walls of Vijayawada : My Street Art Stories from India!

When my husband had visited Vijayawada city for the first time in the month of March, there were two things that he had loved. First, the Andhra food, especially thaali and second, the walls of the city. He had messaged me and said, “It is a small and colorful city. You will like it.” The certainty had really got me curious and I had wondered, what was so special about it. I had assumed that just like every other city, it must be having its own attractions and had waited to go there.

Read this too : Undavalli Caves – Monolithic Hindu Cave Temple in Vijayawada

So when I finally traveled to Vijayawada in May, I went prepared. I had read about its existence on the banks of Krishna river, the history of Amravati, the Arjuna story and the change of names from Bejjamwada then Bezawada, finally Vijayawada. When I lived there and explored, I learned that the city is about canals (Bandar, Ryves and Eluru), hills, lots of good food and history of Amravati. I also visited the famous Kanak Durga temple, Gandhi Hill and Prakasham Barrage. All of this was special about Vijayawada but when my husband had said colorful, he had meant to emphasize on the vibrant street art on the walls, bus stops, trees. The floral blast in the whole of the city is unmissable. This street artwork in Vijayawada is unlike any other city. I hope you have been following my stories.

Street Art in Vijayawada — **This is a great way of beautification of the city.**

The speaking walls of the city — **Walls of Vijayawada are so alive and cheerful**

Paintings of Vijayawada — **It was good to see the use of the vibrant, Warli Art**

Painted flowers on the road - Vijayawada — **The floral burst adds a whole new character to the city.**

Wall art in India is growing — **I am sure the locals love to pass-by these colourful walls.**

Color splash on the walls

During my stay in the city for three weeks, I did step out to explore the city on my own. whenever I stepped out alone, the striking colors, lovely flowers and artistic gestures never failed to stare back at me. Since the weather was very hot, I could not go to a lot of places that I wanted to click but one evening I did step out only to capture the vibes of the city and the pictures used in this blog are from that day. Some of the places that I know of having lots of street art work around but I could not go there with my camera are railway station, the periphery of the scrap metal park and the walls around the stadium area on the MG road. I will do that on my next visit.

While majority of the walls displayed floral fascination, the other paintings depicted love for animals and nature. Last but not the least, there was lots of Warli art too, especially around the Gandhi Hill and KanakaDurga temple. A number of times, I was in the car and while moving I noticed that even the walls around the canals and the bridge railing, barks of trees on the sides of busy roads were painted in different colours. All these big and small works of art made the city more cheerful and welcoming . What I also liked about the whole drive was that the city municipal corporation had not been bias to any one particular street or VIP colony or touristy area, they had shown love to the whole city, to the walls of bus stop or where vendors put their coconut stall. We must applaud the local artists who have done this and added a whole lot of artistic character to the city.

Lot of nature on the walls of Vijayawada — **Nature is a lovely theme to decorate the city.**

Art in Vijayawada — **The shop has become decorative just with the wall art.**

Wall art — **You can’t miss this on the way to Prakasham bridge.**

Painted bridges in Vijayawada — **The colourful vibes of the city**

Paintings in Vijayawada — **Do you notice the painted pots too?**

Painted Flowers on the walls! — **Flowers are everywhere!**

A busy road in Vijayawada — **The most busy roads are painted too.**

Beautiful vibes of the city

Why not make all our cities beautiful and colorful? I have always advocated the use of street art and it is so good to see that India is growing towards the day when we will also have our own street art tourism. It is such a rage in other countries. Locals may not appreciate it almost immediately but there isn’t any body who wouldn’t like it. A colourful and creative wall is always better than the one that is dull and boring. Paintings, especially flowers, nature, wildlife and local culture on the the sides of the busy roads is a great way to transform a city, to make it interactive with the people who pass through those roads everyday and I am sure they will feel responsible towards it too, one day. The unnecessary posters and spitting on the walls is a big put off. Lets get rid of these dirty practices and paint every wall of India.

I would definitely suggest the new government to keep on the good work of beautification and get more more murals and paintings done on the road to and from the airport. I had a nice experience of visiting Vijayawada this time and I would love to return soon.